Gevrey-Chambertin: My Top 5 Producers

So you've asked for it. Our most popular video on this channel, Neutral Oak, has been Gevrey-Chambertin, where we take you on a journey through Burgundy to discover some of the best producers and best vineyards. And now we're digging even deeper. Today is all about Gevrey Chambertin, a world-renowned place for some of the best Pinot Noirs produced in the world. We're diving into each appellation, the vineyards, what makes them special, And most importantly, my top picks of the appellation. To understand where Gevrey is, it is one of the most northern appellations of the Côte de Nuits. But don't mistake it for being north, it is one of the warmest and it is one of the ones that houses the most Grands Crus. Whilst Chambolle and Vosne only produce 700,000 bottles approximately annually on average, Gevrey is a big production. It produces 2 million bottles per year. So naturally, the brand is known much better internationally for its size in appellation and the production. Let's take you to New York Central Park. Half that, and that's the size of Gevrey-Chambertin. 495 hectares of vineyards, which is approximately 1,200 acres. Whilst the size is bigger, The quality really doesn't suffer. The rules of Burgundy applies to all appellations. Rules of vineyard plantings, how many vines per hectare, the production caps, as well as the classification. As you know, classification goes from regional, which is not specific to appellations, so we will only cover village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru in this video. In comparison to other villages, such as Nuits-Saint-Georges, Gevrey has all of them. The Premier Crus, the Grand Crus and the Village. And the division is even crazier. When you talk about the hierarchy of vineyards, 66% is classified as Village Appellation, only 16% are Premier Cru vineyards, and a whopping 17.4% of the entire Gevrey-Chambertin appellation planted are Grands Crus. But let's cover the most important aspect for me personally, the producer. For me, when you produce a Gevrey-Chambertin, it is really important to be located in the town. So these are my five top picks for Gevrey-Chambertin. Let's start with the tiniest of them all, Domaine Claude Duga. I first experienced the domaine in 2015 and even at the entry level, the wines seem to be simply fantastic. Leading the domaine into the next generation, having taken over from the OG Claude Duga, the estate is currently run by Jean, Laetitia and Bertrand. Laetitia is in charge of the vineyard work whilst Bertrand does everything in the cellar. Claude Duga only has two village appellation wines, bottling them separately depending on which vineyard they use. They have two Premier Crus as well as two Grand Crus. So here are my favorite wines of the estate. La Marie, my pick for the village appellation. That is a single vineyard located in the town that has perfect exposition and is just located underneath the domaine. So the fruit doesn't travel very far into the cellar. What's even crazier, the vines on average age are 80 years old, so they produce extremely complex fruit. The production for La Marie is tiny, only 1500 bottles approximately annually. Every time I see it on the list, it is seriously one that is very often underpriced. When we did our video on the Syrah wine spots, we saw one really reasonably priced at the Bogo Lac wine list. And the estate generally doesn't have a lot of exposure internationally because the production is so tiny, but the quality is unbelievable. So whenever I see something on the list that carries the name of Claude Duga, you can be sure that I will order it. For the Premier Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques, it always excels in every type of vintage. With only 0.29 hectares of vineyard holdings, it is one of the smallest ones for Claude Duga. And here the vines are younger. Although the vines are only 25 years old, the vineyard is classified as premier cru. The tiny plot replanted producing some incredible fruit and every vintage gets better and better year after year. And let's move to the smallest 0.16 hectares for the Griotte-Chambertin which is my pick for the Grand Cru. Here the vines are 45 years old on average producing some incredible Grand Cru fruit. So moving from Claude Duga to the next producer Domaine Fourier and here you really have to distinguish between the labels of Jean-Marie Fourier and Domaine Fourier. The difference between the two is the vineyard holdings. Domaine Fourier owns its vineyards whilst Jean-Marie Fourier is buying grapes. Jean-Marie Fourier took over from his father in 1994 and the next generation is already knocking at the door. We're fully in. I've had some sensational experience with their Premier Cru, Clos Saint-Jacques. Most experts want it or deem it to be almost classified as a Grand Cru since it has all the aspects that make it a Grand Cru. The elevation, the slope, the exposition, and the position of it. Clos Saint-Jacques is probably the most famous Premier Cru in Shabbat shalom. What is exceptional with Fourier is that the production is larger. Fortunately, he has quite a big plot of Clos Saint-Jacques, making the wines accessible. And at this level of quality, these are the wines to buy. Here is where it gets even crazier. The Clos Saint-Jacques planting happened in 1910. The vines are over 100 years old. And them having seen so many different climatic conditions, as well as generations, you can be sure that they produce incredible fruit. Additionally, his holdings in Criots Chambertin are also really old. The plantings are from 1928, making it almost 100-year-old vine plantings. So for me, my favorite picks from Domaine Fourier is Clos Saint-Jacques, its Premier Cru, as well as its Grand Cru Criots Chambertin. Claude Dugas compared to Fourier are completely different, yet they carry both the names Cheverey-Chambertin on the label. The style of Claude Dugas is much more intense, sometimes you get blue fruit, there's much more oak presence, while Fourier is much more transparent, light on its feet and much more infused. What you often get with Fourier wines is reduction by winemaking. So sometimes when you open a really great bottle, You give it a bit of a shake, you degas it and you have an incredible explosive experience of Pinot Noir. So while Fourier and Claude Dugas are more recent estates, Domaine Armand Rousseau is where I got to taste some incredible wines. Eric and his daughter Cyrille run the estate today. Generation after generation, they have been known to produce the most iconic and the most known Gevrey-Chambertins in the world. It does help for them to have a significant holding of Chambertin, as well as Clos de Bèze, as well as some significant holdings of Monopole in the village, Clos du Château, as well as the legendary Premier Cru, Clos Saint-Jacques. Since Rousseau has such large holdings of the Gevrey-Chambertin appellation, my favorite picks in the village appellation is the Clos du Château, located just outside the Domaine. For the Premier Cru, it has to go to Clos Saint-Jacques. The same vineyard and the same holding as Fourier, but a much different style. More dark fruit, more intensity, more oak. and more power behind these wines. The most interesting Grand Cru for me that I've tasted so far, an aged example of, is the 2010 Ruchottes-Chambertin, which is a little bit higher in elevation. It seems to be more light in style, yet it's super powerful. But the most iconic label has to go to the Chambertin Grand Cru, which is just located above Criots and next to Clos de Bèze. When it comes to the Chambertin holding, it has 2.5 hectares of the Grand Cru plot. The Ruchottes-Chambertin are around one hectare and the Clos Saint-Jacques is at 2.2 hectares for the estate. You can tell from that that the production is quite a lot but you can be sure that these prime vineyards produce some prime bottles. And let's cover the newcomer, Charles Fancanet. You didn't forget my allocation, thank you very much. Domaine des Chaisols. It's incredible how they just revived an old domain, purchasing the lands, breaking negotiate agreements with other producers, and getting all their vineyard holdings back to the domain to produce some incredible expressions of Pinot Noir. The estate was purchased from the Parisian family Mercier by Charles Fancanet and his wife Anne-Sophie in 2021. And the 2024 vintage represents the first vintage vinified and made in Gevrey-Chambertin at Domaine des Chézeaux. Right next to Clos du Château, the Rousseau Village Appellation Gevrey-Chambertin vineyard is the location of Clos des Chézeaux, which is the vineyard bottled as a monopole, meaning that the Domaine des Chézeaux is the sole owner and that's the Gevrey-Chambertin Village Appellation wine produced by Charles. That is my favorite pick. at the village appellation for the estate and the only Gevrey village they produce. Let's move on to their premier cru holding, Les Castiers. Castiers is located just next to Clos Saint-Jacques. It's a little further north but it's the ideal holdings for them to produce some incredible premier cru Gevrey-Chambertin. But let's move to the big dogs, Cros Parantochs. The estate holds more than 1.2 hectares of vineyards in Griotte-Chambertin, their prized Grand Cru. And what gets even more exciting is that they added Chambertin to their vineyard holdings and their first bottling happened in 2024. Tiny, tiny production, but seriously good. And finally, probably comparable to Amand Rousseau, is Domaine Denis Mortet, led by Arnaud Mortet, The next generation. Arnaud took over the estate of the family in 2006 and works with his mother and sister. So a real family estate. Their village wine that really appeals to me is Mes Cinq Terroirs, which stands for five different terroirs. It's a blend of five different village appellation plots in Gevrey and that makes up their Gevrey-Chambertin village wine. Their Mes Cinq Terroirs Gevrey-Chambertin is made from six hectares of vineyards and they produce around 30,000 bottles per year in a normal vintage. And my pick for the Premier Cru plot is Lavaux Saint-Jacques. Their vineyard holdings of Lavaux-Saint-Jacques is around 1.2 hectares and their average vine age are around 60 years old. And of course, the Grand Cru has to be Chambertin. So if I would have to rank these five different wineries in their own specific style, I would leave Faurier as the most infused fruit, the most explosive red kind of style. Followed by Domaine des Chaisons that carries over the style of Udelo Noela, also very delicate, with the warm touch of the Cheverny appellation. Whilst Rousseau and Denis Morte are the classics that make a more structured yet refined Pinot Noir style with more oak influence and Clos du Gard is the exotic one where you have a combination of oak. Specific, sometimes you have some blue fruit character, ripeness, yet beautiful delicate structure. Let's hop over into the topic of pricing because here is where it gets interesting. Same grape, same vineyard, completely different pricing. Lavaux Saint-Jacques. We have three of my five favorite producers making this wine and they couldn't be different from the pricing point. Clos du Gard is priced at around 320 euros per bottle. Denis Morte, €320 as well. But here is where speculation comes. Armand Rousseau is one of the blue chip domains of the world. If you're fortunate enough to have a direct allocation, congratulations to you. Unfortunately, I don't. So I have to spend around €600 per bottle. Let's move to Clos Saint-Jacques. Faurier and Rousseau are the only estates from our top five picks that make these wines. Whilst you can find Faurier at around 700 euros, Armand Rousseau is priced over a thousand euros on the market. Lastly, let's get into the Grands Crus and compare the prices that the market asks for for those bottles. Whilst Fourier bottles change hands at around 500 euros a bottle, Domaine des Chezeaux is moving towards the 650 figure, whilst Claude Dugas is around 750, taking the crown of the most expensive Cru at Chambertin. Now, since the recent acquisition of Charles and his wife Anne-Sophie, we don't know how the prices are going to move in the future, but you can assume that Grand Cru usually only has one way up. Generally speaking, Whilst prices is one thing, Availability as well as style is another. All five producers that I've mentioned today are incredible Pinot Noir makers and they really represent the village of Chevreuil-Chambertin in their own way. I've had great experience with all these five producers and these are the ones I collect and put in my cellar to drink on a happy day. And I'd like to hear your suggestion on which Gevrey estates are of your liking. As well as if I've missed anything in my top five picks. Thank you for tuning in. This is my channel Neutral Oak. I'm Alexander and I'll see you on the next one. Bye bye.