If the world's most expensive dry red is, the answer is undoubtedly Romanee-Conti; the world's most expensive sweet white is Chateau d'Yquem; and the world's most expensive dry white?
That's domaine Leflaive Montrache Grand Cru. LeFei's logo has two roosters guarding the glory of the family, which are affectionately known as "double chickens" in China.
On the international price comparison website WS, the latest world's most expensive 50 wine rankings, Le Fei Meng Ha Xie Special Grade Park with an international average price of 38,097 yuan / bottle excluding tax, becoming the world's most expensive dry white, if the customs declaration to the country, at least 50,000 yuan or more, is really 1 cup 10,000 yuan! In front of Lefei's Monhache, Romani Conti's Monhachee can only rank second!
Monhache is the most expensive and top dry white wine region in the world, with an average price of 2,000 yuan for 1 bottle of white wine on less than 8 hectares of land! Dumas once said, "When drinking Montacher, you should get down on your knees and take off your hat in salute." In 1787, Jefferson said that one of his 4 favorite wines was Monhache.
Today I will tell the story of Le fei winery and its Mon Ha Xie Garden.
1. Four generations of heritage, just to make the best white wines of Burgundy
First generation: Joseph Le fei
After Burgundy was invaded by phylloxera in the early 20th century, Joseph Leflaive was able to acquire a considerable vineyard at a low price. Joseph's occupation at that time was not to grow grapes, but to a famous engineer who participated in the design of the first submarine in France. In 1920, Joseph shifted his focus to the winery and began producing his own brand of wine.
Second generation: Jo Lenfeld and Vincent Lenfei
After Joseph's death in 1953, the winery was inherited by his four children, with his son Jo Leflaive in charge of the winery's administration and financial management, and Vincent Leflaive in charge of marketing.
The third generation: Anne Claude Lefei
By 1990, Vincent's daughter, the stubborn winemaker Anne Claude Leflaive, and Joe's son, Olivier, were running the winery. But in 1994, as Olivier left the winery to run her own wine business, Anne became the winery's sole responsibility.
During her reign, Anne improved the winery's traditional cultivation method, transforming it into a trendy biodynamic method. It turns out that the biodynamic method has revitalized the winery, the quality of the wine has been further improved, the mineral taste is more pronounced, and the balance has jumped to a new level, more delicate.
In 2006, Anne was named "The World's Top White Winemaker" by Decanter, and in 2014 she was hailed by the Institute of Masters of Wine as "The Winemakers' Winemaker."
Fourth generation: Bryce Lefei
In April 2015, at the age of 59, Anne passed away at her home in Burgundy. At present, the winery has been passed down for four generations, and the new owner is Brice Leflaive, who inherits the ideas and winemaking techniques of his predecessors and continues to develop the winery.
2. Lefei Winery: Evangelist and forerunner of biodynamic method
Château Lefy was one of the first wineries in Burgundy to implement the biodynamic method. Biodynamic law was proposed by an Australian philosopher who believed that everything was interconnected and influenced, including the sun, moon, and stars. The biodynamic method is to use this principle to link vines, people, terroir and the sun, moon and stars, observe the sky to plan, detect the sun and the moon, and use the interaction between the sun and the moon and the earth to establish a balance and achieve the purpose of winemaking.
Lefei's winemakers point out that there are not a few biodynamic wineries around the world, and it is a minority of the implementers who really understand what they are doing. Speaking of biodynamics, he makes an analogy: "Using chemicals in grape fields to cure diseases is like giving people too much unclean food, and they are more likely to get sick." ”
In Burgundy at that time, the implementation of biodynamic methods was not an easy task, and it was absolutely impossible for these wine farmers who had spent most of their lives with herbicides and chemical fertilizers to believe that as long as they buried horns in the soil and sprayed some herbs, these vines could kill the diseases that were raging in the fields. However, in the cold and damp year of 2004, powdery mildew was spread throughout The Golden Hills, but the vineyards belonging to The Le Fei Winery were intact. The 30-year-old vine, which is precious to Bivenast,000, was supposed to produce high-quality grapes, but was on the verge of being abandoned, but it was revived by the biodynamic method.
In 1997, a group of sales and managers from Corney & Barrow, the British importer of Le Fei Winery, visited the winery. Anne took out two wines for the team to taste and choose. Twelve of the 13 people chose the same one, but the wine tasting was all from the 1996 Craveron First Class Garden, but 12 people unanimously chose the Portuguese Garden, which is cultivated by the biodynamic method. The following year, a confident Anne converted all of her family's vineyards to biodynamic farming.
3. What are the wines of Le fei winery?
The vineyards of Château Lefy are located in the Puligny-Montrachet region and are planted only with the grape variety Chardonnay. There are 4 Grand Gardens and 17 Tier 1 Gardens in Pliny-Monhache, with white wines accounting for 99.5% of the total production. Currently, Château Lefy's vineyards cover an area of approximately 23 hectares, of which 5.1 hectares are Grand Cru, 10 hectares are Premier Cru, 4.64 hectares are village-level vineyards and 3.24 hectares are Burgundy-level vineyards.
When the grapes are ripe, they are harvested by hand and pressed with gentle pneumatic control and macerated for 24 hours. Alcoholic fermentation uses only the natural yeast on the peel, the fermentation temperature is relatively low, 16-18 °C, and alcoholic fermentation and fermentation are carried out in oak barrels and aged after fermentation, and after 12 months of aging, they are transferred to stainless steel tanks for 6 months before bottling. In addition, the proportion of new oak barrels used will be adjusted according to the grade and year of the vineyard, taking 2015 as an example, the proportion of new oak barrels in the Monthachet Grand Park is 100%, the remaining Grand Class is 25%, the first level is 20-22%, the village level is 18%, and the regional level is 12%.
(1) Grand Grade Garden
Monhache
Le Montrachet, with a total of 7.9 hectares, is jointly owned by 18 producers. The garden's world-famous Chardonnay dry white is expensive and produces very little, producing only 34,900 litres and less than 47,000 bottles in 2008, for example. The world's most expensive dry white, The Le Fei Meng Ha Xie Grand Park is from this garden. However, Lefei Winery only owns 0.08 hectares of this garden, and the production is only 1 barrel, about 30 boxes, even if the so-called money is not necessarily available. Parker once said: "The biggest market in the world is Miami, because drug lords have the most power to buy this wine." Unfortunately, they have a limited lifespan and often drink it before the wine is really ripe! ”
It is worth mentioning that in April 2016 Burgundy suffered a severe frost, and the grape production was reduced to such that no winery could fully brew a barrel of The Mont-Ha-Chee. Therefore, six top Monthacher wineries, including Lefei and DRC, decided to jointly produce the 2016 Monhachet Grand Park. But even so, the total production of these 6 companies is only 2 barrels (228 liters per barrel), which is equivalent to about 600 bottles.
Knight - Monhache
With an area of 7.3 hectares, Chevalier-Montrachet is the highest of the five Grand Prix gardens, reaching more than 300 meters. Château Lefy owns 1.92 hectares of this garden, consisting of 3 plots, and the grapes were planted between 1955 and 1980. Knight-Monhacie has conquered Chardonnay's avid lovers with its exceptional concentration and powerful taste. Due to the limited production of Le fei Meng Ha Xie Garden, many wine fans can only see its style through the Le Fei Knight - Meng Ha Xie Garden.
Bata-Monhache
Batard-Montrachet consists of 4 plots, 2 each in Pliny and the adjacent Summer Hills, with the oldest vine planted in 1962. Bata-Monhachet wines are concentrated, condensed and intense, but at a young age they are inferior to Pucelles or Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, requiring the development of potentially complex flavours over the years.
Bivinas Bata-Monhache
With a total area of only 3.5 hectares, the garden is lower in elevation than other grand gardens, and is located below the hillside, with deeper and more fertile soil and more feminine than the knight-Monhache.
(2) First-class garden
Château Le Fei has 4 Priny-Monthachet First Class Gardens, namely Pucelles, Combettes, Folatieres, Clavoillon, and 1 Meursault Premier Cru Sule de Ann Sous le Dos d'Ane.
One of the most representative is Puxie Paradise, which has exceeded the price of many special parks with thousands of yuan. In 1972, Helveter represented France at the 1976 Blind Tasting In Paris, France, which shocked the world, and ranked 8th in the white wine group.
Combet has a perfectly elegant taste and a long tail. With nearly 85% of the area of Claviron, the estate is located under the foliage, adjacent to The Puchele, and is the lightest first-class garden for wine, very delicious, fresh, clean and with excellent fruity taste. The higher elevations and steeper slopes of the frieze than clavelon, coupled with a better angle of sunlight, give the wine a fuller and more mature character.
(3) Other vineyards
Château Lefy also boasts a village-level vineyard in Pliny-Monhache. The Pliny-Monthachet village level consists of 7 plots of land, mainly Les Tremblots on the summer mountain border and Les Brelances below Clavirong, with rich fruitiness, excellent balance, and unparalleled complexity relative to the average village level.
In 2004, the winery purchased Macon Verze, an area of 9.33 hectares, and implemented biodynamics from the beginning of the purchase.
Here are the drinking seasons of each garden at Le Fei Winery in recent years:
4, Le Fei Meng Ha Xie: the annual output of 30 boxes, money can not buy
The harvesting and bottling process at Château Lefy takes place in the winery, with 30% of the wine sold to French restaurants, wine retailers and consignors, and the remaining 70% going to foreign markets. The winery's largest foreign market is the United Kingdom, represented by two wine merchants, Corney & Barrowand and John Armit.
Château Lefei ranked 9th among the 2015 Liv-ex World's Top 100 Wines, between Hakuba (No. 8) and Lion (No. 10), and has the highest average price increase of 8.54% among the top 100 brands. The annual output of the Monhachet Grand Garden of Le fei winery is only 30 cases, and the number of distributions to various countries is imaginable, while the old vintage wines can only be admired at auction.
5. Advanced anti-counterfeiting technology, used by many famous villages
With the exception of Magun Welz Gardens, all wines from vintage 2011 onwards use a certification seal called Prooftag. Seals are attached to the bottle and consist of a set of "bubble codes" that are unique and cannot be copied, each set of bubble codes connected to a set of codes consisting of numbers and letters. Simply enter the code into the official website of Lefei Winery to identify the authenticity and search for the corresponding introduction information of the wine. This advanced anti-counterfeiting technology has been adopted by many famous estates, such as Rafi, Latour, Margaux, Petus and so on.
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