WTN: 2000 Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet

Enjoyed over dinner with friends and a rather high-end restaurant, in a rural setting that charges only a $5.00 corkage! Can't beat that with a stick.

Color: Pale yellow.

Nose: Subdued in the manner of other white Burgs I have tasted. Definitely doesn't clear your sinuses in the manner of some North American offerings. If anything a hint of citrus.

Taste: Initially way too acidic, again in the same vein as other white Burgs. We set it aside for about 15 minute before giving it another shot. This time it was delicious. Zippy, yet delicate, with a nice fresh minerality and wonderful peach notes. Some apple notes mixed in there as well, but a "zero" on the oak scale. How I love unoaked chardonnay (memo to California ).

Food pairing: Finished my glass with only bread and a bite of a summer roll. It would not have been a good match for the lambchop main course which I enjoyed with a 2000 Chateau de Pez red Bordeaux. Notes to come.

Puligny-Montrachet is OK. You know, if wonderfully intense, mineral, seamless, PERFECT Chardonnay is your thing... Puligny is my favorite White Burgundy Village.

Bill,

I've tended to drink more Mersault than Puligny, because that's what I can afford . I would like to taste the two side by side sometime to see how they compare and contrast.

Although there are a few sites that slightly blur the line, most Puligny-Montrachet is the complete opposite of Meursault (at least until you put Chablis into the equation). Where Meursault is giving, generous, broad and mouthfilling, Puligny-Montrachet is precise and forceful, with higher acidity, more mineral and greater depth. Just thinking about them gets my heart racing.