The Hand of Man

03.
The Hand
of Man

The Hand of Man

The vine makes the wine. To produce its best, the vine must draw its energy from the sensitive intelligence of natural phenomena. It is up to the vintner to promote a rich, living environment, in harmony with the forces of nature. Domaine Leflaive has been cultivating its vines biodynamically for more than 25 years. This uncompromising and yet so pragmatic ethic is also a quest for excellence. This is how great wines are born.

Praising sobriety, the Leflaive philosophy

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Praising sobriety, the Leflaive philosophy

You have to respect the vine so that it gives its best. To work on it meticulously, with a limited number of means that lets nature express itself. The Leflaive family has carried these values from the start: when Joseph Leflaive undertook to replant the vineyard after the phylloxera crisis, he tried to adapt to each climat so it reveals its personality. Today, all plots, from the simplest to the most sought-after grand cru, are monitored with the same attention to singularity.

In recent years, acquisitions of vines in Côte de Beaune and in the Mâconnais region have been added to the vines of Puligny, at the origin of Domaine Leflaive and were immediately converted to biodynamics. In the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, the planting of vines in 2021 in a set of meadows with great potential followed a patient process of observation of the behavior of the soil, preservation of the ecosystem in place, respect for biodiversity...

Best practices apply everywhere because the quest for excellence inspires the daily actions of the Domaine Leflaive teams.

The high standards of biodynamic winemaking

Beyond the benefits of organic farming, which excludes any chemical treatment, biodynamics bolsters the health of the vine, improves the quality of the soil, preserves the balance of fauna and flora, respects terrestrial and lunar rhythms. Tightly controlled yields and harvest at good maturity complete this wisdom of action to promote the expression of each terroir to produce vibrant wines.

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The high standards of biodynamic winemaking

Biodynamics is neither a dogma nor an end in itself. It is a requirement of respect, of observation of nature to bring it what it needs. It is a way to move towards ever more excellence, more beauty. It is also a know-how that is shared between the teams of Domaine Leflaive and those who come to study them with us.

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The high standards of biodynamic winemaking

The knowledge accumulated on the historic vineyard of Puligny-Montrachet serves the implementation of the best biodynamic practices in the vines of the Mâconnais region, acquired more recently.

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Interview of Amandine Brillanceau

AMANDINE BRILLANCEAU - TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

"The taste of Burgundy"

AMANDINE BRILLANCEAU

She had a dream—to settle in Burgundy—and now it has come true. She made a wish—to work for a prestigious estate—and it has been granted. Since last January, Amandine Brillanceau has taken on the role of Technical Director at Domaine Leflaive. “It’s something like the holy grail of a career, and it happened to me after just about ten years. It’s an incredible opportunity,” says this energetic agronomist, who isn’t stopping at just a title.

Originally from the Deux-Sèvres region and trained in Bordeaux, she caught the wine bug during an internship in the little-known Fiefs Vendéens appellation. With a National Diploma in Oenology (DNO) added to her backpack, she took off for New Zealand and Australia—an initiatory pilgrimage to the southern hemisphere for any young professional with big dreams. Almost as far, in Oregon, she also made a stop in what is often described as the “little Burgundy” of American wine country.

“At the time, Burgundy felt like an unreachable world,” recalls Amandine Brillanceau, who joined Louis Jadot in 2017 after an initial experience at Château Pesquié in the Ventoux region. As cellar master, she was exposed to the house’s myriad terroirs—a fast-tracked education. Eight years later, here she is at Domaine Leflaive, in a role that bridges teams in the vineyard and the cellar, across sites from Côte de Beaune to the Mâconnais, and between the estate’s own wines and those produced through négociant activities.

“Here, we don’t make distinctions in how we treat a grand cru versus a village parcel. However, tasting clearly reveals a natural hierarchy among the wines. That’s Burgundy: craftsmanship paired with a deeply rooted connection to the land. In every bottle, you find the imprint of its origin.”

Amandine Brillanceau didn’t study oenology to impose a style, but rather to honor the essence of a terroir. “In a domaine like this, I came in search of that direct connection to the wine’s origin. Biodynamics as well, a topic never really addressed in school, but one I chose for my research. It gives meaning to our work: integrating people into nature, which has been here far longer than we have. The teams are very attuned to this; they carry the experience and the memory of the place.”

Amid all her responsibilities, the new technical director has found her own place of reflection: a spot in the Chevalier-Montrachet vineyard, at the very top of the slope, with a panoramic view over Puligny-Montrachet. “I also tasted the wine,” she smiles. “An incredible emotion…”

The virtues of horse ploughing

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The virtues of horse ploughing

At the Domaine, the plots of grands crus and some premiers crus such as Les Pucelles are ploughed by horse. Far from being an artifice, the practice is of real agronomic interest. In addition to supplanting the use of weedkillers and offering a carbon neutral footprint, the passage of the horses makes it possible to compact the soil less and favour organic life. You just have to walk between the rows of vines to realize that the earth there is very soft, like a cotton mattress. The roots will more easily dive and explore the deep part of the soil, the true nature of the terroir. Horses are also useful for their precision work, especially on quality plots of old vines: they can feel the resistance of a vine and mark time, when a mechanized machine would catch it and often uproot it. We have three horses currently living in Puligny-Montrachet, pampered by the Domaine‘s caretaker.