1999 Batard Montrachet

The 1999 Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru from Domaine Leflaive is blessed with a stunning gunflint nose that soars from the glass. It is supremely well controlled and actually shows up the 1999 Chevalier-Montrachet tasted alongside. The palate is rich in the glass with light honeyed tones intermingling with lime, marzipan and citrus lemon. As you would expect, there is superb mineralité locked into this wine, though it is expressed more aromatically than on the palate. Still, it is a deeply impressive wine and it should continue to give pleasure over the next decade at least.

The stunning whites continued with the gorgeous 1999 Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet. It presented a complex array of smoke, earthiness and toasted oak that complemented the intensity of its fruit, with superb length and a finish that seemed to last forever.