Wine Advisor
Leflaive, Bienvenues Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2017
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Ripe-pear and intensely flinty aromas mingle in the nose of this youthful white Burgundy. Powerful tannin structure on the sleek and very focused palate with delicate candied orange on the creamy mid-palate. Then radical minerality bursts out at the very concentrated and long finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2023.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Like the Pucelles, the 2017 Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru is quite tensile and reserved, unfurling in the glass with aromas of green orchard fruit, iodine, orange rind and creamy new wood. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, textural and fleshy, but taut—even firm—at the core, with good concentration, tangy acid and a bright, chalky finish. Like all these releases, I'm looking forward to seeing it from bottle.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Ripe yellow stone fruits and hazelnut on the nose. Dense, sappy and quite dry, with its rather bracing acidity (at the high end for these '17s) giving the saline middle palate outstanding precision. This very tight wine is not yet displaying grand cru weight or palate presence but it spreads out and vibrates on the very long, pure, slowly building back end. This was the first '17 to finish both its alcoholic and malolactic fermentations, which may explain its peacock's tail of a finish.
About the Producer
Domaine Leflaive, based in Puligny-Montrachet, is one of the most important producers in the Côte de Beaune. Focusing almost entirely on white wines made from Chardonnay, the Domaine makes four grand cru wines and four premier crus in Puligny-Montrachet. The Domaine was founded by Joseph Leflaive, a former engineer. In 1905, he purchased vineyards in Puligny-Montrachet which had been ravaged by phylloxera, and set about replanting and expanding them. Upon his death in 1953, his sons Vincent and Jo took over the running of the estate, and are widely credited with building up the reputation that Leflaive enjoys today. In 1990, cousins Anne Claude and Olivier Leflaive took over the running of the estate, with Olivier leaving in 1994 to run his own negociant business. Anne Claude converted the vineyards to biodynamics and is considered a pioneer of that movement in Burgundy. After her death in 2015, her nephew Brice de la Morandiere has taken over the running of Domaine Leflaive. Domaine Leflaive's most important wine is arguably the Montrachet Grand Cru, which, depending on vintage, can fetch upwards of $5000 a bottle. The domaine also has land in Chevalier-Montrachet, Batard-Montrachet, and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, and makes a grand cru wine from each. Additional to this, there are several premier cru wines, the most important of which is probably the Les Clavoillon, which was one of the wines included in the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Domaine Leflaive also makes a sole red wine from Pinot Noir under the Blagny Sous le Dos d'Ane Premier Cru title.
