2021 Launay-Horiot - Latricieres Chambertin (750ml)

Domaine Launay-Horiot is centered on Pommard, where the Horiot family has grown vines since the eighteenth century, but its reputation rests largely on two tiny grand cru parcels in Gevrey-Chambertin. Xavier Horiot, a former French Air Force pilot, took control of the estate in 2011 after years of legal wrangling over his grandfather's inheritance, and released his debut vintage in 2014.

This Latricières-Chambertin comes from a 0.17-hectare parcel acquired by Raymond Launay in the early 1950s, situated next to Pierre Duroche's vines along the Route des Grands Crus. As with the domaine's Chambertin, yields are kept low and the fruit hand-harvested, with the wine aged in barrel for roughly eighteen months. Latricières sits at a cooler, higher point of the hillside, giving it more austerity than its grand cru neighbors.

The 2021 shows a strict, stony nose that opens slowly to reveal damson fruit still tightly coiled in its youth. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, well-judged acidity, and neatly integrated oak, building toward a classical, seductive finish laced with cracked black pepper and clove. It is more reserved than the domaine's Chambertin, favoring precision and length over sheer richness, and will benefit from extended time in the cellar.