INSIDER'S PICK: 2018 OLIVIER LEFLAIVE BOURGOGNE 'LES SETILLES' $24.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We are also doing both a white and a red option each week, with the white wine available for the discount on Thursday and Friday, while the red wine available on Friday and Saturday. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

Though they aren't part of the early history of Burgundy, the name Olivier Leflaive is definitely integral in the more recent time period, and a major part of shaping consumer's understanding and awareness here in America. When he first took over the family Domaine production in the early 1980s he helped to build them into one of the more acclaimed producers in the Montrachet area. During his time there he also started his own 'negociant' winery, buying grapes from growers versus owning and farming the vineyards themselves as they do with the family estate. They also formed a relationship with an importer in America to help quickly sell these wines in many major markets, almost instantly becoming a major source for well priced wines out of the most famous sites in the region. For many American Burgundy fans that learned about the wines in the 90s, the Leflaive wines were their first exposures to the uniqueness of Meursault, Montrachet, and the other small appellations, and continue to be among the most fairly priced. Consistently staffed with prominent winemakers over the years, the name continues to be a name consumers seek out and can find with some regularity. Les Setilles has long been their flagship regional label, built from a broad selection of plots within the Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault villages. With a quality hand and only a small portion of the juice matured in new oak, this is textbook Burgundy, showing the round texture we expect from Chardonnay layered with the fine subtleties  that should be provided by the prestigious vineyards from which it comes. We love when we can find small lesser known producers to champion and feature, but this level of quality is impossible to ignore regardless of the source.

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