1969 Domine Duroché Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques – 1er Cru

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | JANUARY 15, 2018

My timing this past fall at Duroché wasn’t great, as Pierre Duroché had just bottled his 2016s. Or, maybe it was, because Duroché opened his 1969 Lavaux Saint-Jacques and a few other bottled wines rather than showing me all of his 2016s.

The 1969 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques, made by Pierre Duroché’s grandfather, is the sort of timeless wine one runs into only every so soften. Beautifully burnished by the passage of time, with the lovely patina of age, the 1969 nevertheless retains striking freshness for a wine that is nearly 50 years young. The pipe tobacco, dried cherry, game and crushed flower nuances are wonderfully perfumed in this delicate, gracious Burgundy. I am absolutely struck by the sheer sweetness, purity and finesse of the Lavaux. Then again, those are common attributes of the finest 1969s.

The Duroché cellar, Gevrey-Chambertin

Burgundy fans will note the older spelling of Lavaux Saint-Jacques with an ‘x.’ According to Pierre Duroché, the family changed the wine name to Lavaut Saint-Jacques in the 1980s at the request of the INAO. Duroché’s 1969 Lavaux Saint-Jacques is a fabulous wine by any measure. What a treat it is to taste this from the family’s cellar. 94/Drink 2018-2023