Les Rugiens

Faiveley ’s parcel in the Rugiens-Hauts mostly escaped the frost, with just five to 10 percent of the crop lost. Deep ruby in colour and with a vibrant nose of red berry fruit and subtle spice, this is an elegant expression. The palate is juicy with good density of fruit and prominent but chalky tannins that point at good ageing potential. Drink 2021-2029.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

At 115 hectares, Domaine Joseph Faiveley is one of the biggest domaines in Burgundy. The company has been based in Nuits-St Georges since the days of Pierre Faiveley who founded the business in 1825. His son Joseph gave his name to the family business, to be followed by the first François, Georges who helped found the Chevaliers du Tastevin, Guy who developed the business in the Côte Chalonnaise, François who has retired and now his son Erwan, born in 1979. The change of generation has dynamised the business: there’s been a notable expansion of vineyards, including Domaines Annick Parent, Monnot and Matrot- Wittersheim in the Côte de Beaune, as well as Dupont-Tisserandot (Gevrey) and Billaud- Simon (Chablis). Old-style Faiveley wines could be massively tannic at the expense of the fruit. From 2007 the wines are much fresher and fruitier, yet with real intensity. Harvest began on the 22nd September in the Côte de Beaune, taking an unusually long three weeks to ensure everything was fully ripe. In terms of frost damage, the Côte de Beaune was worst-hit, along with some Gevrey parcels, but where there was no frost damage, the yields were good. Stylistically, the red wines have seen slightly less whole-bunch than in 2015, and the wines continue in the new, more elegant style. The feeling is that 2016 reds are fresher and crunchier than 2015, while Erwan suggests that the white wines have the potential to be better than 2014.

Displaying fractionally more colour than the other Pommards and with a notable intensity of fruit from the start, this is a really fine wine. It begins gracefully, moves into the sumptuous, bursting with ripe cherries, before stretching out marvellously to a long silky finish.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Domaine de Montille picked between the 18th and 26th September in 2010. The red wines, made by American Brian Sieve (one of two winemakers in this catalogue born in Indianapolis!) under the surveillance of Etienne de Montille, now show a consistency of style and quality that perhaps was not entirely there a few years ago. The whites are the responsibility of Etienne’s sister Alix and maintain the class of recent times. Together they have produced a fine result in 2010.

Marco has more than one barrel of his flagship wine for the first time in several years – four to be precise, allowing a diminution of the new wood percentage  to 25 percent. Famously from vines over 100 years  old and, astonishingly, providing over 40hl/ha this year. The wine oozes with the silky texture of oldvine fruit, and there is 25 percent whole-bunch to complement the vineyard’s iron-rich contribution. Drink 2025-2031.

As he felt that the tannins were riper than in 2016, Marc-Olivier (Marco) looked for greater extraction just at the start of the fermentation but, other than that, there are no major changes. Marco still uses whole-bunch when he feels it can improve the wine’s texture. Harvest started on 5th September and was finished by 15th September. He is another winemaker losing interest in zero-sulphur, feeling that the identity of the terroir can be lost without SO2’s guiding hand.

Purchased in 2007 in the premium Rugiens-Haut sector, the parcel is almost exactly 0.5 hectares, planted in 1953. This is genuinely impressive, ripe with no sense at all of the loose-limbed character of some 2017 reds from around here. Compact and brooding. Drink 2023-2030.

Faiveley began picking on 2nd September in Meursault, while the first Pinot Noir was harvested in Volnay and Pommard on 4th September. Their red Grands Crus were picked between 9th and 14th September. They compare their reds to 2007 and 2011, although they say the 2017s have a fleshier palate. As previously there has been some considered use of whole bunches in the fermentation for some selected smaller vineyard parcels. For the whites, they consider 2017 to be an outstanding vintage with powerful, rich and intensely aromatic wines.

The de Montille holding is in the favoured, lower part of this vineyard. Bright pink-purple in colour, with richer, ripe fruit here, delivering a great intensity of dense red flavours. The tannins are prominent, as they should be for Rugiens, but not discordant. This is for the long term.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

This great domaine has grown even further with the acquisition of some vineyards, such as Meursault Perrières, to enhance the white wine range, vinified by Alix de Montille. The reds continue the progress seen in recent years from the team led by Etienne de Montille with the assistance of cellarmaster Brian Sieve. All the top wines are vinified with 100% whole bunches which defines the very perfumed style of the domaine’s wines