Benjamin Leroux Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs 2022

This vineyard has historically been blended into Leroux’s Gevrey villages, yet it had been so good for the last three vintages that Leroux was tempted to bottle it separately. Finally, he succumbed, bottling five barrels as their own cuvée. Close to the Brochon borderline, En Champs is located high up on the slope, just beneath the 1er Cru Champeaux at the northern end of what is sometimes called the ‘Côte Saint-Jacques’. Some followers of Domaine Denis Mortet will have had outstanding examples of this high-grown terroir in the past. The soils here are very stony with red clays, and the cooling winds and altitude moderate the climate. The Leroux example is a deeper, more serious and ferrous wine than the main village bottling. There’s lovely, high-toned fruit, loads of spice, and very fine tannins on the finish. It was fermented with 40 to 50% bunches.