Beaune, Burgundy, France
ESTATE
Benjamin Leroux is considered by many to be the successor of Henri Jayer, his knowledge about wine and most of all about each terroir characteristics runs deep. After establishing his name by leading Domaine Comte Armand Clos des Epeneaux for eight years, Leroux has started a négociant business in 2007 to make wines under his own label, in a winery that he shares with Dominique Lafon.
Benjamin Leroux was determined to be a winemaker at a very early age, at 13 he choose to go to the lycee viticole despite not coming from a vine-making family, followed with a diploma of oenology at the university of Dijon. He entered at Domaine des Epeneaux as an apprentice, learning the ropes from Pascal Marchand. Leroux also trained at Cos d’Estournel, before succeeding definitely to Pascal Marchand at the Domaine des Epeneaux.
The production is very limited and Leroux is determined only to work with vineyards that have been well managed and produce outstanding fruits from interesting and unjustly under rated terroirs. In fact, Leroux’s knowledge of Burgundy’s countless terroirs seems boundless and producers like him are waking up the wine world to the fact that the reputation of many Côte d’Or vineyards has as much to do with the producers who work them than any intrinsic qualities of the sites themselves.
WINEMAKING
He carefully selects his growers and exerts maximum control over them, converting them as possible to organic and biodynamic practices.
Even if Benjamin is known to be a technical master of oenology, he keeps a very instinctive approach of winemaking and an open mind towards every technics, he perceives biodynamie as a flexible philosophy rather than a rigid credo and he chooses what he thinks is the best at each step.
His wines are youthful and expressive, it seems that he treats his Generic Bourgognes as if they were Grands Crus, they are precise and poised, well structured with a fruitiness enhanced by a remarkable depth.
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