Pierre Gelin Fixin 1er Cru Clos Napoleon 2022
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The Land
Fixin sits at the northern end of the Côte de Nuits, just above Gevrey-Chambertin, and it is the village most collectors drive straight past. The geology does not stop at the commune line: the same limestone slope that produces Gevrey's Premier Crus continues north into Fixin, and the wines have the same broad-shouldered, savory build at a fraction of the attention. Clos Napoléon is a walled Premier Cru of about 1.8 hectares, held as a monopole by Domaine Pierre Gelin. It was known historically as Aux Cheusots and belonged to Claude Noisot, a veteran of Napoleon's army who built a memorial park on the hill above it. The parcel was abandoned and uncultivated when Pierre Gelin bought it in 1950; the vines that replaced the scrub are now over sixty years old.
The Wine
100% Pinot Noir from a single walled parcel of old vines, and the flagship of the estate. Sixty-year-old vines on limestone at the cool northern end of the Côte give a wine with more grip and less immediate charm than a village Gevrey, which is exactly the point: this is built to be waited on. 2022 in the Côte de Nuits ran hot and dry with genuine heat spikes, but deep winter water reserves carried the vines through and the harvest came in ripe, healthy, and abundant after the frost-shattered 2021. The wine shows black cherry, red plum, dried rose, licorice, and a distinct iron and crushed-stone character, medium to full in body, with firm, slightly rustic tannin and a long savory finish. Give it five years and it will start to open properly.
The People
Pierre Gelin founded the domaine in 1925, and it is now run by his grandson Pierre-Emmanuel. The estate is small, roughly thirteen hectares, including parcels in five Fixin Premier Crus and this monopole, and Pierre-Emmanuel farms organically with an explicit aim of minimizing intervention in both vineyard and cellar. Reviving an abandoned Premier Cru in 1950, in a village nobody was paying attention to, was not an obvious commercial decision. It has taken seventy-five years for the market to catch up, and the wines are still priced as though it has not.
Food Pairing
Firmer and more savory than its neighbors to the south, so it wants substantial cooking. Coq au vin, beef bourguignon, roast duck with mushrooms, or a plate of Époisses and country bread. The iron and stone character meets braised meat and mushroom directly, and the tannin needs something with fat in it. Decant an hour ahead and serve it slightly cool.
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Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Burgundy, in eastern France, encompasses several subregions, but it is the Côte d'Or that is home to many of the world's most expensive and revered wines. The region, primarily a single east-facing slope, has mixed limestone soils that vary dramatically from village to village and even vineyard to vineyard. White wines, crafted from Chardonnay, range from rich and opulent to lean and intensely mineral, while Pinot Noir produces silky, perfumed red wines of exceptional finesse and complexity. Centuries of winemaking tradition have resulted in every plot being meticulously recognized and scrutinized, making the Côte d'Or a true capital of terroir.
Burgundy - Cote d'Or
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned, notoriously difficult-to-grow, low-yielding grape that finds its ancestral home in Burgundy, France, where it produces some of the world's most elegant and nuanced wines. While Burgundy remains its spiritual heartland, Pinot Noir has since traveled the globe, finding success in other cooler climates, notably in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Germany. This grape is a challenge for any grower, as it requires specific conditions to show its best, and yet the wines it produces are capable of such a captivating and singular character.
