Winemaker Notes
Located at the same altitude of the Bâtard, on the north side of the Puligny appellation, and facing the famous Premier Cru Charmes in Meursault. This is the smallest holding of Puligny from Domaine Leflaive, bringing together the murisaltiens depth with the pulignieusiens minerality and elegance. A true gem!
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Pale in colour, with soft glossy white fruit, the pillow effect of classical Combettes. Team Leflaive have had to work hard to restore this vineyard to health, as it is a site that has suffered in hot dry conditions. There is fine life here though, with a proper mineral backbone, good juicy acidity, ripe fresh apples, in a finely woven texture. Very interesting. Barrel Sample: 93-95
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Vinous
The 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er Cru, which always suffers millerandage, has a taut, stony, Zen-like bouquet that, at the moment, is less flattering than the Les Folatières. This is going to bide its time. The palate is pretty complex, with a dab of lemon rind, a welcome bitterness and salinity, plus a very intense finish. The 2022 is one for Puligny diehards. I admire its aloofness and uncompromising nature.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and fleshy, this white features lemon, lime, green apple, honeysuckle and stone flavors. Turns more focused on the finish, where the acidity converges with a note of lemon. Ends with a long, spicy aftertaste.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes has been one of the highlights of the range in recent years, and it's often one of the domaine's earliest-ripening parcels. This year's rendition is attractive, exhibiting aromas of pear, orange zest, white flowers and hazelnuts, but the medium-bodied, delicately satiny palate can't quite match the texture and plenitude of recent renditions, lending the wine a somewhat understated, early-picked profile.
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.