Tasted with Anne-Sophie Dubois in Fleurie, 27 February 2023.
Domaine Anne-Sophie Dubois
Les Labourons
69820 Fleurie
Tel: +33 4 74 69 84 45
anne-sophiedubois.blogspot
More reports with Domaine Anne-Sophie Dubois
Anne-Sophie on 2022:
“I made 32 hl/ha – not bad for a dry year and we have poor soils too! There was no rain between April and the big rains that came here in June. So the vines were stressed by lack of water but only in the early phase of growth – not the ripening phase. I like to keep the green between the rows and I plough it back in, in March. We had about 25 mm of rain every night for nearly a week but fortunately no hail – but it was the same storm that turned to hail and hit Pouilly-Fuissé. Some zones you could see a loss of leaves due to the dryness but then there was the famous rain of 14 August which helped. I started harvesting 29 August – my first August harvest! Actually, it snowed here too in the first week of April – so much I couldn’t get out for the BBB!”
Anne-Sophie on 2021:
“Yes we were in the frost-zone in this vintage – we were high enough. The Tuesday evening and then it was the bottom of the hills on the Thursday. We got down to -4°C at midnight – we lost half to that. Yes, there was a bit of mildew that followed but we fought it quite well – but it’s my new record low harvest – about 15 hl/ha. We did have plenty of rain before the harvest – the skins were thin so there was some botrytis – we had to be careful with triage – very meticulous. I still used some whole clusters but chose less elevage. Bottlings began at the start of August and the last was just after the 2022 harvest – we produced so little that most is sold/reserved.”
The wines…
A good result – despite such low volumes – and nothing green either!
2021 Fleurie l’Alchimiste
Lots of freshness and dark fruit bitters – but nothing green – and slowly the red fruit shows more. Supple – there is depth and fine texture – very slightly austere in the finish but this is very good – just give it another year in bottle.
2021 Fleurie Les Labourons
This has a rounder nose with more textural depth – this shows lower sulfur in style but there was a little sulfur used at bottling time – the fruit red and attractive. Supple, silky again – here the flavours and texture are more generous and easier to appreciate – despite a little extra concentration there’s extra generosity and a little extra energy too. Broad and beautifully mouth-watering in the finish – a really delicious finish – beautiful stuff – simply an excellent 2021.