Jean-Philippe Fichet – 2014

30.11.2015billn

DSC08530I tasted in Meursault with Jean-Philippe, the 06 November, 2015.

Domaine Jean-Philippe Fichet
2 Rue de la Gare
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 69 34
www.domaine-fichet-meursault.com

Jean-Philippe tells me he’s trying to limit the number of visits to his cellar in summer, but now is peak time, with three or more visitors to taste per day.

Jean-Philippe on 2015s:
“The harvest really went well, I’m happy with both volume and quality. Not massive acidity but all was clean and correct, I expect very flattering wines. I started 1st September; if you have old vines with small yields you have to start earlier, life is quite simple.”

The wines…

The top cellar I visited in this tour of 2014s!
“I think these wines will keep” says Jean-Philippe with massive understatement…

Always 12 months in barrel to start with, followed by further aging in tank. Everything here tasted from tank:

2014 Bourgogne Blanc
Elevage in a mix of 500 and 600 litre barrels, ‘to keep the freshness.’
A very pretty note of reduction. Quite a savoury wine but with nice layers of flavour. Joyful mid-palate into the finish – it really holds, the last impression is modestly mineral too.
2014 Bourgogne Blanc Vieilles-Vignes
From Pellans and Millerandes. Same barrel approach, less than 10% new oak.
Aroma of Meursault, modest but faintly spiced. Broad and fresh, Meursault flavoured too. Super!
2014 Hautes Côtes de Beaune
65% domaine grapes, in Auxey and Nantoux (bought) a big restaurant clientelle for this in north-west France to go with their fruit de mer dishes…
Fresh, very faintly reduced. Wow. Wide, the tension of a Puligny, direct, fresh but beautiful. Brilliant finish too – I love this.
2014 Rully
Big barrels and no new oak.
A little rounder, perhaps a hint of sulfur. Super tension again – this is about as good a Rully as you can find – its Côte de Beaune not Côte Chalonnaise in style. Mineral and very tasty. We are so lucky that the cheapest wines at this address are so tasty!

2014 Auxey-Duresses
The side of Auxey towards St.Romain. Here the soil is more limestone and schist.
High toned, bright agrume. Again, fresh, intense, beautiful wine. Crystal yellow fruit notes.

2014 Monthelie
In a sun trap. Younger (8 yo) vines, that suffered in the hail.
Clearly a deeper, riper nose but seemingly with a base in minerals. Bright, still fresh, it has just a little more cushioning, but also a nice saline edged minerality. Super tasty, yum, yum, yum…

2014 Chassagne
Three old vine parcels.
A hint cloudy, the nose seems a little marked with wood. Fresh, direct, growing intensity a hint padded, like the nose despite nice salinity, not more oak, rather a different style of wood. Slightly different style, but the barrel accents will fade in 2-3 years.

2014 Meursault
An assembly of 7 parcels, all the best higher parcels and a few others.
intense, faintly reduced Meursault nose – more than a nod in the direction of Roulot here. More weight of flavour, but beautiful acidity supporting, rather than directing it. Joyous finish. Can a villages be better?
2014 Meursault Meix sous Château
From a Clos in the middle of Meursault village.
Deep, wide, involving Meursault nose with a little reductive agrumes. Very wide, less obviously sweet, beautiful texture and vivant acidity – not the most energetic of these wines but there’s grandeur in the long finish. Excellent.
2014 Meursault Gruyache
The vines here are 85 years old, and sit under Les Charmes.
A more discreet nose, but faintly spiced ginger-cake all the same. Large, with joyous acidity, just edged with a little sucrosity, but lithe and energetic. Fine direct flavour here. Just a hint of saline minerality in what turns out to be (yet again) a brilliant Meursault-flavoured finish. Encore, bravo!

2014 Meursault Chevaliers
Deeply pungent Meursault aided by a discreet reductive note. More gas than the others, as it fades, the intensity still rises further. Fine mineral Meursault here. Also with an excellent finale…

2014 Meursault Tessons
More reduced, a little matchstick here. Lithe, fine, almost translucent flavours, again with just a little more gas than the previous wines. Diamond-polished brilliance here. Achingly long, mouth-watering finish. Brilliant.

2014 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Referts
So very much different, despite a reductive note – fresh lemon, with a floral note. Wide, fresh, also a note of reduction in the flavour – but on a very low-level – you feel it more than taste it. Again it’s a ripe lemon fruit rather the spice in Meursault – the finish is also super. A different personality, but in the same style. Bravo…

Les Rouges…

2014 Bourgogne Rouge
From under Santenots – ‘quite a bit under – but I don’t look for extraction – not much pigeage, just some remontage. I’m looking for fruit and pleasure’
Ouf, that’s deep and distinct, focused dark red fruit. A little gas. A burst of floral fruit in the mid-palate, modest finishing tannin. Highly agreeable wine!

2014 Auxey-Duresses
All from the Frionnes side.
A hint higher toned, redder fruit. More gas, more of intensity of fruit, a little more tannin too, that’s a little drying on the gums but there’s no grain here. Very good…

2014 Monthelie 1er Les Clous
A hint of reduction, with a pretty note of floral red fruit too. Gas, but lithe and beautiful flavours melting over the tongue, leaving focused flavours. Particularly pretty in the finish – in fact gorgeous. Just wait 6 month plus for the tannin to sink under the flavour. €15 depart cave – you know you must 😉

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