I’ve visited a lot of estates in Burgundy, and one of the most memorable of all was the Livera family’s Domaine des Tilleuls, based in Gevrey-Chambertin. For me, it’s the perfect example of a traditional, family-run domaine in a place that is still, for all its international acclaim, rural.
I visited in late Winter a few years ago, pausing next to a small wood stove in their front office before descending the steps to their famously cold cellar, where Damien Livera led me through a veritable master class on the character of Gevrey-Chambertin wine. Whichever text you prefer, there’s consensus on the “classical” style of the wines from this village: structured, woodsy, darker-toned, “masculine.” The Livera wines epitomize this, and the Liveras themselves are the kind of low-key, hands-on vignerons that make Burgundy such a special place. What’s exciting about today’s wine is what’s exciting about Burgundy in general: Around every corner lay a great wine, often hiding in plain sight and often seriously under-valued. In this case, it’s “Les Évocelles,” a high-elevation site which touches the Premier Cru “Champeaux” and boasts a southern exposure not unlike the well-known Premier Cru “Lavaux-St-Jacques.” It’s about a kilometer north of the famed “Chambertin” Grand Crus, and in the Liveras’ case, vine age ranges from 40-50 years, resulting in a wine of refinement, subtle power, and what one taster calls “Gevrey’s earthy seduction.” In addition to the Liveras, several other Gevrey-Chambertin luminaries prize this vineyard (including Dugat-Py and Denis Bachelet), and for good reason: This is a serious bottle of red Burgundy with years of graceful evolution ahead of it. It’s no exaggeration to call it a steal at this price!
This has become a theme across the Livera range: The wines are uniquely soulful, deeply earthy and mineral without being “rustic,” and especially in generous vintages like ’17, packed with black cherry fruit and expressive floral aromas. They are unabashedly “Burgundy,” with some old-fashioned grip to them that makes them especially appealing at the dinner table with food. When people talk about how they prefer terroir over technique, these are the kinds of wines they’re talking about—not flawed or dirty, but not overloaded with ‘makeup,’ either.
Ironically, the Liveras employ about 40% new French oak for aging their “Les Evocelles” bottling, but the wine is still about soil first, wonderfully pure Pinot Noir fruit second, and everything else third. The Les Evocelles site is relatively high in elevation by Burgundy standards, with a steep pitch and very thin topsoils that give way quickly to the chalky ‘mother rock’ below. Situated not far from the breezy mouth of the Combe de Lavaux (one of the valleys that run up into the forests to the west), it’s a cool site, but its southward tilt helps ensure maximum sun exposure and good ripeness. There’s a nice tautness to this wine that bodes well for aging, along with the wonderfully complex perfume that comes from physiologically ripe—as opposed to over-ripe—grapes.
Hand-harvested fruit from Damien’s vieilles vignes (“old vines”) was fermented on native yeasts and aged in those cold cellars in mostly used barrels. On my first pass, I picked up a slight smoky note that reminded me of the glowing embers in the Livera wood stove a few years ago. In the glass, it’s a deep ruby moving to garnet at the rim, with deep and haunting aromas of black cherry, cranberry, black tea, pepper, turned earth, licorice, and damp violets. It is medium-bodied and firmly structured, offering a more tensile, refined drinking experience now but poised to broaden and soften over time. By all means, decant a bottle about 45 minutes before serving at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems, but do try to lose a few bottles in your cellar: I can see it aging well for 20 years, and what a pleasant surprise that’ll be if you can wait that long. Pair this gutsy Burgundy with game birds or lamb for the ultimate in “earthy seduction.” Who can resist that?
