Tasted in Fuissé with the family team of Sandrine Thibert-Needham with Christophe and Camille Thibert, 04 November 2022.
Domaine Thibert Père et Fils
20 rue Adrien Arcelin
71960 Fuissé
Tel: +33 3 85 27 02 66
www.domaine-thibert.com
More reports with Domaine Thibert.
Christophe and Camile began by explaining that they are working to expand biodiversity here – they’ve planted nearly 100 trees and a covering of plants in between the vines.
Christophe & Camille on 2019:
The 2019 harvest started here with a little cremant on 5 September, then followed some of our earlier parcels – but properly starting to harvest about the 8th. We see some similarities to 2022 – it’s a modest volume but a sunny vintage. The challenge was to keep the freshness and the minerality. Versus the typical year we had different harvesting orders as there was some frost at the bottom of the hills but not at the top.
“We are only just starting to commercialise this vintage in a couple of markets but generally will start from Spring next year – 2023. We’re happy to have started to commercialise later like this – it’s working well – and the 18s and 17s are still tasting very well. 2019 is a vintage that was a little round at the start but had a balancing agrume – and has become more direct with time. For wines in magnum we are commercialising 2013s and 2015s but not yet the 12s and 14s!
The wines…
It’s been an absolute pleasure to taste here in the last vintages – keeping the wines back for a couple of years really works for their production style – here are multiple 2019 ‘grand vins’ that are worth a special search – bravo!
2019 Mâcon-Fuissé, Bois de la Croix
Vines in the direction of Loché – ‘a character that’s a bit more Pouilly’
A waxy, silky width of aroma – attractive. Supple, depth of flavour – lots of energy but nicely generous too. Wide, faintly herbed and delicately complex in the finish. That’s a very fine ‘entry’ wine.
Exposed west, harvested after the previous wine – soils that have more active limestone.
A more direct nose – freshness and even a little minerality. Faint gas – broad, melting and mineral – some ripe citrus but more in the direction of lime than lemon. Yes – I remember the limes of 2019! Super wine – really excellent, possibly great for the label.
2019 Saint-Véran
The assembly cuvée here – a hint of new oak elevage but balanced by older barrels and tank. Only just commercialising the 2018 of this.
Broader aromatics – some lemon in the lime aromas. The oak is an accent but is quickly forgotten as the width and minerality of this wine starts to show through. Complex and interesting – indeed, involving in this finish. A little riper but still fresh and with clarity. Super wine again!
Vines in Leynes. Barrel and tank elevage.
More direction than width to this nose – a fine blend of clean agrume notes. In the mouth extra mineral and agrume vs the previous. Still supple but mineral with an underlying energy. Oh – and completely delicious. Easily my favourite of these two despite a tiny austerity of fine citrus bitters in this finish. Great wine.
2019 Pouilly-Fuissé Heritage
The assembly of the old vv cuvée from here
An extra depth of modest oak aroma – but slowly adding a width of energetic and more golden fruit. Incisive, mineral but no hard edges. Super flashes of complexity in the finishing flavours – not full power but engrossing and delicious – almost a finesse to this wine.
Fresh aromas with an extra depth of golden fruit – some sweetness of barrel but still perfectly accented. Ooh – extra mineral, almost steely – a Chablis from the Mâconnais – then beautifully mouth-watering. Really very different but a beauty!
2019 Saint-Véran Bois de Fée
An aromatic that’s reserved, still with a width of slightly golden fruit but vibrant too. Mouth-filling, mouth-watering, flavour that melts over the palate – rounder than the incisive directness of the last wine. Slowly, deliciously, fading flavour. A very different shape, almost PF style.
The continuity of PF 1ers – maybe already some 1ers allowed from here in the 2024 vintage – let’s see. 4 types of soil in this domaine’s parcel
A more airy width here – faintly but still subtly oaked. Hmm, now here is a combination of fine texture, a hint of generosity and melting style to the citrus fruit. Serene wine but becoming more vibrantly mineral in the finish – tons of complexity and interest here. Ooh – I don’t know if it’s great wine but it’s delicious and captivating wine – and I love it!
2019 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Cras
The last vintage with this name, it will be Vers Cras 1er in 2020 – but the parcels is the same.
An exciting nose with some smoky minerality and very slowly more floral too. Wide, mineral, but very mobile and fluid and slowly fading – another completely absorbing wine, faintly but not distractingly sweet. Simply excellent wine…
2019 Pouilly-Fuissé Vignes Blanches
A fermage here but since the 1990s… Vines in the mid-slope with southern exposure. ‘A nicely draining area.’
Less width but still excitement again with a floral touch to the top notes. More mouth-filling more structural, less finesse, more energy, more overt complexity. More exciting wine today – not better than Les Cras – but more my personal style preference. Again a minimum of excellent…
Just 2-percent barrel the rest with elevage in glass jars. Only 510 bottles proclaims the label and this will be the last time it’s labelled as such as it’s a small corner of that vineyard that doesn’t have the right to 1er cru.
Wow – a special vibration to the aromatic here – the oak not visible, maybe a small accent of aniseed – but the ‘brilliant-est’ of these aromas. Not a wine of power. A wine of fluidity, of minerality that melts over the palate – another completely absorbing wine and a wonderfully persistent finish.
For the road:
2017 Pouilly-Fuissé Vignes Blanches
A more granular complexity, indeed a width of complexity here, becoming silkier and wider – again the aniseed showing. Hmm, melting again, mineral again, more direct and super long. A beauty!