2001 Puligny Montrachet Les Combettes

With the exception of the estate’s Montrachet, my favorite 2001 from this famed domaine is the Puligny-Montrachet Combettes. Its beguiling nose reveals spiced/poached pear scents. On the palate, this light to medium-bodied offering reveals outstanding depth of fruit, a satiny texture, harmony, and loads of lush mineral, candied citrus, and spice flavors. It is supple, forward, broad, and seamless. Projected maturity: now-2008. To Pierre Morey, Domaine Leflaive’s winemaker, “2001 was not an easy vintage, but it made our work that much more interesting. Our vines faced rot, hail, heat (that burned some grapes), cold, then the onset of botrytis, making us sort grape by grape.” He went on to add, “so we knew on August 3rd, the day after the hail storm, that it was a sorting vintage . . . our next surprise was the acid balance, in which we found we had normal tartaric numbers but high malic acid, making the wines difficult to taste. We opted for an extended elevage, to get the noses to express themselves and the bodies to fill out.” According to Morey, all of the domaine’s Puligny parcels were struck by hail, having lost 20% of their production of Folatieres, slightly less in other parcels. Yields, though lower than in both 1999 and 2000, came in between 40 and 45 hectoliters per hectare, after the work on the sorting tables. When I asked Mr. Morey, a deeply honest man, whether he liked the 2001s, he said, “it’s not my favorite vintage of the last 10 years, but an interesting one, I’m intrigued to see how they will age and when they will be at their best.” Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661

With the exception of the estate’s Montrachet, my favorite 2001 from this famed domaine is the Puligny-Montrachet Combettes. Its beguiling nose reveals spiced/poached pear scents. On the palate, this light to medium-bodied offering reveals outstanding depth of fruit, a satiny texture, harmony, and loads of lush mineral, candied citrus, and spice flavors. It is supple, forward, broad, and seamless. Projected maturity: now-2008. ||To Pierre Morey, Domaine Leflaive’s winemaker, “2001 was not an easy vintage, but it made our work that much more interesting. Our vines faced rot, hail, heat (that burned some grapes), cold, then the onset of botrytis, making us sort grape by grape.” He went on to add, “so we knew on August 3rd, the day after the hail storm, that it was a sorting vintage . . . our next surprise was the acid balance, in which we found we had normal tartaric numbers but high malic acid, making the wines difficult to taste. We opted for an extended elevage, to get the noses to express themselves and the bodies to fill out.” According to Morey, all of the domaine’s Puligny parcels were struck by hail, having lost 20% of their production of Folatieres, slightly less in other parcels. Yields, though lower than in both 1999 and 2000, came in between 40 and 45 hectoliters per hectare, after the work on the sorting tables. When I asked Mr. Morey, a deeply honest man, whether he liked the 2001s, he said, “it’s not my favorite vintage of the last 10 years, but an interesting one, I’m intrigued to see how they will age and when they will be at their best.” Wine Advocate.June, 2003