Gevrey-Chambertin

Gevrey is cut in two by the Combe de Lavaux, a dry valley that runs back into the plateau behind the village. It follows a fault, and the slope north of it sits about 250 metres west of the slope to the south. North of the combe the slope climbs high, to 350 metres and more at the premiers crus Cazetiers and Combe au Moine and the village climat Les Évocelles, and looks south-east over its mouth. South of it the grands crus face east between 260 and 300 metres. Latricières, Chambertin and Clos de Bèze lie across four beds of rock: crinoidal limestone at the foot, then a band of fossil-oyster marl, then marly limestone, then hard Prémeaux limestone under the wood. Below them a second fault has dropped the ground, so Comblanchien limestone, the hard rock that caps the plateau, turns up again at the foot of the slope under Petite Chapelle, Aux Ételois and the lower half of Charmes. And at the end of the last ice age, meltwater torrents poured out of the Lavaux and left a fan of stones and silt. About half of the village appellation lies on it, which is why Gevrey's vines spill across the Dijon road into the plain.

Rossignol-Trapet's grands crus show the south side. Their two Chambertin parcels run the whole height of the slope, from the road to the wood, so they cross all four beds. Latricières, across a path to the south, sits in the cold draught of the little Combe Grisard and is always picked last. Chapelle, just below, has about 40 cm of soil over fissured rock and ripens first. Petite Chapelle, directly under it but across the fault, has 1.5 to 2 metres of clay with almost no stones: the domaine calls it a colder soil. Denis Bachelet works from both ends of the commune: Les Évocelles at the top of the slope in Brochon, against Champeaux, and Charmes-Chambertin on the rise toward Morey. He picks his village plots for their differences: “En Dérée has lighter soil. La Burie has a bit more clay and La Justice more sand.” Le Guellec-Ducouet's Clos Champ and Les Jeunes Rois sit side by side on the Brochon slope at the northern end.

Tap any two to compare them and cut a slice through the slope between them. Grands and premiers crus are placed on their INAO outlines and village lieux-dits at the centre of each on the BIVB's map, not on the growers' own rows. Village wines from several plots sit on each plot we can name.