In 2020, Xavier acquired a 1.8-hectare parcel in Lacombe, a lieu-dit in the commune of Saint-Pierre de Boeuf, in Saint-Joseph’s northern sector just south of Chavanay. He immediately removed the ailing and poorly managed existing vines, planting 1.3 hectares of Syrah and a half-hectare of Marsanne in the site’s sandy granite, and bottling the fruit for the first time with the 2023 vintage. Compared to the silky and pure-fruited “Le Blanchard”, “Lacombe – St. Pierre” is wilder in personality and more rugged in its tannins, with amaro-like spices accompanying a core of black fruits, but it nonetheless maintains a vein of elegance befitting its sandy soils of origin.