The Greatest Premier in Puligny
2008 Domaine Leflaive
1er Cru Puligny-Montrachet Pucelles
Flirting with Grand Cru Elegance and Longevity
When Bobby and I visited Leflaive this summer, we wondered what the encore would be like after the house's legendary 2007s. Was it possible for the 08s to live up to their predecessors?
Was it ever.
Quite simply, the combination of vineyards, quality and history at Leflaive is phenomenal.
Anne-Claude Leflaive and her team have, between 07 and 08, crafted two absolutely, mindbendingly good vintages. The 2008s are painfully intense, with tremendous cut and minerality to them, but they also play host to a really deep richness that should make them wildly long-lived wines... the 08 Pucelles, in particular.
I wrapped up my scrawled tasting note for this wine with "just killer." And while I was glowing nearly across the board with Leflaive's wines, the 08 Pucelles is one that really sticks out from my time there. Perhaps in part because, as outstanding as all of Leflaive's wines are, the 1er Cru Pucelles' undeniable greatness comes at approximately half the price of the Grands.
This bottle certainly flirts with the elegance, the structure, the ageworthiness of the Grands from the best makers of white Burgundy. But just try to find a bottle of Leflaive Chevalier, Lafon Montrachet or Coche Corton-Charlemagne at anywhere near $160.
Pucelles is widely regarded as the greatest 1er in Puligny - like Meursault Perrières, it's the "grandest" of its village's 1ers, and Leflaive's stands prominently at the front of the Pucelles pack. This 08 is beautiful, with a nose full of extroverted fruit and white flowers that are incredibly mouthwatering when they reach the palate, with precise balance, tension and focus despite its roundness, its generosity. The influence of oak adds only structure and framework, not flavor or aromas.
In a vintage like this, the Pucelles is certainly a 20-year wine, no problem. If you're getting this offer today, you're probably already familiar with this. We'll wrap this up and let the wine and its price speak for themselves today. The Burghound's tasting note is below for reference, and keep in mind that good things often come in small parcels - in today's case, a parcel of OWC six-packs. Please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463 to let us know if you're interested in a few bottles, and we'll work out the allocations.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits
2008 Leflaive 1er Puligny Pucelles
Burghound: A textbook Pucelles nose of honeysuckle and citrus is trimmed in a discreet application of oak that does not continue over to the delicious, round and quite generous medium-bodied flavors that possess excellent depth on the focused and unusually powerful finish. There is an ample amount of underlying tension that adds relief to the otherwise densely concentrated dry exact.
Wine is pre-arrival