Domaine Anne-Claude Leflaive (Burgundy)(3)

By 2009-3-4 15:08:42

As said above, Anne-Claude Leflaive and her former regisseur Pierre Moret were looking for ways to get the chemicals-saturated soils alive again, this was at the end of the 1980s'. That's when she met François Boucher. At the time, she had found in the Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet a small plot doomed to be uprooted, and François Boucher suggested "why not try biodynamie here ?". Thats as it, in 1990-1991, they conducted her first biodynamic trials on this vineyard, the first year 1,5 hectare was converted and the second year 3 hectares. In 1997 the whole surface was worked this way, and the doomed-to-be-uprooted vineyard is still there and healthy (it is about 40 years old now)... She joined the Biodyvin certification group (click on "les Adherents" on the left to see the names of the other members). Of course, the vinification is made with wild yeasts, everything is hand-harvested, plus a sorting stage on tables with, depending of the year ans condition of the grapes, 6 persons on both sides of the table to check for rotten and unripe grapes. At the end of the vat stage, the grapes go into a pneumatic press, then racking of the must and decanting stage in a vat at 10-12°C. The racking-of-the-must stage takes 18-24 hours but they keep fine lees and the juice goes then into the casks, within a maximum of 36 hours after the press stage. The fermentation will start by itself in the casks with the indigenous yeasts and all the wines are vinified this way here. The only thing that makes them differ is the terroir and the percentage of new casks. On the whole, generic Burgundy gets 10% of new casks, Villages 15%, 1er Crus 20% and Grands Crus 25%.
__Domaine Leflaive, Bourgogne 2007.From a vat. Freshness. Flowers, fruit aromas. Antoine Lepetit says that he loves this vintage. 2007 was a difficult year though, april had been quite hot, the foliage grew too much, with a high disease-pressure on the vines later on. But then there was a northern wind late august, and september was on the whole a beautiful month. For the anectode, here is the Onivins Pdf document (in French) about the weather conditions in the wine regions in 2007.
__Domaine Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet Villages 2007. From a vat again. Floral, vividness. All the wines get their first year in casks and the second year in these vats.8 to 15 casks fit in such a vat. These stainless-steel vats were made in the early 1970s' and they are part of the style of Domaine Leflaive's wines.
__Domaine Leflaive, 1er Cru le Clavoillon 2007. A bottom-of-the-slope 1er Cru. We notice that this cellar is not underground, and Antoine Lepetit says that it is the norm in the region because the water tables are not deep and because the vignerons used to bottle their wines very early befor the summer. In Puligny-Monrachet you will alway see the cellars on the street level and the living quarters upstairs. the wine : green reflections. Glides beautifully on the sides of the mouth. Very nice structure, says B. Lots of minerality too. Neat attack. This vineyard plot was Pierre Moret last job here.
__Domaine Leflaive, les Pucelles 2007. Right near Clavoillon, same level on the slope and same soil depth. Antoine Lepetit says while tasting the wine that the wines really show themselves truly after they have been racked from the casks and put in these steel vats. 2007, he says, is a year with a lot of purity, where the terroirs express themselves without being hampered by side factors. Nose : wheat, honey, cherry plum B. adds. He says that les Pucelles is often narrow on the first mouth, with a minerality that makes salivate in the length, with a delicate and cristalline side.
__Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet 2007. These wines have been racked before the harvest and poured into the steel vats, he says, so that the casks could receive the 2008 juices. The wine : very well balanced. Very masculine, he says. B. feels lemon notes, lis, a hint of hazelnut.
Domaine Leflaive, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2007. On the upper slope, with a meager soil. Very delicate, a minerality from an upper slope. Nice length in the mouth. Less masculine than the Bâtard. Praline, , citrus peel. Speaking of all these 2007 wines, Antoine Lepetit says that a Swiss importer that they met considers they're his favorite vintage. The 2006 are pretty well praised but for some demanding amateur, they are too easy to appreciate.
Read the informative and insightful report by Jamie Goode of Wineanorak on Anne-Claude Leflaive and her wines. Domaine Leflaive Place des Marronniers 21190 Puligny-Montrachet Phone +33 3 80 21 30 13 Fax +33 3 80 21 39 57 sce-domaine-leflaive [at] wanadoo [dot] fr

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