Vineyard Insight: Latricières-Chambertin

The Gevrey-Chambertin appellation is large with quite a lot of rather large Grand Crus generously allocated when the current classification was established. Not all plots of the Gevrey Grand Crus are of high standard, and yet still they are famous in the Burgundy world where names like Charmes Chambertin and Mazis Chambertin have a great reputation – in some cases justifiably so – in other cases not so much.

A vineyard like Latricières-Chambertin is however much more under the radar although it’s producing some of the most refined and elegant wines of the appellation. Latricières is first and foremost lacking the Rousseau effect – as its not in the lineup from this great producer – who has created a lot of publicity and awareness for the Gevrey appellation. Secondly none of the hyped producers of the 1990s had plots of Latricières, hence it has remained under the radar despite some very prominent producers are present on this vineyard today.

I do however think that the 2015 vintage will change this, as great wines has been produced from the cool and refined Latricières terroirs. 

Latricieres-Chambertin – the cool cru

Chambertin and Chambertin Clos de Beze are the undisputed top vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin. Latricières-Chambertin does in my view belong in the second tire behind the two greats – along with Ruchottes-Chambertin. These vineyards are the top of Gevrey-Chambertin if one look at the map – and while both Charmes, Mazis and Griottes produce magnificent wines – the quality of these terroirs seems less homogenious. 

Latricières-Chambertin is the southern neighbour of the mighty Chambertin at the top of the Gevrey sloape. It continues from Chambertin south towards Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Combottes and the northern end of Clos de la Roche – see map below. 

It’s a rather cool area – in hot years the forest and the Combe – small Valley – just above the Latricières helps cool the vineyard down. While the vineyard looks rather homogeneous the geology is rather complex as the Grissad Combe above Latriciéres  hidden by the forest – extends geologically down into Latriciéres creating large variations in the soil – see map below. 

Map made by Francoise Vannier-Petit

Aside from the Combe extending down into Latricieres-Chambertin the geology of Latricieres resembles that of Chambertin and Clos de Beze i.e. its a continuation of those vineyards in a geological sense.

So it is not a homogeneous vineyard geologically speaking – that being said not many Burgundy vineyards are … so depending on the location on the Latricières vineyard the expression will most likely be different.

The current owners of Latriciers

There are according to my research 12 owners of Latricières-Chambertin with Domaine Camus being the largest owner with 1.5 ha in the southern end of the vineyard.

I have identified the following owners:

1. Domaine Camus, 1.511 ha
2. Domaine Faiveley, 1.207 ha
3. Domaine Trapet, 0.764 ha
4. Domaine Rossignol-Trapet, 0.734 ha
5. Drouhin-Laroze, 0.675 ha
6. Domaine Leroy, 0.5715 ha
7. Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, 0.530 ha
8. Domaine Simon-Bize, 0.319 ha
9. Domaine Louis Remy, 0.310 ha
10. Domaine Duroché, 0.276 ha
11. Francois Feuillet, 0.271 ha
12. Domaine Launay-Horiot, 0.168 ha

The map below show the location of the different holdings.

As it can be seen many owners have plots going from top to bottom in the vineyard thus also including sections with different geological formations – hence offering perhaps a more complex mineral composition of the wine.

It should be noted that especially the plots of Leroy, Drouhin-Laroze and Domaine Faiveley are located in the geological formation that is an extension of the Combe above the vineyard and therefore these plots has a at least partly different soil from the rest of the vineyard.

The recent ownership history of Latricières-Chambertin

The ownership history is reasonably well described by the usual historic sources .. but quite a lot of changes has happened in recent decades, changing the ownership structure rather a lot.

The last change is the 2009 sale of a 0.27 ha plot from the Louis Remy estate to Francois Feuillet – further reducing the Remy holdings in Latricières.

In 2007 Domaine Newman sold their plot to the current owner Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux – and the first vintage made by Arnoux-Lachaux was the 2008 vintage.

The Domaine Simon Bize plot was acquired by some investors in 1994 or 1995 – with the first Bize vintage being 1995. This plot was before 1995 rented by Domaine Ponsot – who no longer produce a Latricières-Chambertin.

A major change in the Latricières ownership happened in 1990 when the Louis Trapet estate was split in two and so was the vineyard holdings in Latricières-Chambertin. The 1.5 ha holding was divided equally between Domaine Jean-Louis Trapet and Domaine Rossignol-Trapet. Domaine Jean-Louis Trapet got the southern end of the plot whereas the northern plots towards the Faiveley holdings went to Rossignol-Trapet. It should be noted that the Latricière plot was acquired by Pierre Arthur Trapet in 1904 from the Servot family.

One of the largest deals have been the Domaine Leroy acquisition of the Philippe Rémy estate, in 1989. This deal included 0.50 ha of Chambertin, 0.57 ha of Latricières-Chambertin and 0.6 ha of Clos de la Roche. The price was 19 million Franc in 1989 – prices were certainly different back then. The Philippe Rèmy was related to the Louis Rèmy estate, as Philippe Rèmy was the brother of Louis Remy. The Rémy estate was presumably split before Louis Rémy died in 1982, but at some point its fair to assume that the vineyard holdings of Philippe Rémy was once a part of the old Louis Rémy estate that was founded back in 1820.

Ownership history of Latrichères-Chambertin prior to 1989

Moving back to Rodier 1920⁴ we find the following owners of Latricières-Chambertin: 

• J. Camus
• Trapet
• J.-H. Remy
• Felix Laroze
• Ganthey
• de Grésigny

The first four owners in 1920 are still present on Latricières-Chambertin although it can be seen above that the Remy ownership has been reduced over the years. I have no records of who acquired the Ganthey and de Grésigny plots.

Danguy & Aubertin (1892)³ mentioned the following owners:

• Gauthey Cadet et fils
• Gillot
• Guichard-Potheret et fils
• de Morot de Grésigny
• Riembaud
• Savot

Only de Gresigny and Savot seems familiar in a Latricières context, and as with many vineyards the phylloxera epidemic caused a lot of ownership changes, and it is likely that this also was the case with Latriciéres-Chambertin. 

The information’s from the usual sources are scarce – we do however know that Savot owned both the current Camus and Trapet plots i.e. approximately 3 ha in total.

Lastly moving back to Lavalle¹ in 1855 here we find three owners:

• Gournot
• Ouvrard
• Marion

Latricières-Chambertin the wines

Given the quite diverse geology of this vineyard it is perhaps difficult to find a common style and some unique aromatic elements one could expect to find from a Latricières-Chambertin.

I will however give it at shot … the climate is quite cool and one really need to find a very hot vintage before this vineyard looses its cool .. even in 2015 the wines remain fresh and they keep their classic Burgundian expression as they do not seem to become overtly jammy and rich. I must however admit that I have not tested this hypothesis in the 2003 vintage – a vintage I normally avoid to be honest.

The flip side of the cool coin is that Latricières also is quite cool in cooler vintages and this means that the ripeness of the tannins – especially in the old days when phenolic ripeness was not observed to the same degree – were perhaps lower for Latriciéres-Chambertin than for other slightly hotter terroirs in the same area. As a consequence Latriciéres-Chambertin was often seen as more austere and tannic and was regarded as a wine that needed a long cellaring to unfold. 

This is perhaps also the reason why the terroir has been disregarded by some writers, and not received the acclaim it deserves in my view.

I do find that a great Latricières offer a great part of the refinement and complexity of a great Chambertin or Clos de Béze – but without the muscular underlaying power of these great vineyards. The character is the same – but without the cheer grunt – just as the character of Les Amoureuses resembles that of Musigny … but without the cheer power and weight of the mighty Musigny vineyard.

This is how is see Latricières-Chambertin currently .. and I will try to explore this terroir further as it in its best moments offer so much refinement.

So yet another Gevrey article without mentioning the dismal qualities of Domaine Camus – presumably the largest owner of grand Cru in the appellation. They have now for 30 years or so been producing quite mediocre wines year after year .. and lets leave it there.

Some Latricières tasting notes from the 2015 vintage

A few tasting notes from the 2015 vintage … as it can be seen the wines are quite evenly matched although style-wise different … these are great wines.

Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, Latricières-Chambertin 2015
Domaine Trapet, Latricières-Chambertin 2015
Domaine Duroché, Latricières-Chambertin 2015
Domaine Faiveley, Latricières-Chambertin 2015

References & Sources:

1. Jules Lavalle, Histoire et Statistique de la Vignes et Des Grands Vins de la Côte d’Or (1855)
2. Batault-Morot, E. Plan statistique des vignobles produisant les grands vins de Bourgogne. (1861)
3. M.R. Danguy et M. Ch. Aubertin, Les Grands Vins de Bourgogne (1892)
4. Camille Rodier, Le Vin de Bourgogne (1920)

Tasting Notes for this producer

• Domaine Trapet Latricieres-Chambertin 2018 September 5, 2021
• Maison Albert Bichot, Latricieres-Chambertin 2010 April 3, 2018
• Domaine Duroché, Latricieres-Chambertin 2014 December 29, 2017
• Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, Latriciere Chambertin 2015 July 11, 2017
• Domaine Faiveley, Latricieres-Chambertin 2014 February 11, 2017
• Domaine Trapet, Latricieres Chambertin 2012 January 18, 2015
• Domaine Trapet Pere et Fils, Latriciere Chambertin 1991 November 6, 2013

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