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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
Domaine Leflaive is the very summit of white Burgundy, producing outstanding wines that have the capacity to be very long-lived and develop richness, depth, and complexity with bottle-age. The Domaine owns and tends almost 25 hectares of vineyards mainly located in and around Puligny-Montrachet. Their holdings include 0.08 hectares of Le Montrachet, 2 hectares of Chevalier-Montrachet, 1.91 hectares of Bâtard-Montrachet, 1.6 hectares of Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, and Puligny- Montrachet 1er Crus; Le Clavoillon, Les Combettes, Les Folatières, and Les Pucelles. Domaine Leflaive has been totally biodynamic since 1997. These are some of the most highly sought-after white wines in the world.
Origin / 4 parcels in the Bâtard-Montrachet appellation.
Bâtard 7: 7 ouvrées (0.74 acre) planted in 1974 (commune of Chassagne)
Bâtard 8: 8 ouvrées (0.85 acre) planted in 1979 (commune of Puligny)
Bâtard 9: 9 ouvrées (0.95 acre) planted in 1989 (commune of Chassagne)
Bâtard 21: 21 ouvrées (2.22 acres) planted half in 1962, half in 1964 (commune of Puligny).
Surface: 1ha 91a (4.72 acres).
Method of culture
Long, gentle pneumatic pressing, decanting over 24 hours, thenracking and running into cask of the must.
Alcoholic fermentation in oak casks, 25% new (maxi 1/2 Vosges,
mini 1/2 Allier).
Maturing: after 12 months in cask, the wine is aged 6 months in tank where it is prepared for bottling.
Homeopathic fining and very light filtering if necessary.
Biodynamic.
Manual harvesting with grape sorting and optimisation of choice of date through parcel-by-parcel ripeness monitoring
Wine Information
Mild, regular spring weather followed several heavy winter frosts, bringing on budburst at the beginning of April. The month of May was fine and sunny, though not particularly warm. As a result the vegetation grew steadily, and the vegetative cycle continued its advance. The first flowers were noted on May 22 and the last on June 6, with full flowering on May 27 and 28.
June and July were marked by heavy rain showers over short periods of time. August was magnificent with timely rainfall interrupting long sunny spells and with very hot weather from August 13 to August 20 — the finest month of August since 2005. These conditions were very favorable for the ripening of the grapes.
We started the harvest on Saturday, September 5, finishing on September 11 at the end of the morning – with warm sunny weather throughout the entire week. The grapes for the Cuvée des Climats du Coeur were harvested on September 10.
The musts – rich, powerful and full of sunshine – were run into barrels quickly and were soon bubbling in the cellar. Once fermentations started, they continued unabated and finished by the end of autumn. Malolactic fermentation had just begun when winter arrived, and before winter was over, it was completely finished, earlier than in 2008.
Maturing was classic, and following 12 months in cask, the first racking off took place. Bottling should take place at the end of winter and beginning of the spring 2011. The wines are rich, with an abundance of fruit and mineral character.
The 2009 vintage can be appreciated at the earliest as follows:
Bourgogne Blanc beginning in 2012
Puligny-Montrachet beginning in 2013
Premiers Crus beginning in 2014
Grand Crus beginning in 2015
Montrachet beginning in 2017
Vuosikerta 2008
An indifferent spring caused uneven flowering and mildew risk. At the end of June the weather changed for the better, continuing into July. Apart from local hail in the Côte de Beaune at the end of July, the summer began well. August arrived fairly cold and variable, but fortunately the last week of the month brought fine, warm weather. The lead-up to harvest saw sunny skies, apart from two days of rain in mid-September. A challenging vintage.
From day one the red wines have had a rich, pure fruit character with fine, silky tannins. The whites offer a good balance between ripe fruit and vibrant acidity. A vintage not to be overlooked because the wines deliver potential and pleasure.
