2011 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaut Saint-Jacques 1er Cru

“I just remember it was very easy,” a nonchalant Pierre Duroché tells me when I dropped in at his winery in Gevrey-Chambertin just before the 2024 harvest, ominous slate grey clouds threatening another deluge above our heads. “We had the right amount of water in summer so there was no hydric stress. There was a good quantity of grapes, but it was very homogenous in the vineyard, each vine with six or seven bunches in average. When you looked at the vineyard, it actually didn’t look like a huge harvest. We commenced the picking on September 5 with the Griotte-Chambertin and the other parcels the following day. The average yield was higher than previous vintages, around 35-40 hl/ha. Everything was ripe, the balance was good. I was just concerned about the warmth around harvest-time which would have made it more similar to 2018. But in barrel, the wines have become more elegant and classic in style. We bought new barrels and invested in ceramic vats which we used for the Cazetiers, the others a mixture between ceramic and traditional barrels. We just use carbonic to protect the wine instead of SO2 and plan to bottle in December.”

Duroché has overseen 2023s that are pretty, transparent, and more slender than his 2022s, yet one must always factor their proclivity to gain substance with aeration. Indeed, I have seen many times when the wine has been dismissed on first pour, only to find it completely transformed after an hour. These are not grippy, powerful wines and they will appeal less to those seeking sweet fruit, obvious flavors and instant gratification. But they express their respective terroirs beautifully and there is real complexity amongst his best cuvées.

“It was quite an easy vintage apart from the storm in June when we had rain and hail around Brochon,” Pierre Duroché tells me in his tasting room. Outside, they are amidst construction work as they are building a new storage room for his bottle stock. “There was a lot of surface water, so initially, I wasn’t happy. Then, it was dry until harvest, and there was not too much hydric stress. We began picking on August 26 in Griotte-Chambertin as usual, finishing with the Chambertin, yields around 22-24hL/ha as we had to prune shorter after the hail-damaged 2021 and then again hail in 2022. The vinification was normal, just protecting the must with carbonic gas instead of sulfur during fermentation for around 15 days. The wines are in bottle for 12 months before racking, and the wines will be bottled in December. I think it is a great vintage. I think every facet is right in terms of weight, aromas, acidity and so on. It’s a consistent vintage.”

Duroché’s wines are the archetypal “less is more” take on Pinot Noir, so much so that some people make the error of pouring directly from the bottle. Trust me, these wines respond to decanting, even if they don’t appear to. This thoroughly enjoyable set of 2022s reaches its apotheosis with the Chambertin, which just has its nose in front of the Clos-de-Bèze, the latter that intuition tells me might benefit from a longer barrel maturation than in December. There are a couple of cuvées I feel need a bit more grip, such as the Etelois and Lavaut Saint-Jacques, which might have been just knocked off course by those June deluges (though the Vieilles Vignes cuvée apropos the latter is just wonderful).

Pierre Duroché guides me through a slightly curtailed portfolio due to the frost, yet he seems unphased by the dramatic season. “There was frost on 7 April that affected the vineyards, especially on the Brochon side like Gevrey Champeaux, where it was a disaster. The Grands Crus were protected by candles, even though I don’t like using them. Then hailstorm on 9 June, in the north part of Gevrey, damaged vines and made them difficult to prune, which will lower quantities in 2022. The average yield in 2021 is 20hl/ha. Then there was mildew, oidium and botrytis pressure, but we used copper and sulphate in the vines, spraying from nine at night to four in the morning in between the rain. The old vines affected by millerandage were easy to spray as there was space between the berries. Before the picking, it was sunny with a lot of light, so the phenolic maturity could be even better than the previous two vintages; plus, the growing season was a little bit longer – even the seeds were very brown. I started picking on 19 September and finished one week later. We blended some climats usually bottled separately for the Gevrey Village and Gevrey 1er Cru. I used the same level of whole bunches with no SO2 during vinification. The Grand Crus were picked berry-by-berry on the Sunday during harvest when it rained. The quality of the vines and the yield are key to the vintage.”

This is a strong set of wines from Duroché, crowned by a sensational Chambertin that must surely be a contender for wine of the vintage – if only there was more! Deciding to blend the measly volumes of some of his single-vineyard sites was a wise and perhaps ineluctable decision, and these are worth hunting down. Ethereal as always, Duroché continues his impressive run of form with whatever Nature throws his way.

Pierre Duroché was in fine form when I met him just before picking in Gevrey-Chambertin. He filled me in on the 2021 vintage first. “In 2021 the vineyard did not suffer too much due to dryness,” he explained, “but we lost crop from coulure, so eight cuvées comprise just one barrel. The average across the range is 20hl/ha. But the dryness meant the sanitary conditions were good. With the millerandage, we kept a good level of acidity. We had low levels of sugar so we had 12.5° to 13.5°.” We will broach that vintage next year, but now let’s focus on the 2020 vintage. “We started with the Griotte-Chambertin on August 19 because it risked getting overripe, then we started with others two days later. The week before, there had been around 20mm of rain, but otherwise it was so dry that the grapes were beginning to shrivel for the Griotte. The pH was 3.7 already and the seeds were brown. There are a lot of stones on Griottes, which makes it ripen quickly. We finished with the Chambertin this year because of the clone or rootstock. We picked that in two hours, though. The wine will be aged in barrel for one year and in less than 10% new oak for the largest cuvées. For the single-barrel cuvées, it is third or fourth fill. No sulfur was added during the fermentation, and just a little after malolactic. It reminds me of the 2012 or 2010.” This was a sublime set of wines from Pierre Duroché, their only drawback being the minuscule quantities, even in vintages that are more benign. “I prefer 2020 because it more precise and silkier than 2019. It’s more concentrated, a step up because of lower yields, while the acidity keeps the freshness.” These wines are an exemplar of transparency, all poise and tension, yet with an aerial intensity. Readers may spot a one-off cuvée, a 2020 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Vieilles Vignes, to celebrate the centennial of its planting in 1920 by Duroché’s grandfather. Readers should look out for a special Duroché-themed article in 2022 – you’ve been warned!

Pierre Duroché has elevated his namesake Gevrey domaine into one of the most sought after in the appellation. Thankfully the fame has not changed the self-effacing, down-to-earth winemaker one jot. It’s a family affair, Pierre’s wife working in the adjacent office and his daughter, cute as only 5-year old French "mignon" can be, joined us for the tasting of “papa’s vins”. “I started the picking in Gevrey [the négoce cuvée - there are two this year just like at Domaine Tawse] on 9 September and then stopped for two days, restarting on 11 September and finishing on 19 September. The yield was 30% less than in 2018 at around 30hl/ha. For example, the Lavaux Saint-Jacques there was 20 to 25 barrels when the vines were compensating for the frost in 2016, compared to 15 barrels in 2019. If you think that is small there are just 8 barrels in 2020. There is no SO2 added during vinification with the first racking undertaken only when it is transferred into vat for blending. It’s all very simple here. This is the first year we will distil the lees to make a Marc de Bourgogne. There is a woman in Marsannay who will do that for us. Alcohol levels are moderate, between 12.5° to 13.8°. It is not like 2017 but the flavours are similar and more concentrated. The acidity level is quite high. The wines are easy to taste young but they will age. Each year we manage to fine-tune what we do.” This was a predictably exemplary portfolio of wines that are just so graceful and pure, the epitome of that nebulous term "Pinoté". Pierre prefers a shorter élevage without a second winter in barrel and I must admit that I am intrigued to see how that would change the wines. There are many highlights at all levels, from his delicious Bourgogne Rouge to one of the ethereal Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze of 2019, my pick over the elusive Griotte-Chambertin. Those addicted to foraging for rare cuvées will be pleased to note the addition of a Chambertin under his négoce label, which is ostensibly domaine since Pierre Duroché oversees all the viticulture, harvest and winemaking. Good news is that there is twice the quantity of the Griottes. Bad news is that still it amounts to a measly 150-litres being matured in a single new barrel that will be a used barrel for the 2020.

Pierre Duroché has become an overnight superstar in Gevrey-Chambertin, not that you would know it by his self-effacing demeanor and preference to remain out of the limelight (far happier either in the vineyard, climbing rock faces or spending time with his young family.) This was one of the first sets of 2018s that I tasted in early September. Duroché likes to bottle early after one winter in barrel. "The reds were put into barrel in October without any racking and first sulphites in March with none during malolactic, when I just added CO2 to protect the cap," he told me in his refurbished tasting room. "There is only 10% new oak in the Gevrey-Chambertin Village and the Gevrey-Chambertin En Champ and none in the other cuvées. Harvest began 31 August and finished around 9 September because there were some parcels that were very ripe and others, such as Lavaut Saint-Jacques where I had to wait. It was an easy alcoholic fermentation over 12 days, a little shorter than usual as the tannins were easy to extract, so only pumping over was necessary. In May there was a lot of storms which caused some mildew but from mid-June there was little rain. The alcohol degree is from 12.0% to 13.5%, mainly small berries with high acidity. There is a little more whole bunch in 2018. I think the growing season suited our style of winemaking." These are wonderful wines from Duroché this year that will appeal to those who look for a lighter and more classical style of Pinot Noir with that element of "transparency". These wines do put on weight from barrel, as testified by a lovely 2015 Charmes-Chambertin picked off the wine list at Lameloise the following month.

The elevation of Duroché from little-known Gevrey-Chambertin producer to one of the appellation’s most revered is the kind of fairy tale that makes Burgundy such an endearing region. It has been fascinating to see how the domaine has changed in just the last two or three years. I remember tasting the 2012s and immediately thinking that Duroché is destined for great things. The wines conveyed a sense of purity and place that I had not seen before. The domaine was thrust into the limelight and suddenly importers were beseeching Pierre Duroché for allocations. Thankfully, the adulation has not gone to Duroché’s head, and he remains the most affable and down-to-earth winemaker you could meet, when he is not scaling some cliff face, his favorite pastime. But you can see the effect newfound fame has had on the winery, with new facilities and a bijou tasting room with a snazzy Perspex map illustrating their myriad of small parcels. Sadly, Duroché has been unable to acquire any more vines of his elusive Griotte-Chambertin, so he continues to produce a quantity so minuscule that it risks evaporating on a warm day.

“In one way, it was easy,” Duroché remarked when I asked about the growing season. “It was dry throughout spring and summer with rain at the right time. There was no oïdium or mildew. The only challenge was hail on July 18 in Brochon that affected around 15% to 20% of the Champeaux and Echange vineyards. Fortunately there was no sugar in the berries and in just three days, bunches had dried and damaged berries just fell off. At the end of the day, the harvest was good anyway. We had to do some green harvesting to reduce the quantity. We started the picking on September 3 and then continued over the following eight days. There was around 13° natural alcohol and so there is no chaptalisation. In fact, we have done hardly any since 2013. All the Village Crus are de-stemmed. The wines spent one year in barrel without racking and they were blended in vat at the end of the 2018 harvest. Every wine has the same proportion of new wood, between 10% and 20% for the entire range, from six cooperages. We had to buy some barrels since there is more wine. I think 2017 could be better than 2015 and 2016 because it is the first time that I found the main stem was brown and not green when I cut bunches. The sugar is lower but we have very good levels of acidity.”

Duroché’s style of wine is very much in the mold of, say, Charles Lachaux in Vosne-Romanée or Romain Taupenot in Morey-Saint-Denis. These are not wines stuffed to the rafters with sweet fruit; instead, they prioritize fine tannins, mineralité, transparency and focus. They are intense in their own way, perhaps as intellectually satisfying as satiating the senses, and they clearly express their terroirs this year. Tasting through the range was like a guided tour of the Gevrey’s climats. One crucial point to make is that Pierre Duroché bottled in November 2018, earlier than many of his peers, in order to capture their freshness. I wonder whether a second winter would have imparted more weight, as some fellow winemakers suggest. This year I adore the Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers, and frankly, there was little qualitative difference between the Lavaut-Saint-Jacques and the Vieilles Vignes cuvée, the latter from vines planted in 1923. The Griotte-Chambertin probably remains the rarest Burgundy, since only 90 litres exist (followers of my Instagram feed might have seen Pierre Duroché posing next to the 2018 Griotte-Chambertin when I dropped in during the harvest.) Good luck ordering a couple of cases of that one. Also, there are a couple of négoce label wines, a Vosne-Romanée and Echézeaux that are worth looking out for.

The Duroché fairy tale continues.

Pierre Duroché, who began working with his father at the family domain in 2003 and took over winemaking responsibilities in '05, told me that vintage 2015 was his “best yet in terms of the constitution of the wines.” He finds the ‘15s even more concentrated than the ‘10s, and noted that there was less stress and a lower crop level in ’15 than in 2005. He made just 28 hectoliters per hectare in ’15. Duroché harvested between September 4 and 11, bringing in his fruit with between 12.8% and 13.2% potential alcohol. His fermentations generally take three or four days to start and, as he vinifies with a high percentage of uncrushed grapes, the fermentations tend to proceed slowly. Still, he told me, the 15-day cuvaisons in 2015 were a bit short by his standards, “but it was very easy to extract color.” He does gentle manual pigeages to avoid oxidation, and then “a lot of remontage at the end.”

All of the 2015s had been bottled at the end of November, about two weeks before my visit, and Duroché showed me a sampling of the new vintage. I was troubled by a distinctly sauvage aspect to a few of these wines but for the time being I will give them the benefit of the doubt as they had just been bottled. But Duroché's 2014s are more pristine.

Pierre Duroché expressed the opinion that there’s not a big quality difference between 2015 and 2014 “The ‘15s are sweeter and creamier, with a redder fruit character,” he told me, “while the 2014s are more accessible and easy to drink” Last year I tried a few of Duroché’s 2014s shortly after they had been bottled; this past December I found the same wines a bit more penetrating—and perhaps purer in their fruit character than the ‘15s here

Pierre Duroché expressed the opinion that there’s not a big quality difference between 2015 and 2014. “The ‘15s are sweeter and creamier, with a redder fruit character,” he told me, “while the 2014s are more accessible and easy to drink.” Last year I tried a few of Duroché’s 2014s shortly after they had been bottled; this past December I found the same wines a bit more penetrating—and perhaps purer in their fruit character than the ‘15s here.

Arnaud Mortet strongly recommended the wines of his friend and coeval Pierre Duroché in December and I was lucky enough to squeeze in a visit here on short notice. Duroché, the fifth generation of his family to make wine, took over here in 2005. He has 8. 5 hectares of vines, all in Gevrey-Chambertin, including a lot of small parcels. As a number of his vineyards include older vines (the Clos de Bèze dates back to 1920), Duroché is now embarking on a replanting program.

Duroché harvested in 2014 with potential alcohol in the 12% to 12. 5% range, noting that he does not like to bottle wines as high as 13%. He normally destems his fruit but retains a high percentage of whole berries, and he carries out what he described as a “moderate” pre-fermentation cold soak. He does a series of “little pigeages" early in the fermentation, then relies more on remontage later on. Duroché ages his premier crus in 30% to 40% new oak, and the grand crus in 50%.

Duroché describes his 2013s as deeper and more concentrated than his 2014s, and with more energy. But he cautioned that the 2014s, which had been bottled a week before my December visit after spending a month in tanks, were still a bit linear. He finds the aromas of the vintage a little like the 2007s, “although the ’14s are deeper and more structured. But they will still drink early for their sweet fruit. ” He made 20% more wine than in 2013 but still averaged a reasonable 35 hectoliters per hectare--and more like 20 for his grand crus.

As I mentioned in my review of his 2014s, Pierre Duroché believes his 2013s are deeper and more concentrated than his 2014s, and have more energy. Like the 2014s, these wines offer complex aromatics and noteworthy transparency to terroir.

Pierre Duroché's 2012s are among the most tender, delicate wines of the year. I tasted all of the 2012s from tank just prior to bottling, which was scheduled for December 2013. Generally speaking, I am not crazy about tasting from tank, as steel tends to close wines down. I will not be surprised if some or all of these wines show better after bottling. In addition to these wines, I also tasted the Griotte, but it was in an awkward stage and impossible to evaluate.