Olivier Leflaive Tasting (Burgundy)

"La Table d'Olivier Leflaive" in Puligny-Montrachet

Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy.
I just discovered that alternative tasting concepts have been around for a while in France :
"La Table d'Olivier Leflaive" for example, has been offering a different wine tasting experience for 11 years now in Puligny-Montrachet.
The "Table" looks like a small restaurant set on the 2nd story of an old village-house (see the door and window on the left on the picture above). You reach it after entering the small courtyard and walking up a flight of steps. We immediately liked the cosy, family atmosphere of the place, with the fireplace on the left.

Inside the place

Domaine Olivier Leflaive is both a winery (with roots going back to 1735) making wine out of its own vineyards (about 14 hectares today) , and a negoce house making wine out of contracted vineyards (90 hectares). The Domaine makes high quality wines on both ranges of wines, and the ones you can taste at the Table are a selection made out of the 70 to 80 (Burgundy) Appellations vinified at Leflaive. The Domaine makes 20 different reds, the rest in white.
All the wines are vinified here in Puligny-Montrachet and the Chablis grapes, with the long distance between the vineyard and the chai, are hauled in refrigerated trucks.

Olivier Leflaive (left) with Pascal Wagner

While Olivier Leflaive drops every day at the Table and chats with visitors, the king of the place is Pascal Wagner. This energetic and charismatic sommelier speaks fluent german (he is half german by his mother, lived in Saarbrücken) and english, in addition to french, and goes from table to table to pour the wines, to explain in detail the hows and whys of each wine you could have a question about, and even to joke or tell a side story about another (discreet) star of the place (I concede, this was my question here) : Resine, the dog. Pascal studied oenology in Beaune, then worked in different wineries across France, until the day he had a daughter and chose to settle down here. He is also a musician (he worked for CBS), and Olivier Leflaive who was a guitarist and an active element of the Paris music scene until 1982 felt the right pulse and hired him. A picture pinned against a lamp shows Pascal with japanese sommelier Shinya Tasaki, during his visit here.
There are two formulas (which are changed every 5 weeks or so) for the tasting : the "Degustation Selection", with 7 white wines offered with a meal (39 Euro), or the "Grande Degustation" (49 Euro), with 15 wines including 3 reds, served 2 or 3 in a row, all with good-size pours. We chose the latter, and with that, we had Charcuterie from Burgundy (paté persillé and terrine), then Blanquette de Blanc de Volaille with assorted vegetables (and good, tasty bread all along the meal), then a Cheese selection (5 different) and coffee and Valrhona.

The wines are served following the adequate successive order, along with the charcuterie, then the dish [picture above] and the cheeses. We got the time to quietly enjoy the wines and the food, and were never pushed to accelerate the pace of our tasting. As I said, the pours are generous and I would encourage you to spit in the bucket, because 15 wines make a volume. But Pascal will pour you more of the wine which you particularly liked (at least he did it for us...).
The plates at the "Table" have (if I counted right) 58 Appellations of the Domaine printed on their edge like flower petals.
The wines are served at a very accurate temperature and Pascal lent us his amazing thermometer/laser pointer with which you can instantly read the temperature of any liquid or surface without even touching it... With the day being hot, he said that serving the wines a little cooler than necessary helped enjoy the wine while it gradually warmed.
The wines :
__1 Chablis Les Deux Rives 2004 (11,5 Euro a bottle). Straight attack. Citrus.
__2 Bourgogne Chardonnay 2004 (6,9 Euro/bottle). Generic blend of Chardonnays from several Appellations inside Burgundy.
__3 Auxey-Duresses 2004 (15 Euro/bottle). Creamy nose. Nice ample mouth. I like this one. B. says it is a little tight in the mouth.
__4 Saint Aubin 1er Cru Charmois 2002 (19,20 Euro/bottle). Raisins aromas and round in the mouth, B. says. After reflexion, she says she likes it.
__5 Meursault Narvaux 2002 (29 euro). Nice buttered aromas. Richness filling the mouth.
__6 Chassagne-Montrachet 2002 (28,3 Euro). White flowers aromas. Nice richness. Along the minutes we spend going from glass to glass (they are serves 2 or 3 in a row), I feel I also like this one much. B. notes its nice straight structure.
__7 Puligny-Montrachet 2002 (29 Euro). Beautiful nose here : white flowers. Some discreet wood. Structured mouth.
__8 Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu 2001 (23,5 Euro). 5 year old Chablis. Fruity and balanced.
__9 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Blanchots 2001 (40 Euro). This Chardonnay is comparatively much more powerful than a 1er Cru Chablis. Freshness and fineness. Less generous than the #8 but very classy. Very nice structure, B. says. It was served at 13,5° to allow us to taste it on several minutes without warming too fast (it's hot today). As we ask for details about this wine, Pascal makes a drawing on the wine list [see pic on the right] to show how the Blanchots climat is cornered against the very prestigious climats of Les Criots, Montrachet, Batard, and Chevalier (at 200+ Euro a bottle) along the N 6 (road). Les Blanchots shares the same magic soil and terroir than its neighbours, but without the slope, it has a less optimal drainage. Serving the Epoisses with a spoon...

Here come the cheeses...We help ourself on the cheese plate but the nicely smelly Epoisses (some would say stinky) is so runny that it has to be served with a spoon [picture dedicated to Jack and Joanne from Fork and Bottle whom I know also love this cheese...].
__10 Meursault 1er Cru Poruzots 2002 (40 Euro). Very ripe nose. Buttered. Nice immediate pleasure.
__11 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champ Gain 2002 (40 Euro). Nice mouth, very very long... That is really good...
__12 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2003 (64 Euro). Fresh nose. Some wood. Nice full mouth.
The reds :
__13 Monthelié 1er Cru 2001 (16,2 Euro). B. notes the cherry nose and suppleness in the mouth.
__14 Volnay 2001 (21 Euro). Animal nose. Suavity in the mouth. Very nice Pinot Noir.
__15 Pommard 1er Cru Epenots 2001 (31,5 Euro). Ripe fruits, chocolate, liquorice. Pairs beautifully with this ripe and runny Epoisses cheese...

This was a tasting... Arrived at 1 pm, we were still there at 4 pm with Pascal asking us if there was a wine we would like another pour of. Both of us agree for another pour of the #11. Great finish...
I missed something, though : On the bottom of the wine list, it reads "Don't take the wheel before checking your estimated blood alcohol concentration. Ethylometer at your disposal". I would have liked to know...
Visitors should not be long bothered by this problem : Olivier Leflaive opens this september 2006 "La Maison d'Olivier Leflaive" on the other side of the square with 13 renovated rooms with the same spirit of authenticity and quality.

La Table d'Olivier LeflaivePlace du Monument, 21190 Puligny-MontrachetPhone (reserve in advance !) 33 (0)3 80 21 37 65Fax 33 (0)3 80 21 33 94La Table's web page

Comments

[Jack]

Sounds like it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon! And definitely a destination for wine tourists.

And the Epoisses looks runny and lovely. Where's the direct flight from Santa Rosa to Puligny-Montrachet?

[Arnie Poltenson]

We love the wines of Domaine Leflaive and plan to visit in May with our sous-commanderie of the Chevaliers du Tastevin from Central New York.

[denis lartigue]

Je suis un cuisinier qui vit a l'etranger depuis longtemps , je retourne en France tout les ans, quand je vois ce site je me dis le patrimoine gastronomique est toujours la et bien vivant , j'ai soudain le mal du pays .... j'ai hate de sentir l'ambiance de cet etablissement , la selection des vins est superbe et les tarifs tres raisonnable.

bravo messieurs vive la france et les fromages qui sentent fort......

[pascal wagner / EX Sommelier of Olivier Leflaive]

cher bertrand ,
voici une belle récompense pour tout mes efforts ! Merci pour de si sympatiques photos et commentaires. Mais rien est éternel , et la Dynastie Leflaive a décidé de me renvoyer , me licencier pour faute grâve;mensonge ; après 11 ans,investissement total pour mon travail et mes clients , amis visiteurs ....et depuis le 11 septembre 2007 je suis chômeur avec peu de soutien et il faut que je sois créatif car je me suis fait humilier et enc.... , je suis tombé en pleine dépression ! J'ai monté cette affaire pour Leflaive , je l'ais fait grandir , la réputation est devenu incontournable , et c'était un bonheur de pouvoir éduquer , rassurer tous ces amateurs de vins mon travail était devenu une extension de toute ma vie au quotidien !
Aujoud'hui, mes efforts ayant généré une telle énergie que Leflaive à finalement acheté une plus grande batisse , il à déménagé la Table d'hôte dans les nouveau locaux ,avec 13 chambres classées ++++ , et moi qui me suis permis d'oser supposer une promotion , c'est terminé par un renvoi ! C'est une des plus grande déception de ma vie !!!!

Mais je profite de mon chômage pour me refaire ,j'ai quelques projets , restons en contact .
Amitiés

Pascal Wagner

[Sklenicka]

I've been there in spring 2006 and I loved it. But I have to admire your pictures, they are simply perfect.

[Will]

I had a nice visit to this domaine in Spring 2007 and Pascal made all the difference during our tasting. Sharing some brilliant insights and whitty tales. It's very disappointing to hear of his departure from the Domaine.

[Jack]

We visited in May of 2008. The food was fine. The wines were too young to be enjoyed - another diner complained to Olivier Leflaive, who admitted this was true and said they should be serving the 2004s rather than the 2006s, but they had sold out of the earlier vintages. That's a pretty lame reason.

But what was worse, our server, a young "sommelier", as he called himself, was so pretentious that I can say it was by far our worst experience at a restaurant or tasting room in recent memory. This guy insisted on telling us what the wines smelled and tasted like despite both of us saying we'd like to judge them for ourselves, without additional information. Eventually he ignored all of his tables to chat with people who had wondered in and hung out at the bar. This made this miserable experience drag out for-ever. More than two months later, I'm still quite pissed off about the whole experience.

[Lisa]

I dont know if i am allowed to say this here but Pascal is still in the Beaune area. You can find him at www.les-caves-abbaye.com I met him recently via friends who are real wine lovers, on the other hand I am a complete wine novice. Pascal manages to make either end of the scale completely at ease telling you as much or as little as you would like to know, his enthusiam and hospitality seem to be boundless. I cant help thinking that although the wines at Leflaives are exceptionally good (I have been and I am learning!) part of the magic is definitely Pascal himself. Abbaye might not look much from the outside but inside it really does come alive and is well worth the visit.

[Wagner Pascal]

Dear wine friends, since i have stopt to work as sommelier for Olivier Leflaive , i start October 2008 my own activity in a fantastic incredible nice cellar in the center of Beaune . Build by monks in the XIII century , 220m2, with kitchen, wine food and education , fun, conviviality,passion , simplicity and honesty are the gazoline of my life and my cellar is deticaded to that philosophy of life
www.wine-wagner-vision.com
www.les-caves-abbaye.com
Welcome , i help every visitor to organise is visit in Beaune , over my cellar i open you the doors of Burgundy like nobody else .
Contact me and be free
Amitiés , Santé
Pascal Wagner