Description
René Leclerc, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Les Champeaux”
If this morning’s offer sent you drifting into daydreams of that “aha” moment when all the majesty and beauty of a top-tier red Burgundy took your hand and led you on a thrilling ride of beguiling perfume and divine complexity, listen up: We have what you are dreaming of! A richly layered, robustly textured, elegantly balanced masterpiece from Gevrey-Chambertin traditionalists René and François Leclerc. Hailing from the blockbuster 2018 vintage, this Premier Cru bottling is already outrageously tasty (with a good decant) but is also built to go the distance in your cellar. The Leclerc house style–no new oak, soft extraction, harvesting for optimal balance–paired perfectly with the richness and power of 2018 and delivered a knockout bottle of “Les Champeaux.” If you need a special occasion red, or if you just need to bask in the bounty that the best red Burgundy can offer, then you need a bottle or three on hand. Of course it is quite limited, so be sure to act fast.
The Leclerc family are icons in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin. They have maintained a charming tasting room in the heart of the village for decades. Once, some years ago, when an appointment with another vigneron fell through, I wandered in and was immediately blown away by all the eclectic artifacts. René himself, still going strong, led me through the tasting of a wide range of their varied terroirs. It was a timeless experience, I felt I could have been tasting in 1989, or 1969. The wines were a pure, delicious snapshot of tradition.
At Domaine Leclerc, the old clocks and pianos that grace the tasting room are family heirlooms, but the winery itself is newer, squeaky clean, and well-maintained. The old basket press is the only relic—everything else glimmers. But the fruit is treated as it always has been—René and his son François pick into small bins and after gentle and careful pressing, ambient yeasts drive a cold fermentation for up to 15 days with gentle punch-downs twice daily. The wine is kept in vats for up to six months and then aged in neutral oak barrels, purchased from Dugat-Py, for one year before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The Leclercs have small but excellent holdings of old to very old vines in Les Champeaux, a Premier Cru that sits high on the slope overlooking the village of Gevrey-Chambertin. That elevation, along with some exposure to cool, northerly winds, leads to a reputation for wines that combine the typical power of Gevrey with a slightly softer, more elegant framework.
That divine balance is readily apparent in the 2018 vintage we have for you today. If you want to try a bottle in the next year or two, definitely give it a good decant of at least an hour, and serve it at 60 degrees in the best Burgundy stems you have. In the glass the wine is deep ruby red, and with air the many layers of complex aromatics and sumptuous flavors begin to unfold: Black and red cherries, raspberry, crème de cassis, cinnamon, clove, cocoa powder, anisette, violets, and rose petals, just to name a few! The impossibly silky texture is framed by ripe tannins that, though still firm, are already beginning to integrate perfectly into the overall body of this stunner. A wine of this pedigree deserves an equally impressive meal, so I would grab the best standing rib roast you can find and enjoy a meal fit for royalty. You’ll want at least a couple bottles squirreled away for the long haul, so a three pack makes perfect sense: One for now, two for later. Santé!
