Faiveley use three picking teams. Two started in the white wine vineyards on 28th September and were finished in four days. Then it was all hands to the red grapes. In general the harvest came in healthily, the hard work all year round in the vineyards paying dividends. We were once again very impressed.

 

Christian Sérafin is very happy with how 2013 worked out in the end, though yields were once again 25% below normal, even if a touch more than in 2012. The team removed rot and unripe bunches in the vineyard, then waited to pick until after the wet weekend which helped both sugar and acidity.

Quantities were down a further 15% on the previous two vintages. However Nicolas Rossignol reports that there were no problems in vinification, and they have added a further refinement this year with a new state-of-theart de-stemmer, which leaves the individual berries whole as it takes them off their stems. Given the natural concentration of the fruit in 2012, there was no need to seek much extraction. Once again this domaine offers superb quality at reasonable prices.

Nicolas Potel has retained the majority of his regular contracts in 2012, though a couple are missing after the hail. Like everybody else, he has had to pay more for his grapes though, especially at the top end of the hierarchy. But as ever there are some delicious wines in the range, and at the lower end the prices are thoroughly competitive.

The old order changeth slowly at Maison Louis Jadot. Veteran winemaker Jacques Lardire is still very much in charge, but his eventual successor Frdric is starting to play a more prominent role. Dont expect a revolution, but a little evolution is doubtless possible. The acidity of 2010 very much suits the Jadot white wine style, while their fullish extraction of Pinot Noir has worked notably well in several red cuves such as the Volnay, Clos de la Barre which we have selected for the first time this year. Where the wines come from one of the various Jadot domaines we supply the relevant information in brackets.

Faiveley are the talk of Burgundy at the moment, a change of generation with Erwan Faiveley now in charge has resulted in a change of style since 2007 (the old style was often very tannic). I have to say I love the new style and the famous Gevrey Premier Cru vineyard of Cazetiers epitomises it. Beautiful lifted nose, with red cherry and some bramble fruits. The palate is seamless, seductive almost, with the same red fruits showing and a lovely pepper spice finish. Burgundy of the very highest order.
Matthew Tipping - Fine Wine Sales Manager

Several parcels with vines of different ages add to the complexity of this superb Cuvée. It has a darker centre of cherry fruit and the blend of older and younger vines is very interesting.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Director

The resurgence begun by the trio of Erwan Faiveley, Bernard Hervé and winemaker Jérôme Flous, who arrived in 2007, is very apparent in this brilliant series of 2011 wines. They began the harvest on 31 August and picked for 9 days. There are some new wines this year from a contract for the whole production of an estate in Chambolle-Musigny and the Faiveley white wines from totally healthy grapes are particularly successful in 2011, perhaps the best we have seen from the new regime.

Louis Boillot seemed remarkably cheerful for a man who has made so little wine this year, the poor flowering taking as much toll as the hail. Most cuvées have slightly more new wood in 2012 because of the shortage of wine, but the concentration of the fruit is easily able to absorb this.

Sylvie began picking on 28th September in 2010 and continued into October. Early in the season, once the flowering had produced so much millerandage – “Pinot Noir berries like little peas” – she felt it could have been a vintage of the century, though it would have taken better weather in August to deliver the early promise. As it is, the fine fruit and fresh finish to the wines reminds her more of 2002. The style of the domaine is for a high proportion of stems to be included, supported by new barrels.