The 2009 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles brings together all of the elements of the year, the house style and this site. It is a large-scaled, big wine but never abandons its essential minerality. There is an elegance to the fruit and the finish that is simply remarkable. The flavors build beautifully towards the long, generous finish. This is a beautiful Pucelles, although personally I am more attracted to the more vibrant wines in 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2012+.
Jacques Lardiere and Frederic Barnier showed me a wide range of 2009s during my visit in late June, 2011. Many of the jewels among the 2009s are hidden in the villages level wines, which I highly encourage readers to check out. I also tasted a selection of 2008s. The 2008s are quite fat for the year. Yields were lower than in 2009. Lardiere made the decision to age the wines longer on their lees to give them more richness, which he felt was lacking because of the inconsistent, high acid vintage. As a result, these are fairly big 2008s.
Importer: Kobrand Corp., Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7756