The harvest began with whites on 26th September, before the rain, then the reds were brought in during less good weather, with sorting necessary. The stems were ripe enough to allow for whole bunch vinification, and Pierre has chosen the soft pedal in 2013: not much punching down, more an infusion approach, less new wood and perhaps a shorter time in barrel. Pierre can see some elements of 2008 but with more weight, more flattering wines overall.

Bronze medal winner at the 2016 Decanter World Wine Awards

Glorious purple, the nose is layered with deliciously rich cherries, more fruit than stems. There is an appealing structure to this, dancing heady fruit and good freshness. A fine vineyard, well interpreted.

The domaine has developed its white wine holdings, with four new cuvées this year, arising out of Boisset’s purchase of Vincent Girardin’s business. Girardin had farming arrangements in Puligny- Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet Champ Gain Premier Cru, Bienvenues-Bâtard- Montrachet Grand Cru and a tiny holding of Chevalier-Montrachet: Monsieur Boisset has now bought these vineyards. As well as these excellent whites, Pierre Vincent considers 2014 to be one of his best red wine vintages, with something in common with 2006 and 2010.

A difficult year with cold damp conditions at harvest during the first week in October. Sorting was needed and it was important to be gentle in the maceration of the fruit. The grapes appeared ripe enough despite slightly low sugar levels. There is a little more wine than in 2012, and Louis was upbeat despite the repeated short crops.

 

It was fascinating to taste the 2012 range with Bertrand Maume and his colleagues from Marchand-Tawse, who now assist in the winemaking process since Moray Tawse bought the domaine two years ago. There is still the recognisable, characterful Maume style but some of the inconsistencies of the past have been ironed out. There has been a little more pumping-over to aerate the fermenting vats and thus better manage the reductive aspects of old-style Maume winemaking. 2012 is a lovely vintage here.

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.

 

It was difficult at the start and difficult at the end but OK in between”, says Nicolas, who began harvesting on 6th October. Younger vines flowered better, giving more volume than 2012, and only the Beaune vineyards were hailed on. There were no grave problems with rot, and they avoided heavy extraction as the colour came easily enough. Nicolas noted that cool vintages such as 2013 are best for terroir definition, and certainly the hallmark of his wines this year is elegance, and precision.

 

Nicholas feels that the saving grace of the 2013 vintage was the amount of small berries caused by millerandage. He has opted for minimum extraction but longish cuvaison. The white wines have not been stirred because they were rich enough naturally. They are expected to be bottled in December and will all be under DIAM corks, apart from the Grands Crus. The reds will be bottled during February.
 

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.

The last few vintages have shown a freshening up of the Srafin style, though absolutely not at the expense of the concentration which is a hallmark of this domaine. The concentration of the fruit comes from their meticulous work in the vineyards, the fresher style from a little less extraction during fermentation. Christian himself thinks that 2010 is notably more concentrated than 2009 and as everywhere else, yields are down this year.

Denis started on 5^th October and he reports a decent crop in some appellations but least in Bourgogne Rouge (rot) and Charmes-Chambertin (poor flowering of the old vines). He maintained his usual vinification techniques, making wines which impress in youth but really need a decade to show at their best. His 2013s show Denis at his magical best.