I would like to recount a great experience I had on the cool, sunny day of October 15th 2024 in Puligny-Montrachet. I was in the company of Brice de la Morandière to taste the gorgeous 2022’s but we first went to the vineyard of Chevalier-Montrachet.
Brice felt like he was in his garden, overlooking the ocean of vines that his family starting purchasing back in the XIXth century. It was Brice’s great grandfather who started buying land, rather late in his life, at age 40. It may have not been the best timing to invest in Burgundy land because of the Phylloxera crisis that decimated around 90% of the French vineyards and quickly followed by the first World War. A punishing moment of history that saw the population of the village of Puligny-Montrachet plummet from 1,200 people to a mere 300, which remains about the same number today.
Brice is very much a man of the land and his passion for gardening is felt when he walks around his vineyards. This is in fact also where Brice and his family set up their picnics on weekends with the kids running around, looking for marine fossils.
As we were looking east, Brice explained that on a clear day, you can see Mont Blanc, formed 16 million years ago when the Alps erupted. It is thanks to this geological event that the magical terroir of Burgundy was formed. The broken layout that made the complexity of the Burgundy terroir with a myriad of plots, each one enjoying a slightly different orientation, sub soil composition and micro-climate.
Domaine Leflaive is of course known for its dedication to biodynamic principles and the late Anne-Claude Leflaive was a pioneer in the field. In the vineyard, synthetic chemicals are obviously never used but Brice also pointed out how delicate and meticulous workers need to be, favoring a light tilling rather than ploughing, which is considered too aggressive and compacting for the soil.
Back at the winery, we finally tasted the spectacular 2022’s. Brice started with this statement: “2022 was very hot!”
Indeed, reflecting on the past vintages, he recalls that his grandfather and his brother, who both ran Domaine Leflaive for 40 years, only recorded 13 harvests in October with the other harvests in September. You would have to wait for 2003 to see a harvest in August. And since Brice took over the reins in 2015, he experienced 6 August harvests, one of them being 2022, with the first pickers on the field on August 25th.
But this obvious change in the meteorological pattern doesn’t seem to have impacted the purity of the wines made at this legendary domaine. Since I first tasted out of barrels in 2018 at Leflaive, I have always found that stunning balance and energy in the wines. 2022 certainly didn’t disappoint; I was impressed with the singular expression of each cru. This is particularly amazing because in the winery, the same winemaking is applied for all the wines, from the regional Bourgogne to the mighty Montrachet Grand Cru! So, it is really the terroir, the birthplace of each wine that shines in the glass.
Domaine Leflaive brings yet another great vintage with 2022
Edouard Bourgeois
January 14, 2025
I would like to recount a great experience I had on the cool, sunny day of October 15th 2024 in Puligny-Montrachet. I was in the company of Brice de la Morandière to taste the gorgeous 2022’s but we first went to the vineyard of Chevalier-Montrachet.
Brice felt like he was in his garden, overlooking the ocean of vines that his family starting purchasing back in the XIXth century. It was Brice’s great grandfather who started buying land, rather late in his life, at age 40. It may have not been the best timing to invest in Burgundy land because of the Phylloxera crisis that decimated around 90% of the French vineyards and quickly followed by the first World War. A punishing moment of history that saw the population of the village of Puligny-Montrachet plummet from 1,200 people to a mere 300, which remains about the same number today.
Brice is very much a man of the land and his passion for gardening is felt when he walks around his vineyards. This is in fact also where Brice and his family set up their picnics on weekends with the kids running around, looking for marine fossils.
As we were looking east, Brice explained that on a clear day, you can see Mont Blanc, formed 16 million years ago when the Alps erupted. It is thanks to this geological event that the magical terroir of Burgundy was formed. The broken layout that made the complexity of the Burgundy terroir with a myriad of plots, each one enjoying a slightly different orientation, sub soil composition and micro-climate.
Domaine Leflaive is of course known for its dedication to biodynamic principles and the late Anne-Claude Leflaive was a pioneer in the field. In the vineyard, synthetic chemicals are obviously never used but Brice also pointed out how delicate and meticulous workers need to be, favoring a light tilling rather than ploughing, which is considered too aggressive and compacting for the soil.
Back at the winery, we finally tasted the spectacular 2022’s. Brice started with this statement: “2022 was very hot!”
Indeed, reflecting on the past vintages, he recalls that his grandfather and his brother, who both ran Domaine Leflaive for 40 years, only recorded 13 harvests in October with the other harvests in September. You would have to wait for 2003 to see a harvest in August. And since Brice took over the reins in 2015, he experienced 6 August harvests, one of them being 2022, with the first pickers on the field on August 25th.
But this obvious change in the meteorological pattern doesn’t seem to have impacted the purity of the wines made at this legendary domaine. Since I first tasted out of barrels in 2018 at Leflaive, I have always found that stunning balance and energy in the wines. 2022 certainly didn’t disappoint; I was impressed with the singular expression of each cru. This is particularly amazing because in the winery, the same winemaking is applied for all the wines, from the regional Bourgogne to the mighty Montrachet Grand Cru! So, it is really the terroir, the birthplace of each wine that shines in the glass.
Annual Burgundy Immersion Trip with Sommelier Scholarship Fund
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