Dominique Laurent, Gevrey-Chambertin 'Les Combottes' 1er Cru, Burgundy, France, 2005

Overview of the Wine
Dominique Laurent is a former pastry chef who started a small negociant business in Nuits-Saint-Georges, in Burgundy’s Cote d’Or, in the late 1980s. He produced his first vintages a few years later, and quickly developed a reputation for making very small quantities of excellent wine sourced from old vineyards. In 2006 Laurent made the leap from negociant to grower with the purchase of a few acres of vineyards. Today Domaine Laurent Pere et Fils owns 23 acres in Nuits-Saint-Georges. He is known for his extreme approach to “hands-off” winemaking, and for his habit of sometimes using “200% new oak,” meaning that one cuvee is sometimes transferred twice to new oak barrels. About 30,000 bottles are produced annually and his wines have earned cult status with some Burgundy collectors.

Grape / Blend
Pinot Noir

Origin
Burgundy, France

96 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 
Laurent’s single barrel of 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Combottes Vieilles Vignes comes from centenarian vines and offers a dramatic contrast with his Clos St.-Jacaques. Here we have a leaner structure, brighter, more sharply-focused fruit, obvious minerality, and an almost lilting refinement and lift. Tiny-berried wild cherry, raspberry, gentian florality on the nose follow onto the palate accompanied by vanilla, brown spices and salt. Purity, polish, elegance, delicacy, and refinement mark this wine’s entire performance and it lingers with ethereal, effortless subtlety of fruit, mineral and spice.

Product size: 750ml