Domaine Philippe et Vincent Lecheneaut

The Lecheneaut brothers focus mainly on producing fine villages-level wines, from all the appellations in the Côte de Nuits, except Fixin. As a result, they are an ideal way of comparing appellations such as Marsannay, Gevrey, Morey, Chambolle, Vosne and Nuits. The wines are made ​​conscientiously, and the unremitting quality from vintage to vintage is steady as a metronome. They are elegantly oaked, making for pleasant drinking during the wines’ early years, and mellow beautifully after several years in a cellar.

Their cuvée Les Damodes, from Nuits-Saint-Georges, is always a favorite. A superb lieu-dit perched at the northern edge of Nuits (just above the premier cru Boudots, neighboring the Vosne premier cru Malconsorts), Les Damodes is split between premier cru vines and village vines. After producing just one label of village-level wine for many years, they now isolate the premier cru, and the grapes from the village-level vines of their vineyard now bonify the Nuits-St-Georges cuvée.

The estate produces one grand cru, Clos de la Roche. It famously received a perfect score of 100 from Wine Advocate with the 2002 vintage, and was touted by the Japanese manga The Drops of God. Unfortunately they vinify but one barrel per year.