Community Tasting Notes 81

• The Vines That Bind wrote: 94 points

  December 9, 2023 - Two bottles of this, one too advanced and oxidized, and this second bottle very good, improved tremendously and came to life after an hour. More age and development than my May 2021 note. Nose is distinctively Leflaive with the sulfur and flint. On this particular bottle the fruit is especially ripe and golden, probably a little more advanced than the cleanest bottles although this is entirely drinkable and enjoyable. A lot of different savory spices here, saffron. A rare thing that you hope for if the showing is short of spectacular off the pop, this actually cleaned up and became fresher with time and air, maybe could have decanted? A big wine, powerful, majestic, texturally softer and lighter than Bâtard.

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• Frank Schneider wrote: 98 points

  October 23, 2023 - Sooo fresh ! Never guessed 21 y old. I great great wine. Wood very well integrated. Huge pricerange ! Lovely

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• hprphf wrote: 93 points

  September 23, 2023 - Lightly older than when one wants it to be, pear, apricot, yellow fruit, good concentration. Funny how last time also drank this next to 02 Raveneau MdT. 93

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• burginner Likes this wine: 92 points

  September 23, 2023 - Not premoxed but not the best bottle. Slight oxidative note with lesser expression than expected.

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• Kim Gerner wrote: 95 points

  November 3, 2021 - Domaine Leflaive vertical winetasting dinner (rest. FB (KG arr)): I have been so fortunate to be able to buy directly from the Cellars of Domaine Leflaive 3 rebottled and reconditioned Chevalier and Batard Montrachet 1997 and 2002. First time I taste that old Leflaive. Domaine Leflaive is one of my favourite producers but I have had so many disappointments because of premox. Last time related to 3 (three) bottles of Chevalier Montrachet 2007 - all of them premoxed...
  The purpose of this winetasting dinner was to test these extremely rare old bottles in perfect condition against younger vintages. Let me immediately reveal the conclusion: No premox at all, so far so good. My favourite was Chevalier M 2002 with a little fresh fruit left but dominated by dried fruit (95+) close followed by Batard M 2015 with lots of fresher primary fruit (95). The two 1997 (chevalier and Batard) were in perfect condition but too tertiary for me in comparison to both 2002 and 2015 - no fresh fruit at all, only dried fruit left (mainly apricot) (both 94).
  
  The tasting's sixth wine was Chevalier M 2002. As mentioned my personal favourite of the evening. It was the same for 3 out of my 9 participants. (The other 6 had had Batard M 2015 as the winner). Gold colour, but no oxidation at all. Still a little fresh fruit left (I would have liked more) and a lot of tertiary notes from dried fruit and honey. Because of that many tertiary notes I would not have guessed Domaine Leflaive in a blind tasting. Among others I did not get the typical toast/popcorn notes. Nevertheless an outstanding wine, 95+. I believe a vintage 2007 in perfect condition would have been the optimal mix between primary and tertiary notes with an extremely high score. Sad I have never found such a bottle without premox.

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Pro Reviews 12

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2002
• Type White
• Producer Domaine Leflaive
• Varietal Chardonnay
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Burgundy
• SubRegion Côte de Beaune
• Appellation Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 29 (2%)
• In Cellars 679 (54%)
• Consumed 547 (44%)

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