Harvest Time for Domaine Olivier Leflaive

Well the moment has arrived.  The harvest date has been set for the 27^th august and with a week to go the winery is working flat out to bottle the last of the 2009 vintage and prepare for the onslaught of the next month.  This season has already seen some interesting curve balls with a very early start for the buds owing to an unseasonably warm spring.  We all thought that we were heading for another 2003 or 1976 until the weather broke in the merry month of July this year.  Since then we have had promising stretches of sunshine but, on the whole, colder than average temperatures for this time of year.  From a predicted harvest date of the 16^th august we have in fact pushed back several days because of the atypical conditions.  We are hoping for a month of dry conditions now mainly because it will provide us with a great harvest but also because we are fed up with the rain!  Come and discover our wine tours in the vineyards and the winery every morning from 10h00 and follow them up with a wine tasting lunch like no other.

Simon Aplin

Wine tasting for our negociant suppliers

Last Wednesday June 15th we organised our annual wine tasting reserved exclusively for the vignerons who supply grapes for our winery.

It is the occasion to see the vintage as a whole, this time 2009, in two colours, to exchange ideas and to define it. The wines are served by the winery personnel who enjoy meeting the various vignerons.
No fancy snacks, no great lunch just plain bread and a few gougeres. 130 people came to visit us between 17h00 and 20h00 each having finished their working day in the cellar or vines. Most of these people are bottling at present and sell to both the national and export markets. These conversations, friendly, frank exchanges, are well worth while because when we chat together as winemakers we are also in contact with those who buy and drink our wines.
In buying a vignerons harvest and making a wine with it we contribute to the overall public knowledge of that terroir.
Tasting from Montagny-les-Buxy to Corton-Charlemagne via St Aubin, Puligny and Chassagne allows a better understanding of the chardonnay varietal. Meanwhile tasting from Santanay to Aloxe-Corton via Volnay and Pommard gives a more complete picture of pinot–noir.
Some of our visitors have told us that in tasting our range of wines it allows them see their own in a different light. We have been organizing this event every year since the creation of our winery in 1985 and we shall continue to do so.
Franck GRUX, Technical Director