Tasted in Nuits St.Georges with Erwan Faiveley, 16 November 2016.
Domaine Faiveley
8 Rue du Tribourg
21700 Nuits-Saint-Georges
Tel: +33 3 80 61 04 55
www.domaine-faiveley.com
The permits done here so that in January 2016 they will begin the redevelopment of the winery in here in Nuits. Erwan explaines “It’s going to take over a year to complete, but here we will vinify all the top 1ers and grand crus. The Dupont-Tisserandot acquisition brought 20 hectares, but we didn’t buy the winery, we only leased it, and Dupont-Tisserandot anyway only vinfied 1/3rd of their harvest there, the rest was sold as grapes – so we need to find a little extra space! ”
And these are massive old cellars, built similarly to those of Louis Max, also in Nuits.
I also asked Erwan about his recent ‘small purchase’ of Musigny: “The Musigny vines are in good shape, a little repicage already done last week, I’m very happy with the work that the Dufouleur team had done.”
Erwan on 2014:
“Something magic happened in 2014, it was one of my best vintage surprises. If 2015 didn’t exist, I’d say that this could be our best vintage; we’ve changed lots on the vines, yields in particular. You see that in the wines, despite that it was humid and rainy, it shines in the wine.”
The wines…
All whites are racked, but the reds won’t be done before they are assembled. The elevage here makes everything at the moment seem a little masculine, but impressive none the less.
2014 Pomard 1er Rugiens
Due to the hail, just 4 barrels from 0.5 hectares.
Tight bright but clean and deep. Intense good concentration and a really good line. Intense finish, lots of oak today, exceptional persistence though.
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Pruliers
Not 100% in charge of the viticulture, ‘but we are trying to influence more and more of that work.’
Super colour, high toned, pretty aromatics. More intensity, lovely line, less bitter oak than the Rugiens showed. Softer and not quite as long finishing as the Rugiens but certainly a little more elegant.
2014 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Porets
First vineyard bought by the family, in the 1830s.
Darker, fruit of clarity. Big, plenty of oak but super dimension, energy and intensity here. Super burst of energy. Really impressive wine…
One of the few with some wc, ‘I want to do more, but slowly so I have an understanding.’
Wide, a hint spicy, pretty, with faintly implied texture. Lovely salinity. Intense with an ever-expanding flavour profile. Really excellent – long too…
2014 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Combe aux Moines
Made big changes in last years, yields are mow lower, actual vineyard is smaller than we expected as there are so many roads, always low yields so were pushing it harder. But 3 years ago all the vineyards were mapped by satellite, now we have correct yields and the wine have never been as good.
Deep, interesting, faintly spicy, large-scaled, plenty of tannin, but intense dark fruit that leaches through the structure. Long and almost elegant vs the mid palate power.
More open, great depth too. Super energy, also flavour complexity, with a lot of florality. Broad finishing with brilliance. I love cazetiers in 14 – did I already say that?
2014 Chambolle 1er Beaux Bruns
Fresh, a little floral, beautiful fruit. Big, lovely dimension, structure but fine shape. Lovely potential. Very fresh finishing…
2014 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
This from bought grapes.
A similarity of aromatic but with a little more structural depth. Fresher attack, a hint of gas too, but really impressive width of complex flavour. Some oak.
2014 Echézeaux
From En Orveaux
Some high tones, width and complexity again, here a higher toned complexity… Long, long, yet rather primary today – great persistence though.
2014 Clos de Vougeot
Deep, a little reticent, yet silky. A lot of gas but really wide open, floral infected, growing structure, intense but slowly melting dark fruit flavour in the finish. Silky texture on the tongue afterwards…
2014 Latricières-Chambertin
Wide, silky, floral. Lovely cool width, growing intensity, really composed, quietly speaking but intellectual. Lovely wine
2014 Mazis-Chambertin
100% Mazis-hautes from the old Faiveley domaine – the Dupont-Tisserandot Mazis-Bas is not blended in.
Deep, dark red fruit. Silkily complex. Composed like the Latricières but with more weight and width. Not super complex today or super energetic like the Cazetiers, but long, long… A little saline finishing too. Excellent.
Wide and very complex, a silky nose too. Here is super energy, weight, texture and also complexity. Great, broad finishing, complexity, still some oak. Wow!
Higher tones less width but really lots of depth. Almost a faint pepper. Fresh and intense, cool, complex fruit. More energetic, more clarity. Great finish again, really…
Three hectares of vines, planted at 12k per hectare. A little hail here, lower yields but more due to vine age than hail and other maladies.
High tones, very, very wide. Cool fruit, really the most intense, a wine that takes the straightest, most direct line in your mouth. Super long, it’s far from coy or politely friendly, it is what it is and it will take quite some time to become something friendly, but bravo!
Les Blancs…
2014 Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet
Fresh, modestly complex, but fine, elegant, faintly saline nose. Wide, lots of weight here, modest but enough balance, really widens with fine bright fruit and minerals in the finish. ‘Pretty wine’
2014 Bâtard-Montrachet
Planted at same time as last, long rows, one half is Bâtard the other half of the rows are Bienvenues
High tones, much more depth of aroma – here we are going in from the high diving-board. A little gas, but a growing width of complexity takes over. Brilliant finishing!
A bright and pretty nose. A hint of gas, but direct on the palate, concentrated, energetic, yet luxurious too. A great combination.
A more detailed, implied weight, from this slightly discreet nose, slowly adding a lower layer of ripe fruit. Bang! Bright, very wide and intense, super intensity too. Just a brilliant wine.