Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru 1996 750ml

Wine Advocate #123 Jun 1999
The 1996 Chevalier-Montrachet displays massive ripeness in its fresh marzipan and honeysuckle aromatics. Flavors of silica, grilled nuts, sun-baked stones, straw, hops, and limes can be found in this hyper-focused wine. Its medium-to-full body is magnificently balanced and precise, yet broad, thick, and rich. This is a fabulously elegant offering that combines brawny power with elegance and class. It should reach its peak in 2006, yet will easily hold through 2015 given proper cellaring. Bravo!

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