Domaine FOURRIER: 2013s from Cask

Domaine FOURRIER (Gevrey-Chambertin)

2013s from Cask

Jean-Marie Fourrier said that he prefers his 2013s to his 2012s for the formers’ sweetness of red fruit – something that he said was unexpected from an October harvest. My review of his 2012s from cask is here.  My review of some of his 2012s from bottle is here. 

The first three treatments in the vineyard had to be by hand in 2013; the key to success in the vintage, he said, was the ability to protect against oïdium. If one was able to do that, the leaves remained green and could profit from the good weather in September. Late in that month, malic acidity fell very quickly opening the door to botrytis, and so he began harvesting on October 2 and finished on October 7. As always here, grapes were entirely destemmed; Jean-Marie concedes that perhaps 5-7% of the stems are not eliminated by the destemmer, but he said it is not his choice to include them. Fermentations were “super rapid” in 2013 (and 2014), and so malolactic fermentations went from April to June , and by the time I tasted here on October 31, the wines had all been put in stainless steel to stabilize before bottling, not to finish malos as was the case with the 2012s the year before.

2013 Morey-Saint-Denis   Clos Solon

This wine shows stony red berry fruit in the nose and mouth and is smooth and long. It is delicious will provide excellent drinking young. (88-91)

2013 Chambolle-Musigny

The nose and mouth feature dark berry fruit. The wine is smooth, light, and very round and elegant – what one would expect from Chambolle. (87-91)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin

This wine has dark berry fruit that is more mineral and wilder than that of the Chambolle. It is medium-weight. (88-91)

2013 Vougeot 1er Cru – Petits Vougeot

Dark plum fruit in the nose and mouth, good grip, depth, and sensuality in the mouth. (88-91)

2013 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru – Les Gruenchers

This wine is medium-full and smooth with black raspberry fruit. It is attractive, light on the palate, sensual, and intense. (90-94)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Les Cherbaudes

The wine shows red currant fruit and is round and smooth – less nervy than usual, although minerality is there. The wine is light on the palate. (90-93)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Les Goulots

The fruit here is strawberry and the wine is medium-weight, dense, and even almost a bit gritty. (89-92)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Les Champeaux

The fruit here is dark and fresh and the texture is smooth with round tannins, breadth, and depth. (91-95)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Combe aux Moînes

This wine is broad and smooth with strawberry fruit and good density. (91-94)

2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – Clos Saint-Jacques

This wine is dense and mineral with red fruits, but the gaminess that characterizes Clos Saint-Jacques is not present here. (91-94)

2013 Griotte-Chambertin

This wine showed griotte cherry fruit and was dense with tannins, but not very open on the day I tasted it. (92-96)

2013 Echézeaux

There was only time enough left to taste one of Fourrier’s negociant wines, this Echézeaux, although looking around the cellar I could see that he had small amounts of many of the other Chambertin grands crus. This wine is dark, pure, and crystalline – more precise than the Gevreys. (92-96)