As the weather settles itself into Autumn the temperatures cool and the clouds gather across the valley. Napa starts to show it's true beauty as the vines hang low with grapes, assimilating sugars, loseing acidity and developing flavour.
A bottle of the latest vintage of Domaine Leflaive was opened at work today. The entry level Bourgogne, picked from vineyards close to the village of Puligny, but on slightly less prestigious soils. As recommended by the domaine, you really need to leave this wine for about three years before you open it, the reductive qualities mean it is built to last slowly openening up over time, exposing layers of flavour. Opened at lunch and I was not blown away, $45 seemed overly expensive for a wine that was closed and tight. Over the afternoon, as we topped barrels in the cellar, the wine opened up. At the end of the day, there was a broader palate, more minerality, more pear and stonefruit and generally more of the wine. It tasted richer and fuller in terms of texture and longevity on the palate. BUT, is this any better than the Domaine Leflaive 2006 Macon-Verze, where an extremely approachable vintage has given a wine that delivers so much, good citrus, stone-fruit and pear fruit followed by mineraltiy and succulent weight, and ten bucks cheaper at $35. I'd go for the Macon
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