Clos St Jacques aside, Gevrey Chambertin les Cazetiers is arguably the most highly regarded Premier Cru vineyard in the village of Gevrey Chambertin. This 8.4 hectare southeast-facing vineyard neighbours Clos St Jacques on the northern side and enjoys an extra elevation boost than rest of Burgundy, with its average elevation being 325m, thus giving the wines access to a warmer mesoclimate, and better drainage thus greater concentration.

For loyal Gevrey fans, les Cazetiers Pinots offer earlier drinking pleasure than Clos St Jacques. Stylistically, the cellarmaster of Bruno Clair observes that Les Cazetiers always shows a higher pH (lower acidity) than Clos St Jacques. That translates into les Cazetiers often boasting more black fruit characters than the red-fruit driven Clos St Jacques. Burgundy expert Jasper Morris considers Clos St Jacques, Cazetiers and Combottes being the very best of Gevrey Chambertin premier cru. Whilst Clos St Jacques often claims crown due to its less heterogeneous parcel delineation (thus guaranteeing more consistency for producers year on year), Jasper Morris rates Cazetiers above Combottes, the latter of which he called “outstanding”.

For those interested in historic origin, “For a while, people mentioned a derivation of the word castel, in reference to the position of the climat above the castle of Gevrey-Chambertin. According to Françoise Dumas, the more plausible explanation is that Cazetiers was derived from cassis, which would indicate the presence of wild cassis or red currant bushes.” — Charlotte Fromont, La Côte de Nuits au Grand Jour.

We credit today’s Cazetiers’ banner image to Becky Wasserman.