Benjamin Leroux Dinner 2024 Offer

Benjamin Leroux enthusiastically described 2022 as "one of those rare vintages where quality is as good in one color as it is the other! The growing season was hot but the key element was how dry it was. Thankfully, two factors largely offset these factors, which is to say that the nights were cool and that there was just enough rain to mostly avoid water stress in the vines. There was no disease pressure to speak of thanks to the mostly very dry conditions so it was, for example, much easier to manage than many recent vintages. We picked from the 26th of August which was right about 100 days after the mid-point of the flowering. The fruit was ripe and spotless with good yields that ranged from 35 to 40 hl/ha in pinot and slightly higher in chardonnay, which is to say 40 to 45 hl/ha. In the same fashion, potential alcohols were solid but not really high at 13 to 13.5% in red and 12.6 to 13.5% in white. I used about 30% whole clusters for some wines during the vinifications but touched up absolutely nothing as it seemed to me that the fruit had everything it needed to make for excellent wines. What I find so interesting is that despite the warmth and dryness of the growing season, the wines are not marked by it; in fact blind you might well think they were the product of a classic vintage. BURGHOUND

Ben Leroux's annual release might just be the most exciting Burgundy offer we do all year. The culmination of brilliant wines from the region's brightest star working now with some 50 odd appellations up and down the Cote makes for one hell of an offer. Pair that with a vintage Leroux believes is one of the best ever for whites and with reds of concentration and intensity that will likely outlive those from 2019, and you have something worth getting excited about.

Those of you playing at home will no doubt be well-acquainted with Ben's story, but a quick recap for those who aren't. Ben was a vinous wunderkind of sorts who studied at the Lycée Viticole in Beaune at just 13 years of age before taking the reins at Domaine Comte Armand at just 26 years old. Today, he is regarded by many as the most talented and well-versed winemaker in Burgundy bar none. Few, if any, know the ins and outs of such an array of vineyards scattered across the Cote d'Or as Leroux. His micro-negociant approach affords him great dynamism, working with carefully selected plots in vineyards that stretch from Auxey-Duresses and Savigny-Les Beaune to Volnay and Bonnes Mares.

You will have heard us bang on about the significant paradigm shift in Burgundy over the last 10 to 15 years which has seen newer, younger domains and negociants shake up the long-held hierarchy. Well Leroux, along with a small handful of others, was the spearhead of this revolution and continues that legacy today by crafting incredible wines not only from the blue chip appellations but also uncovering greatness in tiny, far flung vineyards across the region. Every year he has me reaching for a reference book to find out more about where his newest wines come from and regularly they set a new benchmark for quality in that appellation.

Stylistically his wines epitomise the best of modern Burgundy. They are breathtakingly pure-fruited wines, powerful and precise with spine-tingling tension. Leroux is a master puppeteer when it comes to balance, intuitively understanding what moves to make in the vineyard and winery to ensure the carefully selected sites he works with shimmer in all their glory. Whether it be careful canopy management, pinpoint picking times, artfully managed whole bunch ferments or judiciously applied oak, Leroux has all the tools and know how to pull the right strings at the right time.

He works with I believe now 55 different appellations, which is frankly astonishing, and each one gets a bespoke treatment. There is a quote attributed to Michelangelo  that says “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” This is how I like to think about Leroux's wines. The vineyard is the marble block and everything he does is in service to its pure expression. If he feels it needs whole bunch he will use it, if not he won't. Maybe he feels it needs the 600L cask, or perhaps the 1200L. Each year is different, it's all a moving target and Leroux the ultimate marksman.