Leflaive Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 1995 versus Leflaive Clavoillon 1er Cru 2001

Leflaive Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 1995 versus Leflaive Clavoillon 1er Cru 2001

Both wines were tasting blind, and I must confess it’s really challenging to pin point them. However, I did fairly well in this blind tasting test. A whiff of both glasses, they did not reveal any strong oak being used, very subdued oak treatment (good grade oak barrel must have been used) must have been applied to the barrel aging stage. A sip and I was taken aback trying to decide which one was better. In fact, the differences were so minor that I even had a hard time choosing the favorite! At this stage, I swear that both came from very good vintages and the taste was so similar that I felt that they were only one year apart, and they were produced by the same winemaker. Bear in mind both bottles were chilled in an ice bucket, and that actually makes the tasting even more challenging. I sat on it for at least 45 mins before re evaluating both of them again. When white burgundies warmed up, whoever was swimming naked showed up immediately. The Batard Montrachet had very lively acidity and deeper flavor, while the Clavoillon lacked obvious acidity when warmed up, although the flavor was still great. With the differences, I was able to pinpoint which was the Grand Cru while which was the 1er Cru. Before revealing, I was able to tell that most likely Pierre Morey produced both wines, thus both bottles have to be Leflaive. Vintage wise I thought the Clavoillon was from a good vintage, as it was able to hold up to the Grand Cru quite easily, so I put it either 2000 or 2002, turned out to be in between but I must pad myself on the shoulder as the result was in between. A lot was learned during these two bottles’ side by side tasting, for bang for the buck, just go for Pierre Morey’s era of his 1er Cru Clavoillon, the difference is not a lot to shell out an extra of a couple of hundred bucks for the Grand Cru.