Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2018
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Jasper
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Winemaker Notes
Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru is a 100% biodynamic wine. The wine is aged 12 months in cask, 6 months in tank, then prepared for bottling. Homeopathic fining and very light filtering at bottling, if necessary.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Racy and elegant, revealing aromas and flavors of white flowers, lemon, citronella, hazelnut, iodide and mineral. Balanced in a youthful way, with plenty of exuberance and a beam of galvanizing acidity that defines the profile and extends the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru has turned out brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with sachets of orange oil, white flowers, crisp orchard fruit, blanched almonds, vanilla pod and buttered toast. Full-bodied, satiny and concentrated, it's deep and multidimensional, with racy acids and a long, electric finish. This is one 2018 white Burgundy that is built for sustained bottle age.
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Decanter
Some 2018 whites are pretty ripe and evolved, but this definitely isn't one of them. It's another very focused wine from the new team at Domaine Leflaive that marks a significant stylistic departure. Taut, tart and very mineral, it flirts with austerity but has enough weight and concentration for balance. The 20% new oak is deftly folded into the wine.
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Jasper Morris
Pale primrose colour. There is some reduction to the nose, with a touch of bacon. The acidity is coming across somewhat trenchantly at the moment, with citrus notes to finish. Not voluminous in overt fruit yet very intense. Very linear. Would go well with a scallop ceviche as long as it has not been prepared with too much lime juice.
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The roots of the Leflaive family go back to 1717 when Claude Leflaive took up residence in Puligny-Montrachet, intent upon cultivating several acres of vineyards. The domaine, in its present form, was created by Joseph Leflaive between the years of 1910-1930, as a result of his successive purchases of vineyards and houses. Domaine Leflaive has been entirely a family domaine since its creation. Brice de La Morandière, great-grandson of the founder, Joseph Leflaive, represents the fourth generation at the head of the domaine. In 2015, after an international corporate career, he succeeded Anne-Claude, pioneer in biodynamics. It is with the same philosophy of respect for the great terroirs, humility toward the forces of nature and relentless pursuit of excellence in viticulture and in winemaking that the domaine will continue to grow in the future.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A source of some of the finest, juicy, silky and elegantly floral Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet lies just to the north of Chassagne-Montrachet, a village with which it shares two of its Grands Crus vineyards: Le Montrachet itself and Bâtard-Montrachet. Its other two, which it owns in their entirety, are Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. And still, some of the finest white Burgundy wines come from the prized Premiers Crus vineyards of Puligny-Montrachet. To name a few, Les Pucelles, Le Clavoillon, Les Perrières, Les Referts and Les Combettes, as well as the rest, lie northeast and up slope from the Grands Crus.
Farther to the southeast are village level whites and the hamlet of Blagny where Pinot Noir grows best and has achieved Premier Cru status.