Though I have tasted this rarity twice from bottle, this was the first time that I have tasted it from barrel and therefore I have less context than Anne-Claude Leflaive's other crus. What I can say is that the 2013 Montrachet Grand Cru was quite astonishing. Even having just tasted the Chevalier-Montrachet, I have to admit that this was in a totally different league. It simply rockets from the glass with scents of citrus lemon, lemon curd, white peach and shaved almond all beautifully delineated. The palate is an intense "experience," that being the operative word. It envelops the senses, cradles them with citrus scents, almond, limestone and white peach scents, the texture surprisingly rounded but not viscous. With enormous persistence, this is quite a remarkable Montrachet to be.

In contrast to several of the wines, mostly notably the Chevalier that flirt with exotic aromas, I would describe this as overtly exotic with its dense nose of dried yellow fruit, tea, lychee nut, sandalwood, mandarin orange and broad array of spice nuances. The concentrated and markedly powerful broad-shouldered flavors possess a superb amount of dry extract that helps to buffer the very firm acid spine that shapes the muscular, intense and palate drenching finish. Despite all of the size and weight the palate impression remains quite sleek as the beautifully textured finish really fans out and lasts for minutes. This will age effortlessly for years and the word stunning simply does not do justice to this monument in the making.

(aging in a single new 228-liter barrel): Bright light-medium yellow. Strong nutty oak on the spicy nose. The fattest and sweetest of these 2013s, but without quite the inner-mouth tension of the Chevalier. But the long, broad, expanding finish conveys an impression of great solidity, with the wine's deeply pitched fruit-and-spice aftertaste enrobed by its wood. This wine will be racked into a one- or two-year-old barrel for the last six months of its elevage.