Clos Saint-Jacques Tasting
Denver Wine Merchant presents
Clos Saint-Jacques
All five producers · one table · ten chairs
Six wines from one 6.7-hectare wall of Gevrey-Chambertin, the only premier cru routinely mistaken for a grand cru. Five families own it. Tonight they sit side by side, ending with Rousseau.
Clos Saint-Jacques · 6.7 ha
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru · five owners
South-east exposure · each strip runs top to bottom of the slope · hover a parcel
Gougères & Comté
warm from the oven, at the door
- Frédéric Savart · L'Ouverture, 1er Cru, magnumNV
Butter-Poached Lobster
beurre blanc, leek fondue, chervil
- Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru · Les Caillerets2024
Roasted Quail
girolles, pommes purée, tarragon jus
- Sylvie Esmonin2022
- Sylvie Esmonin2023
Duck Breast, Dry-Aged
celeriac, griotte cherry, black truffle
- Louis Jadot2022
- Bruno Clair2023
Colorado Lamb Loin
black garlic, salsify, roasting jus
- Domaine Fourrier · Vieille Vigne2018
- Domaine Armand Rousseau2019
Époisses & Comté 24 Mois
walnut bread, quince — finish your glasses
- Canelé de Bordeaux · to close—
The cellar
Domaine Armand Rousseau · the reference2019
Parcel2.22 ha at the southern end of the Clos, the largest holding, bought at the 1954 break-up of the Moucheron monopole. Vines of mixed age, the oldest from the late 1950s; the domaine replants by the vine, never the block.
Who makes itCyrielle Rousseau, fourth generation, in the cellar since 2014 and now running the domaine with her father Eric.
In the cellarAround 90% destemmed, up to a tenth whole bunch in ripe years. Clos Saint-Jacques is raised like the grands crus: 70–100% new oak, roughly 20 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered.
2019A hot, dry summer and a small crop. Picked in mid-September; dense and sweet-fruited for Rousseau, with the acidity to carry it. Seven years in — the earliest we would open it, and the reason it closes the meal.
Domaine Fourrier · Vieille Vigne2018
Parcel0.89 ha, the smallest strip, between Jadot and Rousseau. Vines planted in 1910 — the oldest in the Clos, and the reason the label reads Vieille Vigne.
Who makes itJean-Marie Fourrier, fifth generation, in charge since 1994 after stints with Henri Jayer and in Oregon.
In the cellarFully destemmed but the berries left whole, a cool soak, then a native ferment. About 20% new oak, twenty months on the lees with no racking and almost no sulfur until bottling. Unfined, unfiltered.
2018A warm, generous year picked in the first days of September. Ripe, dark-fruited, already open — the reason it sits beside the Rousseau rather than before it.
Domaine Bruno Clair2023
Parcel1.0 ha in the middle of the Clos — the half of the old Clair-Daü strip that stayed in the family when the estate split in 1985. Half the vines were planted in 1957, half in 1972.
Who makes itBruno Clair, with cellarmaster Philippe Brun at his side since 1989; son Arthur now in the vines.
In the cellarA portion of whole bunches depending on the year, long cool macerations, about half new oak, eighteen months in barrel.
2023A hot summer and a big, healthy crop that demanded strict sorting and green harvesting. Fresh and precise in Clair's hands; the youngest red on the table.
Domaine Sylvie Esmonin2022 · 2023
Parcel1.6 ha at the northern end of the Clos, against Les Cazetiers. Vines of fifty-plus years, from the family's share of the 1954 purchase.
Who makes itSylvie Esmonin, an agronomist by training, running the domaine since 1989 when she took over from her father Michel.
In the cellarThe boldest hand in the Clos: 60–80% whole cluster, two weeks in open wood vats, then 60–80% new oak. The style has softened from the 100% whole-cluster, 100% new-oak years of the 2000s.
2022 and 2023Back to back: a warm, dry, balanced 2022 against a hotter, more abundant 2023. Same strip, same hand, one year apart — the mini-vertical that opens the reds.
Maison Louis Jadot2022
Parcel1.0 ha — the other half of the Clair-Daü strip, bought by Jadot in 1985 and farmed as domaine fruit ever since. Vines of the same 1950s–70s plantings as its neighbor.
Who makes itFrédéric Barnier, technical director since taking over from Jacques Lardière, with Thibault Gagey running the house.
In the cellarPartial whole cluster, a long natural maceration of up to four weeks with no cold soak, then eighteen to twenty months in Jadot's own Cadus barrels, roughly a third new.
2022Warm and dry but even; a full crop that ripened without stress. Polished, mid-weight, the house's structure without the austerity of the old Clair-Daü wines.
$650per seat · ten seats · by invitation
Wines sold as a tasting set through the shop.
Dinner is our hospitality.
Denver Wine Merchant · Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques