Domaine Francois Leclerc

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN – I have worked with the Leclerc family since 2002. Father Rene was in his prime and making some of the most tasty wines in the fabled town of Gevrey-Chambertin. At the same time, he was training his only son, Francois, in the art of winemaking.

Side note: Francois was married to an American from Macon, Georgia. They met in Beaune and now have two beautiful children, Julien and Georgia.

Francois learned to make wine from his dad and also spent a summer at Archery Summit in Oregon to round out his wine education. As one of Burgundy’s best-known and most highly respected craftsmen, Rene has taught his son well. They don’t make technical wine from a recipe. This is art for them. Year in and year out, they craft wine from experience — wine of uncompromising quality with a pleasing texture.

Years ago, Rene fully passed the reins of the domaine to Francois. The son uses the same traditional vinification techniques for all his wines, including the basic Bourgogne Pinot Noir. He emphasizes the fruit component of wine and still uses their antiquated basket press. Francois extracts the best juice for his wines while avoiding the bitter tannins. He uses very few new oak barrels. Too much oak dries out the wine and makes it less pleasurable.

Francois now makes both the Rene Leclerc as well as the Francois Leclerc brands. The iconic Rene Leclerc label is a deep burgundy color with gold trim. Those wines are made using the same traditional method they have always used. Like many of the famous winemakers in Gevrey-Chambertin, the Rene brand is distributed in America through an agent. Since I don’t work through agents, the family allows me to bypass their agent and import their wines directly into America. Thus, the typical agent’s profit margin is avoided. That means consumers can buy these higher-quality wines for less money.

The more recent brand is for the Francois Leclerc wines.  Francois uses slightly more oak to craft his wines. They differ in style from the Rene Leclerc wines, but are also very tasty. For the Francois Leclerc wines, me and his Japanese importer are his only customers in the world. It is a true privilege to offer an extremely limited supply of both labels of these storied wines.