Leflaive Le Montrachet Grand Cru

Puligny-Montrachet, France

Domaine Leflaive's 0.08-hectare parcel in Le Montrachet — the world's most celebrated white wine vineyard. Produces approximately 200–300 bottles per year. The wine that annually 'proves' that dry white wine can achieve the complexity, concentration, and longevity associated only with the greatest reds. White Burgundy at its absolute summit: honeyed richness, electric acidity, Kimmeridgian chalk minerality, and an aftertaste measured in minutes rather than seconds. BC: auction only.

Pairings

• celebration: Leflaive Montrachet elevates the homard à la presse; the world's greatest white wine for the world's most classical dish
• main: Turbot — the king of flatfish — has sufficient fat and firmness to match Montrachet's concentration. Morel mushrooms add earthy complexity. A Montrachet butter sauce (using the wine itself) creates a self-referential mirror.
• main: Le Montrachet and whole turbot is the defining French prestige white wine pairing: the fish's extraordinary delicacy and the butter-lobster sauce's richness are perfectly proportioned for the wine's mineral-cream-hazelnut complexity
• main: The world's greatest dry white wine meets the world's greatest crustacean. Butter-poached lobster's fat richness is cut by Montrachet's electric acidity; caviar adds saline mineral counterpoint; leek cream provides herbaceous lift. The textbook grand occasion white wine pairing.
• starter: Langoustines' sweet-sea delicacy and beurre noisette's hazelnut mirror Le Montrachet's own hazelnut character; preserved lemon bridges the wine's citrus minerality; tarragon adds a floral-herbal note
• fish course: Leflaive Montrachet is the greatest white wine in the world; sole meunière in brown butter is its perfect partner
• fish course: Leflaive Montrachet's transcendent mineral depth elevates sole stuffed with écrevisses; the ultimate white Burgundy fish pairing
• main: Beaufort's alpine hazelnut and the lobster's sweet sea-cream create the perfect multi-layer pairing for Le Montrachet; the soufflé's lightness echoes the wine's ethereal texture