Glorious White Burgundy
I must admit with my deep history in going to Burgundy, being friends with Dominique Lafon, Jean-Marc Roulot, Anne-Claude Leflaive, working 20 years at restaurant Montrachet whose namesake is the greatest of all dry white wines and 25 years of La Paulee, I have been privy to many a great white Burgundy.
However, the last several months have offered an embarrassment of riches that have reaffirmed for me just how great the expression of chardonnay can be when grown on the right terroir and guided by a master craftsman.
This cluster of great white Burgundies began in February with a historic tasting of Leflaive flagship wines, notably Puligny-Montrachet les Pucelles and Chevalier-Montrachet with a few Folatières and Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet.
The standouts for me were the Pucelles 2010 with its intense minerality, fine grain texture, saline, electric palate and long almost salty finish. The 1996 was a great ‘96 that escaped the dread of premature oxidation. Au Contraire. It was sparkling clear just entering a secondary phase yet sweet lemon blossom aromas and delicious texture. The 1995 was the surprise of the tasting for me. A vintage not known for its excellence but this one over delivered. Brilliant light gold reflections, orange, lemon peel and honeysuckle aromas, energetic and balanced. The 1989 was glorious for its youthful vigor and balance. The weight of the vintage was kept on a tightrope and like Muhammed Ali “The Greatest”, it “danced like a butterfly”.
Then the grand dame of the Domaine, Chevalier-Montrachet, that magical strip of gravelly limestone just above Le Montrachet itself. The best Chevaliers can rival a great Montrachet. They just are a little more wispy, ethereal and stony but maintain the complexity and intensity of its close neighbor.
The ‘99 was pale gold and had a hint of lemon blossom and flint. Very noble, saline and persistent on the palate. The kind of salinity that kept calling for another sip. The ‘96 was a touch disappointing showing signs of age before its time. The ‘95 was another great ‘95 with notes of honey, citrus, chamomile and mandarin. It reminded me of a warm summer day just after a long luxurious dip in a lake. The 1983 was golden in every way. Color and award winning. A nose of summer peaches and melon, flower blossoms. Palate coating with so much to say and ever changing with time in the glass. Forever young!
And then, last week I got to taste the heavyweight champions of the world. It is such a rare and precious honor to taste and drink Montrachet. Three legends in the making or, already legends. Comtes Lafon 2014, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2002 and the rarest of the rare Leflaive 2004. I am still pinching myself.
The Montrachet vineyard totals just under 8 hectares almost equally divided between Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
A fitting description of this wine comes from Abbé Arnoux writing in a treatise “Situation de Bourgogne” in 1728, “This wine has qualities of which neither Latin nor the French language can explain the sweetness…I am not able to describe the delicacy and excellence”.
Lafon Montrachet is a small ⅓ of an hectare parcel at the southern tip of Montrachet leaning ever so slightly to the south with great exposure and old vines. It was noble and if a taste could express itself as an image, it would be the crown emblem on the Lafon label. Classy.
The DRC, twice the size of the Lafon parcel, had the gravitas deserving of the Domaine. Its vines are just north of Lafon with the largest plot oriented east/west while Lafon is north/south. There are actually three parcels but both on the Chassagne side of the vineyard. The texture was so incredible, I could imagine chewing it. Often this wine has a late harvest aspect to it as it truly is one of the last to pick but this bottle was quite delicate for a DRC Montrachet.
The third of this trio was the Leflaive Montrachet, also on the Chassagne side.. They acquired this parcel in 1991. It measures 0.08 hectares. Just large enough to make about 250-280 bottles in an average year! I feel lucky to have tasted this wine. Few people have. This one did not disappoint. Sorry to not add tasting notes. Some things are best left unspoken. Like Abbé Arnoux said earlier, perhaps the English language is also lacking the proper words.
