Domaine Leflaive is standard bearer for the late Anne-Claude Leflaive’s passionately held views on biodynamic cultivation.  This philosophy has at its heart the individual treatment of the vines by plant-based compounds according to a strict timetable governed by the lunar cycle, at the same time as a total ban on systemic chemical treatments and insecticides.  Rooted in the early 1990s and fully operational by 1997, biodynamic farming has transformed the Domaine’s viticulture, yield, quality and reputation so that it now rests at the very highest level in Burgundy and indeed of all the great white wine estates of the world.

It is thought to date back to the Oligocene era, nearly 40 million years ago. The buttonhole is aptly named, being an aperture in the surrounding gravel plateau, exposing the vine roots directly to the fertile and moisture-retentive clay below.There is nonetheless also gravel at Petrus, starting some 60cm beneath the surface, which moderates this ready access to highly concentrated nutrients. Drainage is further aided by the gentle slopes.The vineyard itself has twelve sub-plots. As Neal Martin says in his book Pomerol, it is so unusual to see it broken down into these individual parcels that several of the commune’s winemakers failed to recognise it as Petrus in this ‘insider’ format.The two largest plots, Mario and Guy, are named after former vineyard workers, with neighbouring châteaux acknowledged in the names Certan and L’Évangile.