Burgundy has become a tough place to love lately.
Prices keep climbing, allocations keep shrinking, and with whispers already circulating about a painfully small 2024 vintage, the idea of “finding value” in Gevrey-Chambertin feels almost nostalgic.
Almost.
Because every now and then, a bottle appears that reminds you the magic is still there—you just have to know where to look.
This is one of those bottles.
Tucked quietly inside Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine René Leclerc has been doing things the same way since 1962. No flash, no marketing machine—just 10 hectares of vines and a commitment to tradition that feels increasingly rare in modern Burgundy. They still use a press from 1951. There’s no new oak to mask the wine. What you get instead is something far more compelling: clarity, purity, and a true sense of place.
And that place matters.
Lavaux St. Jacques isn’t just another Premier Cru—it’s one of the vineyards insiders talk about in the same breath as Grand Cru sites. There’s a natural depth here, a quiet power that shows up not as heaviness, but as structure and length. In the 2022 vintage, that structure is wrapped in beautiful, expressive fruit—layers of cherry and raspberry, a hint of earth, and that lifted mineral edge that makes you come back for another sip.
It’s the kind of wine that feels complete the moment you open it, yet clearly has years ahead of it.
Which brings us to the part that almost doesn’t make sense.
We were able to secure a small parcel—just 32 bottles—and price it at a level you rarely, if ever, see for this vineyard.
2022 Domaine René Leclerc
Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St. Jacques 1er Cru
$109.99 (regularly $199.99)
In today’s Burgundy market, that’s not just a good deal—it’s an outlier.
And like most things in Burgundy, it won’t last.