Olivier Leflaive – 2015

21.12.2016billn

Tasted in Puligny-Montrachet with Frank Grux, 14 December 2016.

Olivier Leflaive
Place du Monument
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 95 27
www.olivier-leflaive.com

Frank on 2016:
2016, it was clearly a complicated vintage. All was wet to start with, and after no winter to speak of. The probability of frost here is less than 1% but it came, and I’ve never seen it like that. Lots of vines were seriously touched. We started harvesting the 20 September, paying lots of attention to avoid botrytis. The vines fermented nicely dry, similarities to 2013 maybe with a hint more fat. Of course that’s today…

Frank on 2015:
2015 was, overall, a decent yield, but in some areas it was rather low. I like it very much, I haven’t seen such fine grapes both colours for a long tome. We chose to harvest relatively early, not the first, but on 26 August we began in some great terroirs, preferring only to harvest in the mornings. We finishes 12 September. In the cuverie there was a lot of attention to the wood and batonnage. Clearly it’s a warm vintage, but they are compact wines, and they don’t show that warmth. All malos completed to termination.

The wines…

Of-course there is heft here, but I could really be tasting 2014s here vs the ‘quieter’ wines of some producers. The 2014s were great here, but I think the 2015s even better – in the context of the vintage.

We have 15 hectares of vines but we harvest 45 hectares!” says Frank.

2015 Chablis Les Deux Rives
‘Not a big cuvée but made with pleasure.’ About 10 different parcels blended from around the appellation, no wood, bottled in July.
Perfect Chablis nose, freshness and salinity with a good weight of aroma too. Round, but fresh, mouth-watering and with a little citrus. Very nice length here. Excellent entry wine!

2015 Bourgogne Blanc Les Sétilles
Already bottled, almost 60 different parcels, mainly from the communes of Puligny and Meursault, but a little Hautes Côtes too.
A bright and fresh nose, with a suggestion of reduction. A little extra sweetness and bright flavour. Vivacious, tasty wine. Yum!

2015 Bourgogne Blanc Oncle Vincent
Only domaine vines in the commune of Puligny, elevage in oak before racking.
A little reduction and a lot of depth. In the mouth this has the complexity of a good villages. Less overt energy as the Setilles, but frankly it doesn’t need it. Really a composed and very tasty wine of quite enough freshness. Lovely lip-smacking freshness – really!

2015 Montagny 1er Cru
Three different 1ers in here 80% in barrel.
A modest nose, with a hint of reduction. In the mouth, this is bright with a lovely intensity in the middle – fine citrus fruit. Super finish really, nice texture too. Bravo!
2015 Rully Rabourcé
A large cuvee here.
Some weight here with very fine top notes. Fine, indeed excellent mid-palate of intense flashes of very fine citrus fruit. Really another ‘modest’ label with far from modest content! Very fine last notes in the mouth, citrus and phenolics – a great combination – on e to remember.
2015 St.Romain Sous le Chateau
3 small parcels, all in-barrel elevage followed by 3 months in tank, bottled. Pretty much the last harvested.
A big nose full of citrus and noble reduction – drink me! Bright fresh, delicious, wine, needs just an ounce more focus to be outstanding, but it’s anyway close. I could drink this with pleasure all year!

2015 Auxey-Duresses
From the continuation of Meursault on the higher slopes. Bottled beginning of August.
Also a little reduction with a clearer agrume note. Fresh, wide, more obvious volume, but no fat. Beautiful finishing points of fresh citrus – another honey of a wine – to drink!

2015 St.Aubin 1er Le Chatagniere
Another nose with a little reduction and a lot agrumes. Bright, intense, fine line of flavour, melting flavour. Excellent. Broad and long finishing – a beauty!

2015 St.Aubin 1er En Remilly
Another deep, complex nose. Bigger, more intense more dynamic, wow wine – bravo! Just brilliant! A texture of tannin in the finish too…

The previous wines were already in bottle, the following are all tank or barrel samples.

2015 Meursault
An assembly of about a dozen parcels; a mix of about 60% lower slopes and 40% higher slopes.
A big, fresh nose. Beautiful, layered, but fresh, flavour. Wide, complex, just a faint plushness, but beautifully fresh. Excellent

2015 Meursault Les Tillets
A more top to bottom nose, very faintly reduced. Bigger in shape, silkier, a fine line of bright and intense flavour grows in the middle. Very nice.

2015 Meursault 1er Poruzots
A vibrant nose – wow. Fine volume, really mouth-filling, hardly any fat, but super texture. Alive and fresh. Layers of fresh finishing flavour. Bravo!

2015 Meursault 1er Les Charmes
4 different parcels covering bottom, middle and top.
Super depth, a little more weight, fine freshness. A layered wine. Flavour arriving in small waves, but this a Charmes of freshness and fine interest. Really a bigger, wider panorama in the finish – wide and very long – excellent again. What length!

2015 Meursault 1er Genevrières? There is none. Frank turned down the ‘opportunity’ of buying for the equivalent of 50 Euros a bottle – to him pre-elevage!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet
Three domaine vines plus 6 purchased.
Something mineral and a little floral. Big, fresh, mineral, exciting wine – melting from the core. Great villages!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Marc
One of three proprietors – in Vergers.
Herby, floral and really interesting with a depth of pretty reduction. Mouth-filling, more complex, today a little less together than the village, yet the finishing flavours are outstanding – taste and length!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Abbaye de Morgeot
Domaine vines.
A pretty nose – it’s both floral and deep with very fine focus. Large-scaled, more classic, powerful, energetically fresh Chassagne – not a hint of fat – just great flavour! I love the finish…

2015 Puligny-Montrachet
More aromatic width, yellow citrus, but fresh, faintly phenolic. Wide, super intensity in the middle yet cushioned all around – really a mouth-filling wine. A hint of phenolic in the finish makes this really lip-smacking. Super!

2015 Puligny-Montrachet Les Meix
From below Pucelles
A little reduction on this nose. Fresher, more mineral, with growing intensity – classic Puligny tension. Long finishing just another beautiful wine. With a finishing mmmmmm….

2015 Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignières
From 4 different parcels.
A wide, perfectly fresh, prettily complex nose – a little more elevage and I expect a beautiful clarity. Mineral, transparent, very fine clarity of energy here. Great potential.

2015 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Referts
A big open and fresh nose, yet in terms of what to find, a little tighter than most. A little more depth and weight of flavour, a little more saline too. The finish is a beauty though.

2015 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Folatières
Deep, fresh, attractive and a little floral too. Rather mineral, muscled intensity, completely fresh balance. A wine waiting to show more, I’m sure, but there’s really a reserve here. What potential…

2015 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Pucelles
Domaine.
Vibrant, possibly the best nose so far. Mouth-filling but not scarily so. Mouth-watering, gorgeously so, complex and tastily so. A great wine.
2015 Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet
From a long-term contract.
A big nose, complex and fresh – it doesn’t get much better (okay, maybe the Pucelles today!) – volume, freshness, focus and complexity – not always easy to get both. Layered in the mid-palate, just another beautiful thing. Fabulous finish!
2015 Bâtard-Montrachet
Bought grapes from 4 parcels, two in Puligny, two in Chassagne.
Deep, deep, but fresh too. Like the last wine with a little finer, silkier texture. That said there is still something extra here, it’s a quiet brilliance, hard to believe that there’s such another level above the Bienvenues!
2015 Chevalier-Montrachet
Domaine – from the middle near Michel Niellon.
A larger scaled nose, with modest reduction but that’s the main aromatic for all that. Big, extra mineral, a little extra fat too. Direct, fabulous, but unusually I think I might rather enjoy the Bâtard today, despite the excellence here. Class in the finish. Just a great wine!

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;