Auxey-Duresses

Fichet’s Auxey comes from two parcels; the south- facing Les Nampoillons, which is in the fault running towards St Romain, and Les Closeaux, on the Meursault side of the village. Forty percent of the crop was lost to frost damage and, when tasted in October, this was somewhat closed, but there is a pure, citrus-driven fruit profile. With age this is likely to fill out a touch but will remain a linear expression. Drink 2020-2024.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

Fichet’s big step forward came in 2000 when he moved the whole operation to splendid cellars at Le Creux du Coche by the Hôpital de Meursault. Jean-Philippe is looking for purity in his wines. He deals mostly with lieux-dits in Meursault with just one Premier Cru in Puligny. Constantly experimenting and refining, his wines have real definition and individuality, with the individual terroirs clearly exposed. The wines are raised in barrel for the first year, using larger demi- muids for the lesser appellations, then assembled in tank. A maximum of 30 percent new oak is used on any cuvée. It is hard not to be infected by Jean- Philippe’s enthusiasm and positivity. Despite being 40 percent down in 2016, he remained upbeat, explaining that he sees the variability of vintages as part and parcel of a vigneron ’s lot. The losses could have been much worse, but the domaine is equipped with candles which protect against frost and they work hard in the vines to keep grass low to reduce the risk of frost damage. He declared himself happy with the quality, but feels it is a vintage which will require patience on the part of the consumer, as many of the wines will be more austere in youth than those of 2015.

Ripe purple, with a dense concentration of dark cherry fruit, there is something a touch firmer behind, with more structure, as befits a Premier Cru. The bones are covered by delicious, unctuous fruit. This is a wine with great persistence. Drink 2020-2028.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Paul Zinetti’s second harvest at the domaine has at least given him a few more grapes to play with than 2014 and fruit of exceptional quality. Nonetheless 2015 was once again a very short crop because of the previous hail damage, delivering just one third of what used to be normal. The grapes were mostly de-stemmed, although some whole bunches were used, but always a minority.

The brilliant purple colour is followed by an explosion of wonderfully ripe yet fresh summer fruits and exceptional length. Not for the faint hearted yet easy to fall in love with. Drink 2008-2012.

This is a lovely mid-purple in colour, boasting a beautiful nose of deep red fruit. The palate displays lovely sweet red griotte cherry fruit, followed by a lively but not trenchant acidity behind.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

This was Benjamin Leroux’s last vintage at Domaine du Comte Armand and possibly his smallest yet. Just 18 barrels of Clos des Epeneaux have been made, with a yield of around eight hectolitres per hectare. The vintage began on 25th September with good looking grapes and decent maturity. Benjamin is staying involved to see the vintage into bottle, though otherwise Paul Zinetti is now securely in charge.

After several vintages of difficult or tiny harvests, this vineyard finally delivers. It comes from two contrasting plots, the lower portion on heavier clay soils, the upper on light sand and friable limestone, and the wine is lemon-fresh and bright, but with a surprising amount of weight. Drink 2022-2028.

Winemaker Brian Sieve draws comparisons between the white wines of 2017 and 2014, explaining that the texture, weight and freshness are very similar in both years, although 2017 has perhaps a little more fruit ripeness, along with excellent tension and persistence. He believes that this same freshness and brightness in the reds will provide ageing capacity, pointing out that they worked hard to restrict the yield of Pinot Noir to achieve riper grapes. Overall slightly less whole-bunch fermentation was used as Brian felt the stems and fruit were not as ripe as in richer vintages.

Fichet’s Auxey is a textbook example, offering some of the weight and character of a hillside Meursault but with a nervier feel. There are some floral and orange top-notes which add complexity and give some ripeness, but this is a wine which is defined by its tension and acidity. Drink 2021-2026.

Jean-Philippe explained how he and his vineyard team had to work extremely hard in the aftermath of the 2016 frost, managing the vines to make sure that the following year’s growth would not be compromised. Meticulous marathonrunner Jean-Philippe is just the man for such an arduous task. He is delighted with the results, explaining that quality is excellent and the yield was neither too big, nor too small. These wines are as reliably fresh and precise as you would expect, with each vineyard’s character shining through.

Raised mostly in foudres, Ben’s Auxey has a nose of fresh peach and buttered toast that is very reminiscent of Meursault, though with perhaps a touch of lime that points to a cooler appellation. The palate has some ripe, exotic fruit but is underpinned by a precise core of citrus acidity and rounded out with a toasty, creamy finish. Drink 2020-2025.

It is fair to say that Ben is very happy with 2017, describing it as the kind of vintage he would sign up for every year. The whites, he says, are beautiful, and not far from 2014 in style, with purity, finesse, great definition and balance. He describes the reds as pretty, appealing and with body to support ageing, while highlighting the importance of lower-yielding old vines for serious ageing. He eloquently explains that there is no “black sheep” in 2017, that no village has underperformed. For reason of space, the limited volumes of Grands Crus have not been included in this brochure. Since the 2014 vintage, all white wines are bottled under screwcap.

A lovely bright, luminous colour, this has a very pretty nose and enough weight to balance Auxey’s slightly grainy tannins. With a bigger crop, Paul only had space for eight percent whole-bunch in the tank and the  oak component has been kept to 15 percent. Drink 2020-2024.

Paul Zinetti was realistic yet confident in the quality of his 2017s. Such an early harvest, which started in Volnay Frémiets on 3rd September and ended in Auxey on 11th September, provided new challenges which Paul addressed creatively and sympathetically. The wines were fruity and direct but he found that colour and structure were slow to come, so he kept the wine on skins for a week or more after fermentation. There is less whole-bunch this year as the stems weren’t always fully ripe, but his de-stemmer preserves a lot of whole berries anyway. He will bottle all the reds before Christmas without filtration but he will trial some fining to round out the tannins.