Leflaive Puligny Montrachet les Combettes 1er Cru 2008 1500ml

Burghound.com/Tasted: Feb 01, 2011
Readers may remember that last year the '08 Combettes had not even started its malo at the time of my February visit (more than 16 months after the harvest!) and thus it was not rated. Well, I am very happy to report that it has turned out marvelously well with an ultra-fresh nose of mildly exotic yellow orchard fruit aromas trimmed in floral and wood components. There is excellent richness, size, weight and punch to the medium weight plus flavors that brim with dry extract that both coats the palate and buffers the very firm acidity on the driving, even explosive finish that is stunningly long. This is quite simply an extraordinary wine and it is not an exaggeration to say that the '08 is the best young Leflaive Combettes that I have ever seen.

Domaine Leflaive is the most famous estate in Puligny-Montrachet. Anne-Claude Leflaive became co-gérant of this famous Puligny domaine in 1990 - she move towards an organic approach to her vineyards.
After seven years of experiments, with one third of the domaine biodynamic and two thirds organic, the whole domaine was converted to biodynamic farming in 1997, following in the footsteps of Lalou Bize-Leroy and Nicolas Joly.
Leflaives have been extant in Puligny since 1717 but the real founder of the domaine was Joseph (1870-1953) who was succeeded by two of his sons, Vincent and Jo. Responsibility in today’s generation was at first shared by cousins Olivier and Anne-Claude Leflaive, with the latter taking sole responsibility from 1994. The domaine will lose Olivier’s share of the vineyards from 2009.
Leflaive has 22 hectares of vineyards, including 10 hectares of Premiers Crus (in Puligny Montrachet: Les Combettes, Les Pucelles, Les Clavoillons, Les Folatieres/Les Chalumeaux and in Blagny: Sous le Dos d'Ane) and no fewer than 5 hectares of Grands Crus (Chevalier Montrachet, Batard Montrachet, Bienvenues Batard Montrachet).

Meats, Chicken and Turkey