2012 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er Cru
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind at the Burgundy 2012 tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Combettes is a very subtle one, keeping its cards close to its chest and as such I underestimated this wine. It is showing a lot of new oak on the nose that smothers the terroir delineation after the impressive Combettes 2012 from Jean-Marc Boillot. The palate is phenolic on the entry. There is a lot of substance here but it is quite difficult to discern the finesse. I was just wanting more drive and ambition, and it is only through time that is gradually coalesces and reveals its breeding. Give it two or three more years in bottle. I don't think this is one of the late Anne-Claude Leflaive's best wines of the vintage, but it should repay cellaring.
Critic scores
Neal Martin
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Bright light-medium yellow. Sexy yellow fruit aroma lifted by ineffable high notes of lavender, jasmine and sea salt. Suave and silky but youthfully imploded; for all its power and inner-mouth tension, this wine conveys an impression of delicacy and weightlessness. The very long, penetrating finish shows strong saline minerality and lemony grip. Last year Eric Remy told me that this splendid premier cru had a pH of 3.0 and 4.6 grams per liter of residual sugar.
About the producer
Domaine Leflaive is arguably Burgundy’s most famous white wine producer, setting the benchmark for top-quality Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune and the world. The property is the largest land-owner in Puligny-Montrachet, with extensive holdings in the village and five hectares of Grand Cru vineyards