When you happen upon a pristine bottle of Leflaive's 2005 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, it's a terrific wine that clearly rans among the white Burgundies of the vintage, and this was just such a bottle. Offering up a stunning bouquet of confit lemons, honeycomb, vine blossom and freshly baked bread, it's full-bodied, ample and multidimensional, with incredible concentration, a firm chassis of structuring dry extract, lively acids and a long finish that still displays considerable youthful drive. This is a muscular, imposing Chevalier that nods to the 1989 vintage in style, though if anything it's better balanced. Today, while it's still a youthful wine, it's beginning to arrive at early maturity, and it's as pleasurable as it is impressive. Sadly, however, I have encountered oxidized bottles of the 2005, and this perfect example only made that more poignant. By the numbers, it possesses 13.7% alcohol with a pH of 3.22.

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An ultra pure and still somewhat reserved nose of rose petal, anise, white peach and pear aromas that also display subtle hints of stone and smoke that dissolve seamlessly into unusually big and rich flavors that possess real size, weight and muscle, indeed this is almost Bâtard-like in its sheer volume, all wrapped in a deeply concentrated and wonderfully stony finish that is both impressively explosive and strikingly long. While it's a much bigger and denser version, the flavors positively vibrate in the mouth and it is this sense of barely restrained energy that reminds me a lot of the 1996 at the same stage of development. This remains an exceptionally promising Chevy though 6 years of development have now allowed this to at least become enjoyable and while there is still plenty of upside remaining, this could be enjoyed now if desired.

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