2001 Chevalier Montrachet

The 2001 Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru from Domaine Leflaive was sublime. There’s always a bit of trepidation in opening an older bottle of white Burgundy these days, but the 2001 is in perfect shape for a wine of its age, showing plenty of grace in its airy, lifted personality.

Full yellow-gold color. Full-blown aromas of ripe yellow peach and apricot, sexy brown spices and hazelnut, with an element of iodiney minerality that I associate more with Montrachet. Silky and subtly ripe but still classically dry, conveying a velvety texture to its flavors of lime, stone fruits, clove and smoke; a note of honey suggests a touch of botrytis. Finishes with very good length and grip if not the suavity or mineral thrust of the 2002. There's still no urgency to drink this wine. (13.55% alcohol; 3.4 pH; harvest began on September 22)

Leflaive's 2001 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru emerged as one of the real sleepers of this tasting, bursting from the glass with an expressive and botrytis-inflected bouquet that mingles scents of grilled peaches and confit citrus with nuances of barley sugar, petrol and freshly baked bread. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and enveloping, with excellent depth at the core, impressive vibrancy and a long, precise finish. Like the 2000 Chevalier, the more concentrated 2001 is in its plenitude of expression and makes for immensely pleasurable drinking, though readers with a lower tolerance for botrytis-derived exotica—something that, within limits, I tend to embrace as a facet of vintage expression—will like it less than I did. By the numbers, the 2001 boasts 13.66% alcohol and a pH of 3.40.