Winemaker Notes
Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles Premier Cru is matured 12 months in cask, then aged 6 months in tank and prepared for bottling. Homeopathic fining and very light filtering at bottling, if necessary.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Fresh pale primrose. The bouquet is undeveloped at first but shows promise. A little bit of sulphur checks the back of the throat. Really fine intensity, white fruit, a touch of greengage, untogether at the moment but with fine potential. Indeed, there is immense potential, this may be the most concentrated wine of the day. In fact, for me the wine of the whole four day tasting event.
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Decanter
Domaine Leflaive own an extensive 2.8ha of this Premier Cru, with vines that run up the slope from bottom to top. Aged in 20% new wood, this is considerably tighter and more focused under new(ish) winemaker, Pierre Vincent, than it was in the past, sappy, taut, chiselled fruit flavours and appealing cinnamon spice. Needs more time in bottle.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles has also turned out very well, unwinding in the glass with aromas of fresh bread, pear, citrus oil, anise, yellow apple and toasted nuts. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and nicely concentrated, it's deep and seamless, with an elegant, charming profile. Could this evolve like a modern-day version of the domaine's stunningly good 1982?
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Wine Spectator
Reveals ripe flavors of melon, apple pie and lemon framed by vanilla and toast. Finds richness midpalate, before cleansing acidity sweeps in on the finish. The length reveals this wine's future potential. Best from 2023.
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.