| Score: |
98 WSM.
"Commanding beauty is rarely as subtle as this Chevalier-Montrachet, the curves of its flavor bringing the kind of emotional reaction that few wines have the power to achieve. The details of the flavor roll around in the mouth for minutes, bringing memories of moments in time—a summer sun shower, a long chord at the end of a piano concerto, Margot Fonteyn in La Bayadère. Over the top? Perhaps, but those are the bits and pieces of my notes that bring the wine back more clearly for me than the rest. It's hard to imagine a more perfect outcome for chardonnay planted on the austere limestone soils of the Montrachet hill—though this was not a perfect vintage. Perhaps its weaknesses may show with time. If so, that would be a long time, as four days of air only improve on its freshness and layered complexity. There is no better example of the brilliant farming at Domaine Leflaive. Not to be missed." Wine & Spirits Magazine, Apr 2011 |