2014 Domaine Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Pucelles 1x750ml

Vinous 92+

(bottled eight days before my visit): Very pure aromas of peach, lemon cream and spices lifted by a floral topnote. More tightly wound than the Combettes but with terrific lemony cut giving the middle palate a sharply chiseled, airy feel. Very pure and clean on the back end, with brisk acidity extending the perfumed, floral finish. Showing less dimension today than the Combettes but this is still a bit compressed by the recent bottling. [Stephen Tanzer, 01/09/2016]

Anticipated maturity: 2022-2033

Robert Parker 91-93

The 2014 Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Pucelles was showing some reduction on the nose when I tasted it from vat. The palate is also a little reduced, but there is good material here and there is precision towards the minerally finish; though what it needs to develop is just a touch more aftertaste. After three or four minutes, it does seem to find its voice and articulate the terroir, but my overriding impression is of a wine that will require 3-4 years in bottle. My first ever visit to Domaine Leflaive was in 1997, my first ever in the strangest of places called Burgundy. My memories are vague, but it might well have been my first ever visit to the wine region — back then playing second fiddle to all-conquering Bordeaux. Burgundy was for those that could not afford Bordeaux at a time when Bordeaux was actually affordable. I think I met Anne-Claude briefly on that occasion, just to say hello, but it was somebody else dipping pipette into barrel. Some 18 years later, and this is the first time that I have visited the domaine, and the matriarch has gone. I cannot deny that it is strange, like visiting a house when the owners are out. Of course, they are not. I am met my Brice de la Morandie, one of many shareholders in the estate, the one who has grabbed hold of the tiller after Anne-Claude’s untimely passing last year. He cuts a very different figure: sartorially immaculate in tweed jacket, handkerchief neatly folded into breast pocket, cutting the figure of a businessman as well as winemaker (and there is nothing wrong with that). I am here to assess the wines and he is probably here to assess me and doubtless, other importers and scribes that will visit over the next couple of months. [12/01/2015]

Anticipated maturity: 2018-2033