Tasted in Marsannay-la-Côte with Patrice Olliver, 25 April 2019.
Domaine Fougeray de Beauclair
44 Rue de Mazy
21160 Marsannay-la-Côte
Tel: +33 3 80 52 21 12
fougeraydebeauclair.com
Patrice on 2018:
“It was a sunny year for sure, early too – we started harvesting 5 September here – and we did everything in 6 days with 50 people – it complicated by lots of old vines. We didn’t have the big rain storms of the Côte de Beaune so we had deficits of rain so never passed 35 hl/ha, this is also where the old vines played a part. Juice with high sugars, 13.5-14°. We had no disease problems, some dried berries in the sandier soils of Marsannay though – dark colours too. I see 2017 as wine for the purists, 2018 is more global tastes. I’ve still got two cuvées that haven’t yet finished their fermentations – but no worries, they can take their time.”
Patrice on 2017:
“2017 is absolutely classic burgundy – the most respectful of the vintages since 2010 in terms of aromas I think. Supple, fresh and with modest but correct tannins. It’s a scholarly vintage – if you have the books from the school you could make all the wines. It was cool in the mornings of the harvests, so no need to cool the grapes – easy! I’m very much against acidification but prepared to chaptalize when I think necessary…
“The vintage makes me think of 2011 for the whites with their freshness and minerality – it’s the minerality that’s currently missing in 2018s.”
Since I last visited, the domaine here has ceded their Bonnes-Mares to Domaine Bruno Clair after a 30-year fermage agreement, but 2 barrels of wine each year – ex Bruno Clair – remain for the future.
The wines…
Relatively pale, juicy finishing – the style of the wines here in 2017. Wines that are less broad than many but with super line and delicious finishing flavour. Modest colours, concentration and weight, but nothing modest about the drive, complexity and deliciousness of their respective flavours. Simply super drinking wine as opposed to wine for ‘tasting!’ Oh, and such a great set of whites!
Mostly the reds were bottled in January. Ardea seals – like Ponsot – have been used here for the last 3 years. There has been some subtle updating of most labels since I was last here, but each cuvée has its own label style.
2017 Naur L
The wine from Laurence – no sulfur. Vinified to drink young, grapes from the commune of Fixin
A wide nose, round, well textured, almost inky. Round, fresh, mouth-watering. This is delicious with a lovely depth of flavour too. Open, juicy, tasty – with a very good finish – lots of volume here.
2017 Marsannay Coeur de Femme
All whole-cluster, again no sulfur
Again a nice width and freshness of aroma – it’s very inviting. Rounder, more volume in the mouth, a little rasp of tannin, growing with mouth-watering intensity – a purer fruit and very tasty. Again a mouth-watering and delicious finish. Excellent!
2017 Marsannay Les Dessus des Longeroies
Vines from 1941.
An extra brightness to the fruit aroma. More intense, bright flavour, freshness – a wine of drive and energy, not much fat. Again a juicy finishing wine – the style of the wines here in 2017 – and very long.
2017 Marsannay Favières
Vines from 1970
Airy, wide – an open aroma. Again fresh, bright – full of energy, nice depth of flavour – again no fat here. Super finishing – wines that are less broad than many but with super line and delicious finishing…
2017 Marsannay Les St.Jacques
30 year-old vines.
Not a much colour but more than most so far. Again airy nose, very pinot. Fuller, more sucrosity, more weight and roundness of flavour – this is excellent – always changing, fresh and complex and faint finishing tannin. Love this…
2017 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Golardes
A touch more colour from these 40-year-old vines. Some weight of aroma with a touch of herb. Big in the mouth, freshness energy, a modest touch of tannin. Good depth of flavour. Waves of fine finishing flavour – and like all these – long!
2017 Côte de Nuits Villages
In Brochon, only the wall separates from Clos de Chapitre 1er. 1.17 ha – ‘Here there was no frost in 2016 – my favourite place that year!’
More depth of aroma, darker fruit too but with the freshness of the others – opens showing more floral accents – this benefits from some swirling. More depth to the flavour but the same open, airy formula of the previous wines. More layered in the finish, more contemplative. Super!
1946 planting
Starts less open again but slowly, slowly, grows bigger in the glass. Open, fresh, some sucrosity to the flavour – plenty of volume, easing over the palate – long, subtly complex, nothing subtle about the deliciousness! Simply excellent, fresh tasty wine – lots of fresh complexity in the finish. That’s great!
2017 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées
Planted 1941…
A pretty floral width of aroma. More intensity here, complex, energetic, such a delicious and open style to the flavours – like all here – and like all here there’s so much action in the finishing flavours too. Excellent!
2018 Marsannay Rosé
A modest production of about 2k bottles per year.
A big fresh punch to the nose – lots of attractive complexity here – not a simple strawberry rosé! Depth of sweet flavour, a bit obvious perhaps, though attractive for sure, with a phenolic touch in the finish.
Les blancs:
This from 50-year-old vines in Fixin; green wax topped, green Ardea!
Wide and vibrant, depth of aroma. Big, fresh, incisive, energetic, depth of flavour too – big but beautifully balanced wine – a freshness that carries this wine with perfection – ooh bravo – Everything to appreciate here!
2017 Marsannay Blanc Les Aiges Pruniers
Chardannay, mainly in Grasses Têtes, a little from Couchey and some Marsannay Etalles
Ooh – love, more green-shade citrus but with some aromatic sucrosity. Big, generous even, but completely fresh and tasty – long, nice energy. Lovely, excellent wine, vibrant finishing!
Next to the forest – Pinot Blanc, planted 1991.
A narrower nose, but lots of interest, fresh and complex, almost a vibration of minerality. Extra volume and freshness – ooh that’s good – a little depth to the texture here, gorgeously finish – ooh that really is so good. Bravo!
2017 Marsannay Pinot Beurot
White, not rosé!
A wider, fuller nose but with the same vibration as the last. Direct, fresh, a wine of drive And good minerality. Wide, almost reductive mid-palate style. Salivating, fine, long finishing. Yum!
2017 Fixin Clos Marion Blanc
There’s 0.46 ha of white in the clos
More composed, fine width of aroma – a more golden fruit and sweetness. Hmm, this is a grower – starting good but growing and growing in the mouth – energy, a nice touch of fat to the mouth-watering flavour, super finishing – excellent again.
2017 Puligny-Montrachet Les Meix
Bought in 2014 but first made in 2013. There’s very little rock in the soil here.
Actually quite a modest, tight nose after the previous wines. Bubbling with energy in the mouth though. Honeyed flavour but with fine energy too. I do not directly think of Puligny when I taste this, but I do think – yum! And there is a big block of finishing flavour here, very tasty flavour!
2017 Vin Orange
Another wine from Laurence. Vin de France, same as Coeur de Femme but with more maceration. Orange wax topped – I didn’t see if it had an orange Ardea to match!
The wine itself is not so orange! A lovely and inviting vibration of aroma. Super freshness and energy, wide, complex, inviting. Simply deliciously fresh finishing.