Les Sétilles (2022)

About this wine

Les Sétilles is one of Olivier Leflaive’s signature white Burgundies, named for the cadastral lieu dit where the cellar sits in Puligny Montrachet. It opens with familiar Chardonnay charm, think ripe pear and yellow apple, then a drift of acacia like honey and a squeeze of lemon zest. On the palate it feels smooth and inviting, with flavors of peach and baked apple riding over a subtle toasted almond note. The texture stays lively rather than heavy, thanks to a chalk dust mineral streak that keeps the finish clean and mouthwatering. It is a great snapshot of the Puligny and Meursault orbit in a more relaxed, everyday style, polished but not flashy.

About the grape

Chardonnay originated in Burgundy where it evolved from wild vines into the region defining white grape, prized for its ability to reflect soil and climate. In this bottling the variety is drawn from some sixty Climats around Puligny Montrachet and Meursault, planted on calcareous clay and silty clay at about 230 to 250 meters, with an average vine age of around 45 years which brings concentration and balance. The house works with mostly manual harvesting and sustainable viticulture, pressing gently with a mix of whole cluster and crushed fruit, then fermenting and maturing part of the wine in oak to add texture while preserving varietal clarity. Those choices show Chardonnay as a flexible grape that responds to precise site selection and careful cellar treatment to express the terroir of these classic Burgundian villages.

Quick facts

• 🏷️ The name "Les Sétilles" is actually the cadastral name of the exact place in the village where Olivier Leflaive’s cellar stands, so the wine is named for the house’s home turf.
• 📍 Rather than coming from a single vineyard, this Bourgogne blanc is a patchwork from roughly sixty different climats, mainly around Puligny‑Montrachet and Meursault, giving it a mini‑grand cru personality.
• 🍇 About half the grapes are vinified whole and half are crushed, an unusual split that adds an intriguing balance of freshness and textural weight to the Chardonnay.
• 🌞 The 2022 vintage that produced this bottle was noted by the domaine as an exceptionally sunny year—roughly the equivalent of an extra month of July—so the wine shows ripe fruit and vivid brightness.
• 🪵 Most of the fruit is hand‑picked with around 90% manual harvest and the blend spends about 14 months with nearly 90% aging in oak, lending a polished, slightly toasty frame to the wine’s mineral core.

Palate profile

Producer

Olivier Leflaive founded his wine house in 1984 in Puligny-Montrachet after a long family tradition of winemaking that dates back centuries. He started as a négociant focusing on vinification and ageing, then expanded into Domaine Olivier Leflaive with estate vineyards and long term grower partnerships. The house grew to manage around one hundred hectares of vineyards including holdings in premier and grand cru sites while also developing a hotel and restaurants to promote Burgundy hospitality. The business remains family run and has become a reference for refined Chardonnay based wines from the Cote de Beaune.