Domaine Leflaive is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in Puligny-Montrachet,

Côte de Beaune The Côte de Beaune area is the southern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is home to the great names of Burgundy wine. The Côte de Beaune starts between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune, and extends southwards for about 25 km ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...

. The domaine is very highly regarded for its white wines,Wine Anorak: The wines of Domaine Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy
/ref> and its vineyard holdings include of

Grand Cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The ...

vineyards.

History

The earliests roots of the domaine goes back to 1717 and a Claude Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet. The domaine of today more directly goes back to Joseph Leflaive (1870–1953), who was a native of Puligny-Montrachet, but who had initially pursued a career as a naval engineer, having managed a factory in

St Etienne ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

and been involved in the construction of the first French submarine. In 1905, when Burgundy had not yet recovered from the effect of the

phylloxera epidemic The Great French Wine Blight was a severe blight of the mid-19th century that destroyed many of the vineyards in France and laid waste to the wine industry. It was caused by an aphid that originated in North America and was carried across the A ...

, which meant that vineyards were for sale at a very low price, Leflaive was able to buy for his domaine. In 1920, Leflaive started a programme of replantation with better adapted root stock, and progressively started to sell wine under his own label rather than to

négociant A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturist Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wi ...

s. After the death of Joseph Leflaive in 1953, the domaine was managed by Joseph's sons Vincent Leflaive and Jo Leflaive, and it was during this time that its reputation as a top Burgundy producer was built up. In 1973, the domaine was given a company structure to avoid splitting it up with subsequent inheritance. In 1990, Vincent's daughter Anne-Claude Leflaive and her cousin Olivier Leflaive took over the running of the domain. Because Olivier Leflaive was also running a

business, in 1994, Anne-Claude Leflaive took over the running of the domain on her own, following a decision of the various family members who collectively own the domaine. In 1997, Anne-Claude took the decision to convert the domain to

biodynamic wine Biodynamic wines are wines made employing the biodynamic methods both to grow the fruit and during the post-harvest processing. Biodynamic wine production uses organic farming methods (''e.g.,'' employing compost as fertilizer and avoiding most ...

making. Domaine Leflaive and Olivier Leflaive's

business are completely separate entities.

Wines

Domaine Leflaive produces wines from the following vineyard holdings:Domaine Leflaive: Wines
, accessed on October 30, 2009 *

wine: **

Montrachet ''For the restaurant, see Montrachet (restaurant)'' Montrachet (pronounced ''Mon-rashay''; ) is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine made of Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. ...

, **

Chevalier-Montrachet Chevalier-Montrachet is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is located within the commune of Puligny-Montrachet. K. MacNeil ''The W ...

, ** Bâtard-Montrachet, ** Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, * Premier Cru wine: ** Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles, Folatières, Les Combettes, Le Clavoillon **

Meursault Meursault () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department and region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Etymology The oldest attested form of the toponym Meursault dates from 1094, as ''Murassalt'' and ''Mussalt'', in a charter by t ...

sous le Dos d'Âne * Village wine: ** Puligny-Montrachet, 7 '' climats'' totalling * Regional wine (Bourgogne blanc), 2 parcels totalling

Judgment of Paris and other wine competitions

Domaine Leflaive's Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru wine ''Les Pucelles'' competed in the historic

Judgment of Paris Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle ...

, ranking number eight among the ten French and California wines evaluated. It also competed in the

Great Chardonnay Showdown The Great Chardonnay Showdown, held in the spring of 1980, was organized by Craig Goldwyn, the wine columnist for the '' Chicago Tribune'' and the founder of the Beverage Testing Institute, with help from three Chicago wine stores. A total of 22 ...

and the

Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997 In the Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997, the Grand Jury Européen, consisting entirely of European judges, conducted a blind tasting of 27 Chardonnay wines from seven countries. Held in Bordeaux, 70 percent of the entries in the wine com ...

. The small vineyard ''Les Pucelles'' is planted on well drained limestone and chalky soil. Like most white Burgundy wine it is made entirely from the

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

grape.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.leflaive.fr/ Burgundy (historical region) wine producers