While 05-16 may not be my favorite era of Leflaive (08 & 14 excluded), tonight 2013 is excellent, exceeding expectations and still markedly youthful. It’s rich, mineral and incisive with fantastic depth and layers, wafting waves of yellow orchard fruit, lilies, toasted sesame and lemon zest. The palate is deep and full bodied with piercing citrusy acids and a long mineral and saline finish. When Leflaive hits it hits 🤩 — 2 years ago
Consumed as a pop-and-pour, as my wife decided she wanted to drink it ASAP instead of decanting, ha. My previous thoughts hold true that Aubert’s Hudson is consistently the most approachable of the portfolio in its youth.
Yellow-gold in the glass with the slightest tinge of green. Everything about this is undeniably Aubert…aromatics of tropical fruit (pineapple), white peaches, nutmeg, and honey roasted cashews. I find Hudson fruit to normally be big/juicy with an abundance of ripe yellow fruit, and this has it in spades. Aubert’s signature waves of lemon cream with marzipan and spiced green apple on the palate. The acidity seemed more pronounced here than previous vintages at this age, which added a nice backbone to the hedonistic style profile of the wine. Great now, likely great in 5yrs, but this seems ready for corks to be popped! — 3 years ago
When Lafon is on they’re as good as any name in white Burgundy. 2012 Genevrieres is superb after sufficient air, seamlessly balanced between richness and elegance and perfectly developed wafting waves of defined fruit, pastry cream, butterscotch and toasted almonds within its layered minerality. It wraps around the palate with killer concentration and density and a massively long, silky finish. Top tier Chardonnay. — 3 months ago
Apple cider vinegar, cloud burst, 00 pizza flour. Slight funk $35 waves. — 2 years ago
Just rock-solid Châteauneuf, this is exemplary and for me personally my exact sweet-spot in terms of the varied styles from this region. The nose takes a little coaxing, but has a great yin / yang profile of pure, fresh blue fruit, liquorice, violets, and garrigue, versus seared meat, iron and loamy earth. This all puts it square in the middle of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ schools, broadly speaking, and it’s a wine that has the best of both worlds as a result.
The palate is huge, an iron fist in a glove of velvet and so much more, but in no way imbalanced or over-extracted - not overtly alcoholic, at a modest 14%. It spreads out in waves across the palate, ripples which are felt long after the finish. This is clearly a baby now, but it drinks well and will see its 20th birthday in damn fine fettle. Excited to have a case in the cellar.
Decanting not required nor recommended. — 2 years ago
So beautiful. Packed herbal notes lie under a nutty front. On the palate the magic happens: it explodes with mineralityy in waves, electric acidity (yes, acidity, in grüner), lemon zest and oil, tingling for 30+ seconds — 5 months ago
Waves. Mild funk. — 3 years ago
Lee Pitofsky
Disg. 2/14 (07 base)…Always my favorite of the Lieux-Dits and without question one of the very best Blanc de Blancs Champagnes on the planet, it’s particularly special to have with some bottle age. It’s absolutely as stunning as hoped—rich and powerful with crazy depth to its layers with a deep, complex core of caramelized orchard fruit, roasted nuts, old rum barrels and candied white flowers, all with seamless integration. The palate is generous and detailed, with racy acids, waves of saline laced, chalky Le Mesnil minerals and a finish that just stays with you. A BdB benchmark, legendary bubbles. — 2 months ago