TN: 2000 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles

  • 2000 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru (1/11/2012)
    It would be grossly unfair to describe the toasty note on this wine simply as toast, where someone may get the mental image of some pedestrian tip top bread popping up from a standard Breville 2 slice upright toaster. This is posh toast, think perhaps of a slice of Poilane bread that has been toasted over embers created by burning some exotic wood, this is toast that is worthy of being called pain grille. There’s a drizzle of honey too, posh honey that’s sourced from a Ligurian bee. It is classy, balanced and in a remarkably good place right now. It has lovely shape with a fruit sweet heart and a precision thanks in no small part to the breezy, minerally acidity. There are subtle nuances of lemon oil, white flowers and nougat and the palate is high glycerol yet weightless and airy. It finishes with tremendous length of flavour and is one of the very best white wines I’ve had over the past 12 months.

Posted from CellarTracker

Great note indeed Jeremy.

Nice to see the Pucelles tracking well. Must admit, I haven’t had one for a while.

Good '00’s are still very, very good, and perhaps now better than the '02’s…

I had a bottle of the 1999 last year. I included it in a blind tasting that I hosted and it probably needed more time than it got – it was pretty heavily imbued with a burnt matchstick note that I think was starting to recede when I ran out of my pour.

Paul, I really like the 00’s and have them up with 07 as my favourite white vintage of the last decade.

Chris, one man’s burnt matchstick is another’s perfectly toasted piece of Poilane bread. I have had the 99 a couple of times and it does breathe up very well. It may be a bit more powerful than the 00 but my slight preference is for the 00.

Best Regards
Jeremy

Love you notes Jeremy.

Always great notes Jeremy. So you’d say these are ready ?

Hi Jeremy,

Slowly working my way through a case. Every one consistently great. Spot on TN.

Anthony.

Thanks for sharing the note. Chablis 2000’s certainly a great vintage for me.

This is the one 1er from Leflaive that can punch at a Grand Cru level.

I have yet to have a disappointing 2000 from Leflaive. I was tipped off as to how good the 2000s where when, 6 years ago, the sommelier at Taillevent recommended I try a 2000 Chevalier instead of the 1996. Back then, the 2000s were a steal (relatively speaking !). They’ve since repriced themselves. Similarly, I love the '01s, although they’ve been bid up recently as well

No doubt about this at all, I have myself a few times used this wine to trick people before, especially the '99, as Jeremy notes, it is a big, powerful and sulphury number that look quite Batard like…

Boo. I opened one of the 2000 pucelles about 11 months ago and it was super fat and almost flabby. None of that wonderful intensity I get from leflaive.

Glad it’s taken a BIG step forward! Have one more bottle.

Lovely note, good to see no premox. It wasn’t too fat considering it was a 2000?

I tried an 02 and it was oxidized… Even bigger Boo. I have one left and hoping it is better, but I have sworn off white Burgs due to this issue.

Back when I was still willing to pay for my own White Burg I bought a couple of cases of the 2000 Leflaive Bourgogne. Other than 3 corked bottles all were delicious and far above what one would expect from a normal Bourgogne Blanc.

great note jeremy! i’m a fan of leflaive’s 00 (only tried a couple). some have been ‘rich’, but at the right moment it’s glorious.

Charlie,

Possibly storage related as bad storage can cause this to happen (I have had mine since release, as probably has Jeremy), or perhaps you just didn’t give it enough time to open…

We had an '02 Chevalier a few months ago that seemed initially quite fat, before it tightened up (after about an hour or so), and showed it’s more leaner mineral side.

My very first bottles of premoxed Leflaives were 02 Folatieres and 02 Clavoillon, same night. Up until that point I had thought Leflaive immune from the scourge. Since then I have been hearing reports from others of premoxed Leflaives, mostly, it seems, from 2002 on. A wine buyer who used to buy them in multiple case lots has now stopped entirely…I had figured he was over-reacting until I started hearing this from other sources as well. Just read an unsettling note in the Underground Wine Letter of a premoxed 08 Leflaive, can’t remember which one, but boy that seems early! As to 2002’s in general, I am not liking where they are going…even the non-premoxed ones are making me regret that I bought a bit too heavily in that vintage, and I am drinking through them at a clip. Another example of a vintage that was hyped for white burgs and could be used as evidence, IMO, that if a vintage is hyped you should run the other way.

I’ve had a premoxed Folatieres before also, (and a couple of beauties as well), but have now drunk through all my '02 1’ers (as I have in fact, most other '02 WB’s) as I don’t really like the direction the seem to be heading in general now.

The Leflaive Batard can be a bit big/rich looking also, but is still pretty good, and I only have a couple left, so no real dramas. I am happy with my remaining Chevaliers and where they are placed, but I will probably still drink them over then next 2-4 years (unless something drastic changes).

'08 Leflaive premoxed would be hard (but not impossible) to believe, although it might perhaps be one of a general cork failure leading to oxidation rather than premox. The '08 Leflaives I have had recently (all the GC’s) all had plenty of sulphur in them.

Saying that though, nothing is impossible anymore as far as premoxed whites go, as a recent '07 Coche Rouget being premoxed well showed…