1996 Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles

The opening flight of Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles from Domaine Leflaive was utterly staggering. The 2002 was seamless, ripe, opulent and intricately woven, with a kaleidoscopic, vivid expression of fruit that was breathtaking. The 1996 showed more advanced notes of smoke, tar and licorice, all wrapped around a massive core of fruit. It was a profound Pucelles. The 1989 was soft, subtle and delicate, with pretty, minty notes that added freshness on the finish.

The Leflaive wines were served in pairs, which gave tasters an invaluable opportunity to compare the estate’s Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles with the Chevalier-Montrachet across three vintages; 2002, 1996 and 1983. Les Pucelles is a 1er cru and Chevalier-Montrachet is, of course, a grand cru, but in all three flights I preferred the Pucelles for their greater verve, minerality and freshness. The Chevalier-Montrachets favored a more full-bodied, opulent expression of fruit which was certainly magnificent, but offered less complexity than the Pucelles. At this level, though, that was truly splitting hairs as all six wines from Leflaive were breathtaking. Leflaive’s 1996 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles (magnum) showed breathtaking richness in a dense, weighty style. Exotic fruit intermingled with smoke and liquefied rocks as this full-bodied Burgundy opened up in the glass. Superb length and a clean, refreshing finish rounded out this gorgeous white. The 1996 Chevalier-Montrachet (magnum) was more advanced in its tertiary aromas and flavors. Honey, roasted nuts and truffles emerged as this richly-textured wine opened up in the glass. As beautiful as it was, I expected a little more freshness for a grand cru white at this age, notwithstanding everything that has been written about the early maturation of this vintage. The Citrus Cured Fluke that was served with the 2002s and 1996s was sublime.