2012 Domaine Leflaive, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 1x750ml

Vinous 97+

Bright yellow. Pure aromas of pineapple, crushed stone and menthol; comes across as riesling-like compared to the Batard. Creamy-sweet, fine-grained and utterly seamless, showing an impossibly light touch to its bracing grapefruit, lemon and mineral flavors. A brilliant combination of the velvety lower part of the appellation and the tension and minerality of the top of Chevalier-Montrachet. Echoes and expands on the brilliantly pure, vibrant back end. The crop level here was just 22 hectoliters per hectare, according to winemaker Remy. [Stephen Tanzer, 01/09/2014]

Robert Parker 94-96

The 2012 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru has very fine precision on the nose, expanding all the time with mineral notes, then later, dried flowers accompanied by a faint hint of licorice. The palate is very well-balanced and very powerful, much more than the Bienvenue and Batard-Montrachet. This has real density and poise with a long lime-tinged finish. This is a sophisticated wine, erudite and subtle, one not predisposed to flaunt itself in the flush of youth, but likely to repay 8 to 10-years aging. Anne-Claude Leflaive made a brief appearance during my tasting at the domaine since she was hastening off to Italy. I have been visiting here for as long as I can remember, first meeting former winemaker Pierre Morey in the 1990s. Back in those days, the tenets of biodynamism were evident, although back then I did not really understand them. Today, there is almost evangelism towards Steiner’s philosophy, not in a monomaniacal sense, rather a strong belief that Anne-Claude’s wines would be pale shadows without them. Parking outside their gates, it was good to be back after a three-year absence. Nothing much had changed. On this occasion it was Antoine Repetit de la Bigne who escorted me down to the stainless-steel vats where the final blends were resting prior to bottling, which is where I always taste. I wondered whether finally I would hear “Oui” when I ask whether I could taste their single barrel of Montrachet? I decided not to ask. That would be rude. Antoine told me that the harvest began on September 14 and everything was picked by September 21. Of course, I had to bring up the topic of hail damage. Antoine explained that here it was de facto the second hail storm on August 1 that inflicted the most damage, particularly on their parcels of village cru. In the end, Leflaive ended up losing approximately half their crop depending up the vineyard. “Fortunately it was just before veraison so the berries did not have a lot of juice in them,” Antoine informed me, clambering up the ladder to dip his pipette into another vat. “Curiously, even the big berries had little juice. It was important to apply the treatments quickly so that the vines do not become stressed and retard the vegetative cycle. We used nettle and velarian (a source of phosphorous) that were both very effective. Then when it came to sorting, the vibrating table de trie was crucial.” Many of the treatments had to be done on foot, much to the chagrin of the team plodding through the vines in their heavy muddy boots. Usually for the last three years it has been horses hooves in the vineyard. However, in 2012 it was found that two human legs were better than four equine ones. It is always an intellectual as well as satisfying sensory exercise tasting through Anne-Claude Leflaive’s wines. It always serves as a lesson in terroir expression: same grape, same approach. As so often I find, those not wishing to spend too much money ought to head directly from their village cru, their Puligny-M [12/01/2013]