2014 Leflaive, Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 6x75cl

JancisRobinson.com – 17.5

Sweet and broad and charming on the nose. Great green-golden charm with real energy and breadth. [12/11/2015]

Anticipated maturity: 2021-2033

Robert Parker – 93-95

The 2014 Bienvenue Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru has a come-hither bouquet that is very immediate: passion fruit, apricot blossom, cold stone and even a faint touch of strawberry winegums. The palate is well balanced with a keen line of acidity, good weight in the mouth with a touch of citrus lemon and lime, but perhaps just needing more complexity and terroir expression to come through on the finish. This is one of the best 2014 Bienvenues that I have come across — an absolute delight. My first ever visit to Domaine Leflaive was in 1997, my first ever in the strangest of places called Burgundy. My memories are vague, but it might well have been my first ever visit to the wine region — back then playing second fiddle to all-conquering Bordeaux. Burgundy was for those that could not afford Bordeaux at a time when Bordeaux was actually affordable. I think I met Anne-Claude briefly on that occasion, just to say hello, but it was somebody else dipping pipette into barrel. Some 18 years later, and this is the first time that I have visited the domaine, and the matriarch has gone. I cannot deny that it is strange, like visiting a house when the owners are out. Of course, they are not. I am met my Brice de la Morandie, one of many shareholders in the estate, the one who has grabbed hold of the tiller after Anne-Claude’s untimely passing last year. He cuts a very different figure: sartorially immaculate in tweed jacket, handkerchief neatly folded into breast pocket, cutting the figure of a businessman as well as winemaker (and there is nothing wrong with that). I am here to assess the wines and he is probably here to assess me and doubtless, other importers and scribes that will visit over the next couple of months. [28/09/2017]

Anticipated maturity: 2017-2035