2000 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

This wine was tasted informally at the Rusty Staub Charity Dinner, held in April 2015 at the Bouley Test Kitchen in New York City.

This wine was tasted over at The Modern, New York, in late December 2013 as part of a charity dinner to support the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.

There was so much malic acidity in the grapes in 2001 that we couldn't envision the post-malo wine," said winemaker Pierre Morey. Sugars were lower than those of 2000, as nothing much happened during the cool early September weather, but we still were able to avoid chaptalizing much of the crop," noted Morey. We needed to use sorting tables in the vines and in the winery, to eliminate rotten and underripe grapes, as well as those burned by the sun at the beginning of August. The rot came earlier in 2001 than in 2000; in 2000 it was mostly noble rot, which can give the wines more personality, but in 2001 it was especially important to eliminate the rotten grapes because they could have given a dry taste to the wines." Morey noted that Domaine Leflaive did not need to take advantage of the P.L.C. (the plafond limite de classement or the amount by which Burgundy growers are allowed to exceed the rendement de base or base yield), as the drawn-out flowering and millerandage as well as two bursts of hail - which caused significant crop loss in Clavoillons - resulted in yields 10% to 12% lower than those of 2000. This was a drier-style year favoring wines with a tendency to be fat, like Puligny Combettes and Batard-Montrachet," added Morey.

In Leflaive reorganized barrel cellar, the '99s were bottled without filtration for the first time, and by gravity rather than being pumped. For critics of this domain who often feel that the bottled wines don't quite deliver on the promise of the barrel samples, this may well be the necessary last piece of the puzzle: the '99s are a stunning set of white Burgundies built for mid-term aging. "The best thing about '99 was the extremely even ripeness of the fruit thanks to a quick and regular flowering," said winemaker Pierre Morey. "All the grapes were in a position to benefit from the September sun," he added. Morey describes the young 2000s as showing almost confectionery sweetness; they are also extremely tactile in the context of the vintage. The acid levels were a bit lower than those of '99 at the outset, but are now about the same, noted Morey. Crop levels were about 15% lower in 2000 than in '99. Morey describes the new vintage as "amiable"; he feared oxidative aromas at the start, but says that the wines have stabilized nicely in barrel. Leflaive is now retaining more of the lees for the levage and the early barrel samples in '99 and again in '00 show wild and sometimes gamey sulfide and leesy elements that call to mind the sexy winemaking style of Jean-Francois Coche. Morey is well-placed to compare the wines of Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and Meursault, since he has his own domain and negociant operation in Meursault. He told me that the malolactic fermentations were generally slower in Puligny than in Meursault in 2000 ("advantage to Puligny"), while in '99 the crop levels were less excessive in Meursault than in Puligny ("advantage to Meursault"). As of '99, the entire Leflaive domaine is farmed according to the precepts of biodynamie "Among other things, bio means deeper roots," notes Morey, "which means more minerality and thus more acidity," especially important for the structure of chardonnay in the ripe years.