DOMAINE LEFLAIVE
BURGUNDY, FRANCE 2024
WHY BUY: The 2024 vintage was challenging in Burgundy, but not for Domaine Leflaive. Its intensive parcel-by-parcel sorting preserved freshness and concentration across the entire range. We were so knocked out by these ethereal, life-affirming wines that we secured possession of all of it: the entire 2024 class, all the way up to the Grands Crus. The village Puligny-Montrachet alone drinks better than most producers' Premier Crus. The Clavoillon evinces the kind of mineral precision that has made it a cult favorite among Leflaive loyalists. Les Pucelles, long one of the estate's most sought-after sites, is a glorious synthesis of opposites: full and yet delineated, creamy but piercing. And the Grands Crus, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, and Chevalier-Montrachet among them, surely need no introduction to serious collectors. Most of these wines have yet to be scored, but Decanter has already awarded 97 points to the Bâtard-Montrachet, an early taste of how deep and dynamic this portfolio is. Quantities are smaller across the board this year (at least one of the Grands Crus is down to a mere handful of barrels), which means this is absolutely the best time to buy. And for those who have never availed themselves of Leflaive, you’re in for revelation. These wines deliver incomparable depth, complexity, harmony, balance, and length, and convey their exalted terroir like no other.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: To date, only one of these wines has yet to be rated, but what a review it is; we expect the rest of the portfolio to come in for similar treatment. Charles Curtis, writing for Decanter, declared that the Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2024 “ranks among the best vintages [of this wine] I’ve ever tasted,” praising a “lovely freshness without sacrificing the richness that is the charm of a proper Bâtard.” He was taken with the “profuse aromas of ripe pear, acacia flower, chalk and spice,” and with a texture “dense but very fine,” and luxuriated in its “impressive persistence to the finish.”
OUR TASTING NOTES: Incomparable richness. Elegant, supple structures. Endless finishes. Those are the qualities that leap to mind when trying to capture the essence of this extraordinary vintage in words. What Curtis found in the Bâtard, a freshness and energy that doesn’t come at the expense of richness, applies across the entire range, in a year when almost no one else in Burgundy managed that balance. These are wines of head-shaking precision, achieved against (and truly) all odds. The Grand Crus showcase the full majesty of what Leflaive can achieve even in a compromised season. The Chevalier and Bienvenues carry the classic hallmark tension, between structure and lift, that has defined this house across three centuries. As for the Puligny-Montrachet tier and the Bourgogne Blanc, both evince the clarity and definition that only fanatically obsessive sorting, block by block, cluster by cluster, can produce in a vintage this challenging.
THE STORY: If you know about the history of business, then you know that many family businesses struggle to make it past the second generation. The family Leflaive has never had that problem, and has made continuity seem almost effortless. How’s this for longevity? It’s been perfecting Chardonnay in Puligny-Montrachet since 1717, or six decades before the United States came to be born. The best decision Brice de La Morandière, the current director and great-grandson of founder Joseph Leflaive, has made is to remain hands-off where it counts; you don't improve on centuries of winemaking by abandoning what works. As could be said of everyone who preceded him, he’s passionate in his commitment to biodynamic farming, to long natural fermentations, and to using only indigenous yeasts … not because it's trendy, or even because “that's how it used to be done,” but because the default setting here is to let the grapes speak for themselves, which means tending the land, some of the most exalted in all of the wine world, with almost devotional care. No year tested that philosophy quite like 2024. A wet, difficult season across Burgundy, it forced growers everywhere into brutal decisions about what fruit deserved to become wine at all. Leflaive answered with the same instinct that has carried the estate for three hundred years: adapting its systems and methods, but never abandoning its values. A newly renovated winery, built to allow the kind of parcel-by-parcel sorting a vintage like this one demanded, gave the team the tools to separate the exceptional from the merely acceptable, cluster by cluster, as opposed to accepting compromise. What emerged, against every difficulty the season threw at them, is a portfolio that somehow still tastes like Leflaive at its most Leflaive. And we couldn’t be more thrilled.
WHAT TO PAIR THEM WITH: Leflaive is perhaps best appreciated solo, the better to tease out its manifold dimensions and nuances, just as you would with any great bottle of red Burgundy or a Bordeaux. At the same time, these are the ultimate in food-friendly wines, built to enhance nearly any preparation of fish, seafood, risotto, and chicken.
OUR GUARANTEE: As always, we only buy and source directly from the estate, so rest assured: your wines will arrive in your hands with pristine provenance. Secure your bottles and cases today!
*Offer NOT valid in-store. This offer is made pre-arrival, with wines estimated to be delivered to your preferred store in Winter 2026 (Dec.21st - Mar. 20th, 2027). With the supply chain issues that we are seeing globally, there may be some unforeseen delays which could affect the ETA. All sale prices are the lowest available at Total Wine & More and ONLY valid through Concierge Sales. No further discounts or coupons may be applied. Offer not valid in IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MI, MO, NE, NM, NY, OK, TN, WA, or WI. This offer will expire on Sunday, October 4th, 2026.