Bernard Faurie

The lower Greffieux fruit adds an approachable twist to the Calvinist solidity of the Bessards grapes. Their blend is therefore a marriage of opposites and has worked well in 2014, each of the equal shareholders taming the inclination of the other, one indulgent and amorphous, the other ascetic and rather unforgiving, with a pleasing flourish of fruit and Hermitage panache.
Drink 2018-2022.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

The Bessards Méal cuvée is more granitic in style and outlook than its rather more playful sibling. The salty minerality and complex herbal subplots both invigorate what is already an extremely engaging narrative. Dark fruit and grip hold sway here as they will do for some time, as one would expect from a traditional and very serious Hermitage. 
Drink 2019-2024.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

Bernard vinifies his grapes by each individual parcel of vines and describes his final blend in terms of a ‘cosmic union’; something seemingly more complicated and intangible than mere biodynamism. Grapes from the Bessards commune lend support and acidity whilst those from the Greffieux commune provide a winning purity of fruit. The 2012 has notes of cassis and black cherry with a gently smoky backdrop.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer 

Bernard Faurie is a fairly conservative vigneron. In all probability he has done the same thing for the last fifty years, and watched with wry amusement as his more adventurous neighbours have experimented and invested, only, eventually, to return to their starting place. And not necessarily to know the place for the first time. M Faurie is Emmanuel Darnaud’s father –in-law, and has, I suspect, guided the young enquiring mind with subtle  skill. Owning some of the best plots in Hermitage has certainly helped his cause.