Tasted in Puligny-Montrachet with Antoine Lepetit, 20th May 2015.
Domaine Leflaive
Place Pasquier de la Fontaine
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: + 33 3 80 21 30 13
www.leflaive.fr
This was supposed to be a quick visit, just 20 minutes, to taste and discus the domaine’s Mâcon – because there is only one, and it wasn’t available to taste when I visited to taste the 13s in tank, in October 2014.
It turned out that there was also a modest selection of the 13s that had been bottled in the last few weeks, so…
Antoine on the 2013 Mâcon:
“2013 is a style that’s quite rich, versus for instance 2011 which is much more direct. We have 9.33 hectares in 5 parcels now, under Paul de Noue. We have no cave in Mâcon, so we press locally and then transfer the must in refrigerated trucks to Puligny-Montrachet. Vinification is a mix of concrete and stainless-steel tanks. Less than 18 months elevage – normally closer to 14. We normally bottle in December but are now extending a little into January. The 2013 was bottled at the end of January and the first deliveries to customers is just underway.
“The 5 terroirs in the village, whilst vinified separately, rarely show very distinct personalities. Clos Verzé is now en fermage, and in 2014 there will also be a Pouilly-Fuissé from a domaine of about 20 hectares which we are now converting to Bio. Jean-Baptiste Chardigny will be our local man, and we’ll be looking to him to improve the facilities to produce locally. We had the grapes at end of 2012 but with no control, so they were declassified, but 2013 was more interesting, and 2014 even more so. It’s a rich terroir so it’s easy to make the ‘big guys’ (wines), but to make a great burgundy you need to farm properly, age enough and not have too strong a hand with the oak.”
I’ll be looking forward to see these!
The wines…
Pouilly in the main, and Mâcon almost totally, are almost impossible to achieve ‘added value’ as there is an expectation that they are 14 and 7 Euro wines. The only people to significantly buck that trend are the ‘big names’ of the Côte d’Or such as Leflaive and Lafon – particularly when they can leverage sales of sought-after domaine bottlings with a few pallets of Mâcon. The wines are generally excellent for their labels, but let’s say that domaines like Leflaive have additional tools at their disposal to make their Mâcons profitable.
Only a few older barrels used in elevage, basically no wood here. 60,000 bottles of this.
A very discreet but smooth nose. Big, fresh, round, and a wine of vivacity. Fills the mouth with joy. Very tasty. Certainly a little riper fruit in the mid palate, but there’s also a hint of minerality peeking through. Very faintly floral in the finish. Very tasty, excellent Mâcon.
This starts with a discreet reduction, slowly grows some mineral freshness, but generally stays rather tight, just an extra element of flowers. Much more mineral and saline – really intense – grand vin here, really I’d never guess it’s a Mâcon, blind. Excellent. To save? The domaine thinks there’s not much point saving longer than 5 years as it reaches a certain peak and really doesn’t benefit much more…
2013 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Folatières
Bottled 13 March.
Pretty some high tones, faint oak support. Muscular structure, fine flavour flowing through the. Middle, long finishing on a mineral note. Yum…
2013 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Pucelles
April bottling.
A silky but very tight nose. Extra sucrosity in the mouth-watering flavour. Grows higher in the mid-palate with very fine detail – really an extra class vs Folatières…
End march, beginning April bottling.
Again very tight, but here is a smoky aspect. Bigger, more concentrated, saline, growing acidity – smoothly growing to a crescendo. Super delivery of balanced richness, brilliant wine!
2013 Chevalier-Montrachet
Very closed, but a faint reduction again. Large-scaled, but more about flavour, structure and intensity than weight. Pure flavour in the mid-palate and finish, a finish that reprises too. Top class.