Faiveley (Mercurey) – 2015

9.11.2016billn

dsc01653Tasted in Mercurey with Julien Bordet, 04 November 2016.

Domaine Faiveley
Domaine de la Framboisière

1 grande rue
71640 Mercurey
www.domaine-faiveley.com

Domaines Faiveley have 73 hectares in the Côte Chalonnaise, 20 of which planted with chardonnay; the majority is in Mercurey, 55 hectares, but they also have 5 in Montagny, 5 in Givry, and the rest in Rully. Most of the Mercurey vines are from the same sector, sitting between Mercurey and Rully.

Julien on 2016:
“2016 brought us very good yields for whites; straight after the rain the grapes seemed a little diluted but we waited a few days and it worked well, because these are the best whites I’ve made here – I started in 2008! Similar in style to 2014, possibly.

“Because lot of our vines lie between Rully and Mercurey, and also because they are later maturing, we were much less impacted by the frost. Those vines closer to the domaine suffered much more and we sometimes had only 8hl/ha of yield. In the end we only lost 10% of our reds in 2016! Some were 13° natural and completely clean…

“We are a big domaine with 80 workers, so we can’t play at this; we started the vintage bio, changed in the middle – but still raisonée – then back to bio again towards the end. We started our treatments quite early, so had very little problem with the mildew. 140 pickers did the whole 73 hectares in 8 days.”

Julien on 2015:
“Reds a great surprise. 2010 maybe with a little more depth, maybe a blend with 2014. Starting to show really fine colour. A
Ittle wc, less than 15 which helped lengthen and freshen that ripe vintage. We were one of the first to attack the 15s. A rich, ripe vintage. I have a preferance for the 14, so almost no batonnage in 15.

The wines…

Mainly natural cork used here, but the ‘lower’ whites wear DIAM.

From bottom to top, really a very strong set of wines for 2015.

2015 Givry Champs Lalot
Not so much frost here complred to Mercurey
A deep open nose of dark red fruit – – seemingly quite silky – growing with a strawberry note. Fresh, wide, a fine intensity of acid-led flavour. Big in the mid-palate and lots of mouth-watering. That’s quite a strong start! For the label really top wine.

2015 Mercurey
The big cuvee here. An assembly of multiple lieu dits – once they were bottled seperately. This put in bottle just before the harvest 90k bottles, 55% sold in France.
A vibrant, floral and fruit nose – super. A little more silky, mouth-watering flavour. A good line, faintly saline. For its level, simply excellent.
2015 Mercurey Framboisière
11 hectares. The vineyard is in a small valley so has multiple exposures and sub-plots so it’s not all picked at the same time, though elevage is all together. The oldest vines date from the 1940s. Some mid-slope vines are on limestone and the bottom has red soil and clay where the tannins come from. In tank, not yet bottled, will have a light filtration before bottling. 20% new oak here.
Just a little deeper colour. A depth of vibrant fruit – simply gorgeous. Fresh, giving, floral and fruit, slowly mouth-watering, a faint tannin. Bravo it has everything!

2015 Mercurey 1er Clos du Myglands
Like Framboisière this is another monopole, only about 100m from Framboisière, extending over 6 hectares. Again, this was not all picked at the same time, rather 5 lots but eventually all were blended. Vinification is the same for 1ers but more oak, 25% versus 15% used for Framboisière – about 25% whole-clusters used – 35 hl/ha in this vintage.
A deeper nose – finely focused darker berries included. Fresh and wide a little more intense, and some extra complexity – clearly a wine to wait a little longer for, but there are others here for while you are waiting. Super finishing flavour.

2015 Mercurey 1er Clos du Roy Cuvée Favourite
South side of Mercurey where the soil is whiter and has more marl. Some parts look more interesting and has been labelled vieilles-vignes, which it really is, but it’s effectively a selection the best parts of Clos du Roy. Harvested and elevaged separately. Make 9 barrels which are bottled separately. 30% whole-cluster, hand pigeage, 45% new oak and an elevage that’s just a little longer – 13-14 months. Have 2.5 ha, this from a rocky, clay area south-east facing that delivers normally millerandes.
A little beefy and woody at this stage of the elevage but with a growing dark a fine fruit. Lithe, silky and fresh, with growing waves of flavour. Fine focus here, really lots of precision – transparent and fine in the mid-palate and into the finish. A long fine of finishing line – bravo!

Les Blancs…

2015 Givry Champs Lalot Blanc
A very fresh and bright nose – quite overt and quite fine! Supple, wide, faintly saline, almost as good as the nose suggests, but not quite. But really it is a pretty good and tasty wine with super finishing flavour.

2015 Montagny Blanc
All from same hillside.
A fresher nose, faint herb, modest points of citrus too. I like the structure a little more, the shape and flavour I find finer than the Givry. This has good length too. A different personality, this I prefer.

2015 Mercurey
Virtually only tank elevage, just a few older barrels.
A much more floral nose – not my favourite flowers but there’s a minerality that supports and helps. Quite a mineral and interesting style, but a florality in the flavours that’s (again!) not my favourite style. I think a very good wine for all that – but not one for me!

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

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