Tasted in Marsannay-la-Côte with Laurent Fournier, 19 March, 2021.
Domaine Jean Fournier
29, rue du Château
21160 Marsannay-la-Côte
Tel: +33 3 80 52 24 38
More reports with Domaine Jean Fournier
Laurent on 2019:
“Not a lot of the 2019s have been bottled so far, in fact only the Bourgogne, but it’s my favourite vintage since 2010. We’ve changed to a Guyot-Poussard pruning in the last years which I think has helped us a lot in the warmer, drier years. For whites, it was a low volume vintage, but the reds resisted the heat and dry relatively well. We had no frost or hail in these sectors – in fact it was quite easy in the vines except for a little oïdium. I compare the vintage to 2018 when we had to fight to deliver wines of purity. We are protecting the grapes more from the sun but that helps the oïdium too – but the best defence against oidium is to pretend that you haven’t seen it – a joke!”
The wines…
Many great wines in this cellar from 2019. My favourite remains the Marsannay Clos du Roy, but the Trois Terroirs is very close and has a longer timeline for the cellar… Of Laurent’s aligotés the first clearly the wine to drink now, the others require more patience – super aligoté all three…
‘Mainly vines in the Marsannay rosé area – it’s hard to sell rosé – there’s the bling-bling market and the terroir market, but it’s increasingly difficult to sell a rosé of with identity. We have 3 hectares here, so I make more Bourgogne plus I declassify some young vine Marsannay and some organic grapes from Premeaux. In fact everything is organic, about 25% whole-clusters were kept here – 2/3rd big barrel for elevage, none new, the rest is aged in concrete. In bottle one month.
A wide nose, modestly spiced with a little wc. Very silky but concentrated too – ooh that’s a great entry wine. Bravo – top Bourgogne. Long, supple, concentrated wine.
Now 5 assembled cuvées waiting for bottling – but they are ready:
The name St.Urban refers to the small tower behind the domaine – the monastery was burned down by the Swiss soldiers. One-third whole clusters – mainly 500-litre barrels for elevage
A deeper nose, faintly reductive but alive with pure fruit too. A little more structure but practically no grain of tannin here. Supple and concentrated again – really a fine width of flavour. WC perfumed in the finishing flavour. Delicious – again a top villages – really…
2017 was the first domaine vintage. ‘Three parcels, one not great placed, one not bad the other a great place in Les Combes.’ 50% wc in the tank then the other 50% destemmed added on top. Half larger-format barrel, and after a racking finishing in older demi-muids.
An extra aromatic freshness here – almost a silky nose though not fully open. Lovely energy – so mouth-watering, almost juicy – that’s super this wine has gained immeasurable in presence in the time here. That’s a great Aloxe villages.
2019 Gevrey-Chambertin
2 parcels – Clos Prieur and Clos Bruillard – always low yielding – but two different maturities so cant vinify together.
A nose of freshness and width – a little tighter below just now. More drive, a more mineral style – equally mouth-watering as the Aloxe but with an extra width and openness to the flavours. A great finish – that’s delicious here – hmm, I’ll have to recheck my grading but this is just a nose (actually the nose) short of great.
2019 Fixin Les Petits Crais
I try to extract a bit more maturity here as the marne soils need more time for maturity, that or more water in the soils – I think this makes for less rusticity in the structure.
Fragrant from the stems – this nose more open than the Gevrey. The flavour is infused with the whole-cluster perfume. A little drag to the texture from the tannin but virtually zero grain is visible. Wide and tasty finishing – the style overtly wc but in a very perfumed rendition.
4 Marsannays:
2019 Marsannay Le Chapitre
The oldest vines in this plot date from 1947 and 1948. This is one of the earliest-ripening plots of the domaine – it flowers here 1 week before Gevrey. Each year, a fair proportion of the grapes are lost to wild boar because there is no hunting allowed here. Now including the oldest of the young vines!
That’s a lovely perfume – whole clusters but not so overt as the Fixin, there’s more elegance here. Freshness and openness – a clarity of flavour here. Modestly frames with a tiny grain of tannin but not drying – less than the Fixin. The finish has a little chalky minerality. This a perfect example of 2019 in action – and excellent wine too!
Ooh – a great nose – lovely width, freshly perfumed. Clarity of flavour, open, lithe, cool-fruited, mouth-watering, delicious. Class! A short note for a great Marsannay.
2019 Marsannay Longeroies
4.9 ha in Longeroies, keeping the best 3 hectares for this wine. Will wait a little longer before bottling this wine – ‘I like to finish in May before it gets too warm.’ More iron and silica in the soil – despite more south-facing it’s later maturing because of the wind that comes down the combes…
There’s a little more colour here. The fruit more concentrated and almost a little extra-mature. Fuller, rounder in the mouth – the extra ripeness visible in the fruit. Concentrated finishing too. A super wine, but I much prefer the Clos today.
2019 Marsannay Es Chezots
A cool plot, always later to harvest – ‘but always good grapes.’
A little caramel depth to this nose. Narrower than the Longeroies but with a fine depth. Ooh, that’s beautifully shaped over the palate – a little cushion for the melting flavour – great texture, beautifully flavoured. A little tannic texture in the finish but no grain. I think this more than excellent!
Now three of vine cuvées – all worked by horse, all the additional work by hand. “There’s more whole cluster for these but I don’t go past 2/3rds as it can change the fermentations” – only demi-muids for elevage:
2019 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Vergelesses
1 hectare of vines: ‘It’s my weekend work here – so I don’t see so many of the other producers! The first time I ploughed here I thought I don’t remember the grass like this – Ouch it wasn’t my row of vines! For me a perfect example of pinot with super vines and beautiful small clusters – lots of redness in the soil. I’ll be making a massale selection from here’ Only 30 hl/ha in 2019.
Faintly fume but a very attractive nose. Beautiful in the mouth – there’s tannin but very sophisticated in delivery, open, melting with flavour without the additional comfort of the last wine. Almost subdued in the middle today but the finish is a great one – always a little fumé from the clusters.
2019 Côte de Nuits Villages, Croix Violette
The vines here in Brochon were planted between 1936 and 1939 – they always deliver millerande bunches – ‘It’s a different style of grape – Magnien-style’ – stays Laurent.
Depth of colour. A super depth of aroma too – the wholes clusters to the fore again but less smoky than the last. Different in style again – more volume in the mouth – more open, cushioned flavours, extra sweetness.
A new blend since 2016 – Three parcels of old vines, some planted by grandfather of Laurent.
An airy, perfumed nose. Impact, concentration yet fresh and open – no fat not a wine of richness though certainly one of concentration. A great, chewy, massively complex finish. Great wine here.
Les Blancs
The first three are bottled:
2019 Bourgogne Aligoté En Auvonne VV
Here’s a fine freshness – width too – aromatically very attractive. Pure, lots of precision, great ‘tension’ with supple middle concentration, pretty finishing, beautifully pure wine – super.
2019 Bourgogne Aligoté Champ Forey Vieilles-Vignes
Vinified without sulfur, not crushed – fermentation in barrel but with temperature control.
More depth and vibrancy of aroma for this wine – beautifully pure again. A little bubble of CO2 but wide – extra mineral and growing in intensity. The flavour growing and growing for this wine. Wide with extra depth in this finish – for keeping and super too.
In Savigny, old vines but can only estimate a planting-date of around 1920 as there is no paper-trail for these.
The nose starts denser but with aeration opens out beautifully. Here is width and concentration – density too – less airy than the first two. Subtly saline here. Another wine for keeping, very long, tannic finish – such great material…
2019 Bourgogne Origines Cuvée Speciale
No chardonnay – a blend of pinot blanc and pinot gris.
A forward and deep nose – ripe with good energy. A little bead of CO2 again – wide, supple flavours, mouth-watering. Wide and delicious finishing – long and ample.
80:20 Chardonnay:Pinot blanc. A little young vine Longeroies and Clos du Roy too. Bottled last week.
Extra height and freshness to this nose – but still a weight of fruit at the base. Mouth-filling, more vibrantly flavoured than the Bourgogne. Pure, really exquisitely finishing – so mouthwateringly moreish – bravo Bourgogne.
Following not bottled but were racked 3 weeks ago:
2019 Marsannay Clos du Roy Blanc
All chardonnay from 20-40-year-old vines. The youngest vines planted ‘HD’ at 20k per hectare
An attractive airy style to this nose – no density but much attraction. In the mouth too – that’s super – airy, complex but retaining a certain intensity – pure, mineral, saline, ripe citrus – super wine.
2019 Marsannay Longeroies Blanc
Also all chardonnay, planted at a density of 13,000 vines per hectare.
A totally different, more golden-style fruit almost a little creamy. Ripe but fresh, concentrated too – a completely different style to this wine, a little richer and riper but with a finishing complexity too – very long, concentrated here also…
