Vinous (94-96)

The 2021 Chevalier-Montrachet Clos de Chevaliers Grand Cru, which includes one new barrel out of the four (instead of the usual dozen), has a vivid bouquet with yellow fruit, nectarine, crushed limestone and subtle fumé aromas. The palate is well balanced with vibrant acidity, taut and fresh with notes of tangerine, citrus fruit and a pinch of spice. Linear in style, this lingers nicely, though it just needs a bit more nervosité on the finish. Still, this is very promising.

Wine Advocate (98)

While I entertained higher expectations of the 1989, it was in fact the 1990 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru that emerged as the wine of the tasting, blossoming in the glass with a complex bouquet of confit lemon, orange rind, dried white flowers, pastry cream, warm bread and vanilla pod. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, satiny textured and enveloping, with broad shoulders, a lively spine of acidity and superb amplitude and concentration, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. Powerful and strikingly complete, this is a Chevalier that more than nods to Montrachet in style. But by the numbers alone, it was cropped at 57 hectoliters per hectare and finished up with 14.1% alcohol and pH 3.23. This is by some margin the finest bottle of Leflaive's 1990 Chevalier-Montrachet that I've encountered.

Wine Advocate (95)

Leflaive's 1995 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru is showing well, unfurling in the glass with a complex and rich bouquet of peach, mandarin, confit lemon, honeycomb, saffron and freshly baked bread. On the palate, it's full-bodied, satiny and layered, with a deep and concentrated core, its chewy chassis of dry extract enveloped in fleshy fruit, and it's still lively and vibrant as it approaches its 24th birthday. This was a year of low yields—a cold spell disrupted flowering—and a warm summer, and that's reflected by this muscular, powerful Chevalier.

Vinous (91)

Bright yellow-gold color. Flamboyant aromas of apricot, white truffle, nut oils, toast and curry powder, plus and a whiff of game; a bit funky in a good way and neither oxidized nor reduced. Plush and velvety in the mouth, in fact almost oily, in a slightly gamey style with very ripe apricot fruit. Could use bit more lift on the end. With its blend of sweet and dry elements, this wine offers charm. Its thick, mouthfilling texture may be appreciated more by mouth tasters but it maintains just enough mineral support. Brice de la Morandière described the 3.4 pH as like a red wine. (14% alcohol; 3.4 pH, September 23 harvest; from a year plagued by April frost, widespread outbreaks of oidium, and a scorching August heat wave)

Wine & Spirit Magazine (98)

This is a great vintage from Domaine Leflaive, which owns 4.92 acres in Chevalier, including a significant portion of vines dating to the 1950s. This 2005 is marked by the concentration of a smaller-than-average harvest (cool weather during flowering caused poor or uneven fruit set). The season was dry, the grapes harvested on the 20th and 21st of September, fruit days on the biodynamic calendar, following several days of north winds and sunshine that peaked the fruit ripeness. The beneficent conditions and the care with which estate manager Pierre Morey and Anne-Claude Leflaive farm their vines resulted in this brilliant Chevalier. It shows an aristocratic finesse from the moment the bottle is opened. The wine's power and dynamic intensity make it hard to resist, as if it went beyond perfect balance and form to sustain the energy of the fruit in the glass. The taste is little more than a caress that lasts for minutes, bringing idealized images of Burgundy to mind: the sun on a hillside of yellow herbs growing between the vines, the roots working their way through minerals in the soil, a cool limestone cellar where wine rests in oak. The elegance that comes from Chevalier's high point on the hill separates it from Domaine Leflaive's more broad-shouldered Bâtard, the distinction amplified in this vintage. Both are wines to enjoy for decades to come.

Wine & Spirit Magazine (98)

Domaine Leflaive farms three adjacent parcels in Chevalier, totaling 4.92 acres of vines; the plantings range from the mid-1950s to 1980. It?s a significant holding at the top of the Montrachet hill, as much for its size as for the wines Leflaive?s team consistently produces from the site. This vintage is more concentrated, or perhaps more saturated with ripe flavors than usual, the heat of August powering the vines to an early harvest. Still, from the moment it?s first poured, that extract has a sunny purity, an umami fragrance of the earth and a lemon blossom honey scent that feigns sweetness later revealed as savory richness in a finish that raises this wine into another realm. Chevalier?s aristocratic soil comes into vivid focus over the course of several days through a scrim of silk. Prepare for your knees to melt and your heart to race as the wine reboots the balance of your senses. Or just enjoy it for what it is: A gracious grand cru, perfectly formed, with the detail of a pointillist painting that will come into focus over the next ten to fifteen years.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2011 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru was picked on August 25, the earliest harvest in the history of the Domaine Leflaive, and the resulting wine was another of the sleepers in this tasting, unfurling in the glass with an attractive bouquet of white flowers, fresh peach, tangerine, pear, pastry cream and warm bread. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, expansive and satiny textured, with a layered and open-knit core that's fleshy but lively, concluding with a long and precise finish. This is a forward Chevalier from Leflaive that's already drinking well, but it's a superb effort.

Tim Atkin MW (99)

Situated above Le Montrachet and often rivalling it in bottle, this is a superb release from Domaine Leflaive that is one of the white wines of the vintage. Rich, yet floral, it's a remarkably dense, multi-layered wine that's more focused than the Bâtard. Ethereal and graceful, it offers flavours of orange peel, white peach and vanilla oak, underpinned by a chalky, tangy bite.

Burghound (94-97)

Like the Puligny villages the expressive nose plays right on the edge of exoticism with its dried yellow orchard fruit elements that add breadth if not necessarily elegance to the citrus, floral, spice and discreet herbal tea nuances. There is absolutely stunning intensity to the ultra-precise and stony flavors that are akin to rolling small rocks around in the mouth, all wrapped in a saline and kaleidoscopically complex finish that reminds me a great deal of a grand cru Chablis with its compact and linear finish. This is breathtakingly good though note well that it's going to require a long snooze in a cool cellar as this is nowhere near ready and I very much doubt that it will be young.

Decanter (98)

My (SB) wine of the vintage. It has a huge, intense nose of lime, pears and apricot with aromatic tension and complexity. A fine, assertive and extremely youthful attack: concentrated yet racy and very mineral from start to finish. A racehorse of a wine with amazing length and detail, and that classic, stony minerality.

Decanter (98)

My (SB) wine of the vintage. It has a huge, intense nose of lime, pears and apricot with aromatic tension and complexity. A fine, assertive and extremely youthful attack: concentrated yet racy and very mineral from start to finish. A racehorse of a wine with amazing length and detail, and that classic, stony minerality.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2015 Chevalier-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive is stunning from bottle, wafting from the glass with a lovely nose of lemon pith, wet stones, spring flowers and toasted nuts. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and multidimensional, with extraordinary intensity and mid-palate depth, a long, lingering finish and an effortless sense of cohesion and completeness. But what's especially impressive about this Chevalier is its grace and textural elegance in this vintage: while its concentration and amplitude certainly reflect the year, nothing is out of place. A step up over even the superb Bâtard-Montrachet and one of the high points of the 2015 vintage in white Burgundy.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2015 Chevalier-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive is stunning from bottle, wafting from the glass with a lovely nose of lemon pith, wet stones, spring flowers and toasted nuts. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and multidimensional, with extraordinary intensity and mid-palate depth, a long, lingering finish and an effortless sense of cohesion and completeness. But what's especially impressive about this Chevalier is its grace and textural elegance in this vintage: while its concentration and amplitude certainly reflect the year, nothing is out of place. A step up over even the superb Bâtard-Montrachet and one of the high points of the 2015 vintage in white Burgundy.

Vinous (93-95)

(as with the Bâtard, the yield was not much more than ten hectoliters per hectare): Very pure aromas of lemon, lime, white flowers and liquid stone. Quite rich and concentrated but tight and youthfully clenched. There was very little fruit in 2016 from the upper, more minerally part of the vineyard, noted Brice de la Morandière, which may have resulted in a heavier wine than normal. But this wine boasts a strong spine, even if it's still an infant today.

Vinous (97)

The 2017 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru has a clean, precise bouquet, fresh, taut and understated compared to its peers, perhaps the most elegant of an octet of Chevaliers tasted blind. The well-balanced palate delivers real power, offering flavors of candied orange peel and spices and a fine saline undercurrent. Harmonious, elegant yet intense, this should age with style and panache. It vies with Olivier Leflaive's own Chevalier for supremacy, and juxtaposing them blind, it has its nose in front. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (97-99)

More lemon than lime in colour with its high-toned refreshing bouquet. There is some lime blossom, very complex, not the weight of the astonishing Bâtard-Montrachet, but this is a beautifully dressed mannequin in the finest silk, with a little bit of orange blossom in its hair. Incredible persistence. Gorgeous aromatics, so different from the Bâtard yet equally outstanding.

Vinous (98)

The 2019 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru needed a little encouragement from the glass. Eventually it reveals captivating scents of honeysuckle, petrichor and pressed yellow flowers, an underlying spiciness that comes through with aeration. The palate has a beguiling symmetry from the start: a killer line of acidity counterbalancing the intensity of this Chevalier, gentle grip towards the spicy and "flowing" finish. Everything you could really want in a Chevalier-Montrachet Closure: Diam 30

Vinous (98)

The 2019 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru needed a little encouragement from the glass. Eventually it reveals captivating scents of honeysuckle, petrichor and pressed yellow flowers, an underlying spiciness that comes through with aeration. The palate has a beguiling symmetry from the start: a killer line of acidity counterbalancing the intensity of this Chevalier, gentle grip towards the spicy and "flowing" finish. Everything you could really want in a Chevalier-Montrachet Closure: Diam 30

Vinous (98)

The 2019 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru needed a little encouragement from the glass. Eventually it reveals captivating scents of honeysuckle, petrichor and pressed yellow flowers, an underlying spiciness that comes through with aeration. The palate has a beguiling symmetry from the start: a killer line of acidity counterbalancing the intensity of this Chevalier, gentle grip towards the spicy and "flowing" finish. Everything you could really want in a Chevalier-Montrachet Closure: Diam 30

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2020 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru dominates the range this year, wafting from the glass with notes of waxy citrus zest, white flowers, nutmeg and wet stones, followed by a full-bodied, racy and electric palate, with a satiny attack that segues into a deep, seamless mid-palate. Chiseled and concentrated, uniting texture and tension, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish.

James Suckling (97)

There’s boldness and energy to this with superb concentration of fruit and density, yet it remains agile and lively with length and drive. The flavors are superbly complex and subtle with ripe-apple, cream, honeysuckle, mineral and hot-stone undertones. Goes on for minutes. This is one for the cellar. Impressive to taste now, but one to try in 2023 and onwards to appreciate its full potential.

Vinous (91)

Complex, subtle nose combines lime, smoke, minerals, nuts and earth. A distinct step up in texture and concentration from the premier crus; fresh, nicely delineated and solidly structured. Classy and light on its feet. Finishes subtle and long, and not at all austere for a '99.

Wine Advocate (94)

Niellon's 2015 Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru is superb, opening with a lovely nose of pastry cream, preserved lemon, beeswax and toasted nuts, framed by new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and textural, with a glossy attack, a deep mid-palate, and a bright, lightly grippy finish. While this is a powerful, dramatic Chevalier Montrachet it's very nicely balanced.

Hailing from the distinguished appellation of Chevalier-Montrachet in Burgundy, France, the Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2018 is a true testament to Niellon’s winemaking prowess. Cultivated in French limestone-rich soils, this eloquent Chardonnay is a reflection of meticulously hand-harvested grapes, gentle pressing, and controlled fermentation in oak barrels, contributing to its emblematic white floral bouquet.

Borne from a 60-year-old vineyard, the wine distinctly embodies the land, offering a sublime balance between concentrated minerality and harmonious acidity. Its creamy texture and opulent fruit profile, marked by crisp green apple, ripe pear, and nuanced citrus undertones, enhance the wine’s overall complexity and depth. Michel Niellon's commitment to traditional Burgundian practices endows this Grand Cru with an authentic terroir-driven expression alongside excellent ageing potential.

Exquisite and refined, the Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2018 encapsulates the essence of its grand cru status, providing a wine drinking experience par excellence.

An exquisite embodiment of Burgundy's esteemed white wines, Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2019 is the pinnacle of skill and craftsmanship from the French vintner. Handpicked Chardonnay grapes from the 50-year-old Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru vineyard are patiently aged in French oak before undertaking a malolactic fermentation process, ensuring a perfectly balanced blend.

Born of the globally venerated Côte de Beaune region, the 2019 vintage captures the dynamism between soil and grape, crafting a wine that touts vibrant acidity harmonising with endearing richness. Its bouquet is an oscillation of toasted nuts, stone fruit and a dilatory hint of mandarin, succeeding on the palate with an enduring mineral finish.

The producer, Michel Niellon, who was once described in "The Wine Advocate" as a ‘master of Chassagne-Montrachet’, has orchestrated this exemplary bottle with his famed meticulous precision and unwavering commitment to quality. The Michel Niellon Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2019 is indeed an esteemed addition to any discerning collector's cellar.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95)

Pure and clear. The nose is very austere indeed, almost aggressively on the limestone. Yet there is a marvellous wealth of exciting fruit behind. Energy from the start, wait for the length because it is that, rather than the depth and breadth, which signifies well in 2021. This should be pretty fine later on.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95)

The vines were planted in 1962 and 1968. Pale to mid lemon in colour. A light reduction on the nose. The limestone is close to the surface on the nose, a little biscuit note, this is discreet but evidently with a fine tensile strength. Just leave this the time to blossom and it will become a really fine example. Drink from 2030-2038. Tasted: October 2023.

Vinous (96)

The 2018 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru has a kaleidoscopic nose with mineral-rich yellow fruit, chalk and apple blossom, cohering marvelously with aeration. The palate is beautifully balanced, quite powerful with real weight and density. Plenty of extract towards the finish. There is just the right amount of bitterness to keep this edgy. Excellent. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting.