Burgundy 2023 En Primeur: Domaine Bachey-Legros
We are very pleased to offer the excellent 2023 vintage wines from Domaine Bachey-Legros in Santenay, one of the best value producers we know of in Burgundy. Their affordable, 'everyday' village-level burgundies like the Santenay Rouge Clos des Hâtes and the Maranges Blanc can be on your table at or under £25 per bottle, with all taxes, whilst the premiers crus Santenays and Chassagne-Montrachets come from an amazing collection of very old vines, some of them over a century old.
It's been a very good year for brothers Sam and Lénaïc Legros, with an excellent harvest in size and quality, producing wines that display their terroirs beautifully.
With such a collection of superb vineyard sites, it's amazing that the wines are so relatively inexpensive. The vineyards of Santenay border the more famous Chassagne-Montrachet. 'Undiscovered' domaines in the Côtes d'Or are rare these days. Bachey-Legros was almost moribund in the 1990s, with most of the vines rented out to other producers. That was until Sam and Lénaïc's mother Christiane inherited it and set about reinvigorating the estate with the help of her sons.
The domaine is made up of a collection of ancient, slightly tumble-down Burgundian stone buildings with their traditional tiled roofs and 'lucarnes' windows. The laconic setting contrasts with the energy with which the brothers and their young team rush about, whenever we visit. Sam and Lénaïc are very aware of the historic nature of vineyards like their premiers crus 'Clos Rousseau' and its sub-site 'Les Fourneaux', describing themselves as their curators.
If that sounds a bit academic, the wines themselves are very much made for real-world enjoyment, with masses of succulent, dark fruit in the reds and plenty of richness in the whites. The use of judicious use of just a tad more new oak at the domaine than some of their more peers adds to this richness and exuberance in the wines.
If you are new to Bachey-Legros, or to buying Burgundy en primeur in general, we suggest trying a mix of the Santenay Rouge Clos des Hâtes and the Maranges Blanc for regular drinking, plus a couple of premiers crus, like the stunning 'Clos des Gravieres Blanc' and the complex, layered Clos Rousseau.
For regular buyers from the domaine, this is a year to add a wider range of the premiers crus to your cellars. The distinction between the terroirs is wonderful. Santenay has two main soil types. The vines bordering Chassagne are on deeper soils with high iron-oxide content, giving richer wines with aromas of iron and blood, one of the aromas leading to the description of some red burgundies as being 'gamey' (Sam reminded us of the connection between iron and haemoglobin!). The vines to the south of Santenay have more limestone and are at a higher elevation, hence they tend to be more linear and mineral.
Please simply email us to place your order.
Offered en primeur. Expected in the UK in spring 2025.
Producer Profile
Domaine Bachey-Legros, Santenay
Amongst the blue-chip domaines of the principal Côte d'Or villages, Bachey-Legros is an outlier, both geographically and for the charming, slightly buccaneering energy of brothers Samuel and Lénaïc Legros. Neighbouring Chassagne-Montrachet and at the southern end of the limestone ridge which forms the Côte de Beaune, Santenay is a gem of a town, with an "off the beaten track" air to it. The slopes behind the village are beautifully situated, with numerous fine terroirs. Very helpfully, these fall into distinct sub-zones, with more oolitic limestone in the soils neighbouring Chassagne giving more powerful wines, versus more limestone-marl soils to the south, giving more finesse.
The Legros brothers have 18 hectares here, inherited from their grandfather who, by 1993 had almost ceased wine production, contracting out many of his vines to other growers. It was Sam and Lénaïc's mother, Christiane, then living and working as a psychologist in Dijon, who returned to the family domaine to begin re-building it, gradually taking back control of vineyards as those leasing contracts expired (maybe this is why it feels as if this domaine has come from nowhere and remains relatively undiscovered). Today, it still has the air of a work in progress, with the unrestored stone buildings pressed into service at what is clearly a growing business.
The Clos Rousseau, on the upper slopes to the South of Santenay
In contrast to the sleepy air at most of the domaines we visited, Bachey-Legros was a hive of activity, with a lorry delivering a huge quantity of frost candles for the winter ahead (quite an investment, at 8 Euros each, with 300-400 needed per night, per hectare). There was also a mobile bottling line in full swing, with bottles being packed by a young team in another outbuilding. Sam and Lénaïc themselves project a laid-back energy and are instantly likeable. The other thing which stands out here is the volume of wine in tank and in barrel (compared to the many bare-looking cellars we visited). We have said several times over the last couple of years what amazing value this domaine's wines are. Seeing it in person really helps to understand how they achieve this, with a combination of outstanding raw materials (their holdings of ancient vine are second to none) and an unstuffy, no-frills approach.
Old vines play an important role in their success and you will see the vineyard planting dates proudly listed next to many of their wines, from 1950 for 'Les Charmes' back to 1914 for 1er Cru Clos Rousseau 'Les Fourneaux'. Caring for these old vines is clearly a labour of love and they describe themselves as working like 'curators in a botanical museum'! Deep-rooting older vines are very resilient to annual vintage variations, giving consistently brilliant wines each year.
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