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Domaine Leflaive Last updated: 12-11-97 |
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Domaine Leflaive Last updated: 12-11-97 |
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Contents:
| Introduction
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The domaine Leflaive is situated
in Puligny-Montrachet, Cote d'Or. Task one when visiting
Puligny is to find it; signs are rare and one does not
seem too concerned with visitors not finding their way.
The average person sitting on a bench on the nearby
central square of the village will however be able to
point it out quickly, that is at least how I finally got
there. A friendly letter in advance and a couple of
phonecalls eventually got me and my girlfriend a visit.
An interesting visit without tasting however; meanwhile
the restrictions to visitors have become heavier still.
Not even a begging Californian can currently visit
without an introduction of an importer of these wines.
Sad as this may seem, it becomes understandable to some
extend when one realises the amount of time and wine that
needs to be invested in such visits. The domaine Leflaive has a shining record of many decades already. Not in the least this is due to their impressive possessions in the majority of fine vineyards in Puligny. In the second half of the eighties, the star of the domaine was alledgedly blurring a little. Several respected wine writers have reported on that. As I have not tasted but one wine from this period, I can hardly take any position in that debate. What seems more important is that everyone seems to agree nowadays on the resurrection of the fame of this domaine. Anne-Claude Leflaive, who is currently in charge of the domaine, has recently taken a serious interest in organic methods of vineyard treatment. They are still experimenting with this however and have not (yet) been working the entire vineyard holdings with these methods. One seems enthusiastic so far with this more natural approach. |
| Vineyard holdings | |||
| Vineyard | Status | Area (in ha) | Vines planted (year) |
| Le Montrachet | Grand Cru | 0,08 | 1950 |
| Chevalier-Montrachet | Grand Cru | 1,91 | 1970 |
| Batard-Montrachet | Grand Cru | 1,91 | 1972 |
| Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet | Grand Cru | 1,16 | 1958 |
| Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles | Premier Cru | 3,06 | 1971 |
| Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes | Premier Cru | 0,73 | 1964 |
| Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatieres | Premier Cru | 1,27 | 1972 |
| Puligny-Montrachet Les Clavoillon | Premier Cru | 4,80 | 1974 |
| Puligny-Montrachet | Villages | 4,08 | 1963 |
| Bourgogne Blanc | AC Bourgogne | 1,74 | 1980 |
| Blagny Sous le Dos d'Ane | Premier Cru | 1,08 | 1957 |
| Meursault Blagny | Premier Cru | 0,55 | 1995 |
Information in this paragraph obtained from "The Great Domaines of Burgundy", by Remington Norman, Kyle Cathie Limited, London, second edition, 1996, page 219.
| Technical
information
|
As stated earlier, Leflaive
seems to be moving more and more towards the organic
style of vineyard treatment. Reducing the use of
herbicides etc to a bare minimum and attempting to fight
natural attacks on the vines by natural means. The main
scope with organic tending is however in increasing the
natural resistance of the vines. It is thought/believed
that many modern clones suffer from incapability to
withstand natural attacks by funghi, insects etc. The
natural resistance power of vines is then to be increased
by careful 'rebreeding', so bringing back forces within
the system of the plant that were 'bread out' in the
process of breading in other features into the vine.
Furthermore one seeks to reinstate the natural biological
activity of the soil system. This approach is more widely
seen nowadays, and not only in Burgundy. Leflaive maybe differs most from other famous white Burgundy producers by limiting the amount of time their wines spend in oak. Leflaive Burgundies spend half of their time of elevage in stainless steel tanks. It's a treatment I tend to sympathize with when talking about the Puligny Montrachet appellation, where the wines tend to be less massively opulent than e.g. in Meursault. The beauty of a Puligny-wine shines best when the acidity provides backbone and the wood does not overwhelm the subtle nuances of the terroir too much. And when tasting any good Leflaive wine, one has to agree they might have a point with their treatment. |
| Tasting
impressions
|
It is my firm belief that any Leflaive
wine forms the proof that white Burgundies are matched
nowhere in the world. As a European wine lover I can of
course be called euro-centristic in that respect, but I
think I still have a point. It's not so much the weight
of the wines that is impressive, because often it's what
comes to mind in the last place when tasting a Leflaive
wine. Don't make the mistake however of thinking these
wines do not stand up to firm tastes in food, because
they easily do. One of the perhaps most barbaric examples
arose by accident when I tasted a Chevalier Montrachet
1991 at home. I was at that moment also experimenting
with some cooking. And because the wine was open, I
decided to give the wine a test by tasting it against a
rather firm dish of avocado, garlic, lemon and shrimps.
Expecting the wine not to be able to stand up (Chevalier
being a great wine, but 1991 being a lighter vintage) I
found my palet quite surprisingly reach the conclusion
that even this dish vanished completely into the
mineralness of this wine. That's what Matt Kramer rightly
calls finesse: possessing power, but not
explicitly showing it off. The Leflaive wines of Puligny all exhibit this finesse to a certain degree, the champions here being of course the grands crus. Their firm acidity makes them often harder to assess at young age, but it's their spinal chord of life and of flavour definition. Their often very mineral intensity shines beautifully on this taut acidity, giving an impression of a very refined wine always. Maybe that is why I sometimes seem to prefer high acidity vintages like 1993 to the rather more 'fat' 1992. To me, the essence of Puligny is better defined in vintages that are not too rich, but this is a rather personal preference for sure. |
The grands crus have a fabulous complexity at that, with a subtle wood definition and an individuality that is almost detectable on the nose: the Batard Montrachet always being rather luxurious and with almost hedonistic honeyed impressions and the Chevalier the wine with a mind boggling mineralness that is only rivalled by the Montrachet itself (I never tasted the Leflaive Montrachet though). Preference here becomes a matter of liking Verdi more than Bach, or maybe preferring Dostojevski to Gogol. In any way we're in the serious regions of quality. |
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