Tasted in Puligny-Montrachet with Solène Panigai & Philippe Grillet, 01 December 2022.
Olivier Leflaive
Place du Monument
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 95 27
www.olivier-leflaive.com
More reports for Maison Olivier Leflaive.
Franck Grux wasn’t well the day that I visited, so I ‘had to’ taste with his new co-Technical Director, Solène Panigai, and Philippe Grillet – oenologist chez Oliver Leflaive since 1995. Franck plans to take his retirement in the near future and Solène was hired to be his replacement; she’s a trained winemaker who has worked for a number of years at the BIVB’s Technical Centre in Beaune. Solène comments, “I was lucky to have started with 2022 as life would have been much more complicated the year before!”
Solène on 2022:
“Reds had a little more volume but the whites didn’t get close to the limits – the big surprise was still the amount of juice, given the generally dry year. June had double the normal volume of rain but all the other months were dry.”
Solène on 2021:
“We are now practically mandated to delay our pruning and it’s nearly 15 hectares where we do all the work. In 21 we were obliged in Puligny and Meursault to assemble certain parcels for fermentations as the volumes were so low. The 21s are only 25% the volume of a typical year – the cold, the damp and the snow that came all at once almost overwhelmed all the attempts with candles as the domaines gained a couple of degrees possibly 3° but that was largely insufficient.We still decided to buy some new barrels as it’s also preparation for the years that follow. We do most of the harvests of grapes – even for the contracts that we have. The fermentations were okay – normal for the alcoholics and sometimes longer for the malos – but there was plenty of malic acid, so…”
The wines…
A real pleasure to taste again this year – there’s not much – but there are many great wines for their respective levels – wines that are worth a special search! Such consistency here in recent years too!
Bottled in the last two weeks. 2/3rds barrel the rest in tank for elevage. Grapes typically from nearly 80 different sources – but quite a bit less in 21.
Bright, vibrant and pure. There’s good volume and energy in the mouth. That’s a simply brilliant and complex finish – gorgeous clarity and just too drinkable – bravo Bourgogne.
There is still the Oncle Vincent cuvée in this vintage.
2021 Montagny 1er Cru
Once a contract in must but now the team harvest their own grapes – this 10 days in bottle.
High toned and pure. Broad a little more structure to the shape but concentrated intense and absolutely delicious with a little floral kick in this energetic finish – super finishing. Simply excellent wine.
2021 Pernand-Vergelesses
Usually, 2 parcels – Les Pins and Combottes. This bottled just before harvest – the wine that follows too.
A narrower nicely mineral nose. Rounder in shape but silky and slowly growing with waves, waves that become more and more intense but still wide. Another really super wine – clarity and energy in tandem.
2021 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Sous Fretille
A little more width with a fine and complex mix of citrus and faint flowers. Rounder more supple – there’s a little fat here too. Juicy finishing, a wine of super concentration but always with great balance.
Wines not yet bottled or fined:
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet
A smaller nose today but also one with fine clarity. Much broader in shape, quite mineral but with extra intensity – becoming more direct in style. Like the start, the finish is broad and satisfying. Another super wine.
2021 Meursault
Directly, I’m thinking of Meursault when I smell this – it’s lovely. Also in the mouth – it’s a mineral Meursault for sure but it’s mouth-filling, silky and beautifully complex. Deliciously finishing. Simply excellent wine again, with a small floral flourish in the finish.
6 hl/ha – old vines that anyway don’t deliver a normal volume.
From the higher and lower sections – a small floral extra to this nose of clarity. A little gas but a mix of the generous and the energetically complex. Almost a little mandarin complexity – a rare wine – just 2 barrels – but a great one.
This year 26 different sources only in grapes.
Fine and open – there’s scale in these flavours. Proper tension, gorgeously complex – really a lift of intensity before slowly fading with a little floral component. Bravo Villages!
Normally from 4 different parcels, vines abutting Bâtard and Bienvenues.
Here’s a little more depth of aroma – principally the yellow citrus – but with a fine and wide top note too. There’s a bit of gas here but slowly this is a wine that ingrains into your gums – less overt energy that the ‘Puligny’ but with a little more generosity than that wine – ooh then a great finish – ultra-complex and floral – that’s a great ‘villages’ again.
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Marc
Attractive florals over a deeper width of more mineral aromatics. Mouth-filling, silken cool flavour that sweeps over the palate – a small softness to this texture but very fine shaped. A simply beautiful finish and wine.
2021 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Referts
2 different old-vine parcels
Extra width and yellow citrus freshness. Fine structure and more density. The melts its flavours beautifully over the palate and holds a long, narrow but haunting finish. Another beauty…
Pretty and very fine notes here – another wine of admirable clarity and attraction. Mouth-filling, generous flavours but supporting all is a fine structure. This is really impressively deep and broad in the finish – this finish is grand cru impressive. Bravo!
Domaine
Yes – great aromatics – density but never heavy. Wide-screen flavour – mineral at the base but concentrated and sizzling with complexity at the edges. Finishing with the weight of the last but much extra floral complexity. Grand Vin.