Gouffier – 2017

Update 20.6.2019(3.5.2019)billn

Tasted in Fontaines with Benoit Pagot, 21 March 2019.

Domaine Gouffier
11 Grand Rue
71150 Fontaines
Tel: +33 3 85 91 49 66
www.domainegouffier.fr

This report is late, very late, and that’s due to the most improbable of situations back in November – a Subaru that had to be towed for repair!

It’s now a total of about 70,000 bottles produced, here – about half of that total are domaine wines, the rest are grape purchases. But there’s also another 30,000 bottles that they produce for other people!

The team here have stayed true to their barrel-maker from Cognac (Doreau) but this year – as a bit of fun – for a cuvée of aligoté they have 2, 300 litre barrels, that previously had cognac in them – “The barrels often go the other way – so why not – and the rules for aligoté remain quite flexible!” says Benoit…

Benoit on 2018:
It’s not a big red harvest, that’s because we had practically no rain from the start of July until the harvest – and so there was no juice – high degrees but not much juice. It was really a Rully-Mercurey problem, though in Rully there were some storms so the wines had about 1° lower. This dry period meant that we lost about a third of the production in our Mercurey reds.

Benoit on 2017++:
We had a touch of frost in the aligoté – like in 2016 – but otherwise, the season passed well, though with plenty of rain to start the year. To my mind the 2013s are good, a lot of the 2014s a bit meagre and low in colour. For the 2015s I was worried to de-leaf, then I was worried to extract as I thought the wines might become too tannic – but now they are good! The 2016s brought us back to plenty of acidity – and better ripeness than 2014 – but still a bit light. Then 2017 arrived with freshness and acidity but plenty of tannin – the whites are mineral and aromatic wines that are very well differentiated. For us it was a normal harvest volume in 2017, except where there was a little frost.

The wines…

Together with de Villaine, if I could pick only one domaine from the Côte de Chalonnaise (okay – I already picked two!) then it would be this domaine. A wide range, but of simply brilliant wines, year-in, year-out – and in both colours too. For the whites, certainly the cepage is different in the Bouzeron, but there’s no less quality difference between the Rully and the Montagny than there is between the Bouzeron and the Mercurey – bravo!!

It’s not the full range of wines from here, but it’s a fine overview, and as Benoit notes – We are very happy to have the chance that our wines are all sold-out:

2017 Bourgogne Cortechat
Just on the border of Mercurey with Fontaines – ‘I think this is more concentrated than the 2015!’
Plenty of young colour. Modest weight but there’s a depth of fine fruit here – aeration brings even more forward, beautiful fruit. Good volume, fine texture and depth of flavour – there are some layers here and a very modest oak. Then a simply delicious finish – both energy and complexity here – a wine that starts slightly modest, finishes deliciously great. Overall, excellent!

2017 Givry Terroir de Marnes
‘We normally use the climat name but this is a purchase and the seller didn’t want us to use the name of the climat – but we could use in 2018! It’s Les Lurets on the plateau next to the 1er cru below. Harvested end as flowers almost a week later.’
Fine colour. Ooh – that’s directly a fine dark berry nose – very attractive. Fresh, energy, depth of concentration, drive and complexity. Bravo – mouth-watering great villages Givry – indeed finer than most 1ers!

2017 Mercurey Clos de la Charmée
Direction of Fontaines next to the 1er Clos Marcilly
A wilder dark fruit of energy and width – ooh this is great again – but not the same! More volume, more mineral freshness in style – there’s a little more tannin here, quite saline finish – really interesting with fine depth of flavour. Excellent and with a proper personality.

2017 Mercurey 1er Clos l’Évéque
First vintage with 70% whole clusters.
Hmm – more composed but also more complex, almost menthol. Medium weight, far from medium complexity and shape and structure – this is a wine of very high-class, a wine with tension – touched lightly with a base of tannin – no grain but a little drag to the structure. Simply very great wine, regardless of village name – not a big wine but a great wine.

Les Blancs:
The aligoté is with DIAM in 2017 and in 2018 more will move to DIAM, but the rest are cork – ‘It’s a question of homogeneity and more-so it allows us to use less sulfur.

2017 Bourgogne Cuvée Roche
Changed name in 2016 when a large part of the vineyard was frosted, changed back in 2017. ‘The buyers are more interested in the name Roche than Maupertuis!’
Round, some oak is apparent, a little Pouilly-style. Super in the mouth, with drive, mineral energy – depth of flavour – a wine that’s alive without needing overt acidity. Excellent, but I’d wait for the aromatic oak to fade.

2017 Bouzeron Les Corcelles
A parcel close to the village centre of Bouzeron.
A pretty touch of florals plus some modest oak. Round, transparent, practically no oak flavour, depth, energy, layers of delicious flavour. A wine of character and deliciousness again – bravo!

2017 Mercurey Les Bussières
A colder sector. Like most of the domaine’s Mercury, close to the border with Fontaines, ‘really a red soil’ says Benoit ‘which brings a roundness and texture.’
It starts with a little oak but then a fine spice rises from the wine and an impression of minerality. Ooh – lovely drive, a mineral style, still a bit of oak but the combination of shape and soft minerality is (once more!) delicious. Long finishing. Wait 1-2 years for the oak to fade further, but here is delicious wine.

2017 Rully 1er Rabourcé
From the high part of the climat – white soil, east, s-east facing, looking down on the village.
Another with a touch of oak but more modest – rounder, white flowers, golden-yellow fruit below. Wide, mineral – more openly transparent than the Mercurey today. Supple, fine texture not hyper energetic, finishing more floral – bravo!
2017 Montagny 1er Les Jardins
A grey-white soil on the plateau – first vintage here.
A little more freshness of minerality but with a sweetness of fruit on the nose. Hmm, vibrant in the mouth – wide, energetic – never too much. Mineral in the middle and slowly mouth-watering into the finish. More mineral at the end – great wine!

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