Tasted in Nuits with two of the trio Dufouleur, 09 December, 2021.
Dufouleur Frères
1 Route de Dijon
21700 Nuits St.Georges
Tel: +33 3 80 61 00 26
www.dufouleur-freres.com
More reports with Domaine Dufouleur Frères
On 2021:
“2021, in many ways, was a year to forget. The first time after the heat of the last vintages that you realise that the climate change brings bad surprises too. There used to be rules and exceptions but it now seems that exceptions are becoming the rules! I just finished the statistics so it’s 60% of an ‘average’ vintage for volume but based on the last 10 years it’s more like 70%. I can say it’s not good but perhaps we have to change our mindset and 2/3rds volume is the new normal(?) We can’t compare with any other recent vintage but we have a lovely pure fruit and nice acidity, where we lack at the moment is consistency and that could simply be a function of the stage in elevage – these things were much faster in place in the last vintages – I hope it’s just a grumpy teenager stage!”
On 2020:
“It’s actually worse than 2021 in terms of the yield – we have only 50% – so nearly a whole harvest less in the two recent years.”
The wines…
A strong line-up here in 2020. All seems to be – finally – coming together well for the team. A couple of really great wines are worth a special search from here – it’s just unfortunate that they are the most expensive ones!
2020 Bourgogne Hautes Côte de Nuits
A grape contract, not bottled.
This nose is a little compact at the start but with an attractive faint spice and a growing width of red fruit. Bright acidity but not sharp – fresh and open – slightly saline. A good vibration of finishing flavour that’s detailed, quite long and direct – not with great depth of flavour but it’s an attractive wine.
2020 Côte de Nuits Villages
This an assembly of climats
Lots of colour. A reduction makes this a little deeper and darker fruited. Concentrated supple, direct, good sustaining flavour. Fresh, concentrated, very good for the vintage – even in this really great vintage!
2020 Côte de Nuits Villages Les Fourches
Vines next to the Clos de Marechale. Bottled.
What colour! Also a small reduction – this nose needs air. Super energy and properly concentrated. Vibrant, darkly fruited but with clarity. Extra class in the finish – really long.
2020 Côte de Nuits Villages Le Vaucrain
A parcel in Comblanchien, almost a neighbour of the last. Bottled
Also deeply coloured. Also needing air but with a slowly growing dark fruit purity. Extra width, super energy, less overtly concentrated but more compete – dynamic and fluid. Framed with a modest tannin though no dryness. Long and more mineral in this case. This is excellent.
2020 Fixin Les Foussottes
2017 was the first vintage here. Above the church of Fissey close to Marsannay vines
Open, fresh, concentrated nose – almost a little menthol. Mouthfilling, more silky texture – insinuating flavour, mouth-watering. Long, graphite finishing. That’s a super villages, the texture quite sophisticated for a Fixin villages…
2020 Nuits St.Georges Cuvée du Château
Assembly of multiple parcels – some old, some young – but only assembled after the malo when they have an idea of the individual characters.
Now that’s open – it’s a wide and inviting nose – plenty of airy complexity. Extra depth to this flavour – layers of fine and mouth-watering flavour and long finishing too. The last impression is of a little phenolic texture in the finish. This is another excellent villages.
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles
A width of slightly reductive aroma. This is fresh, slightly astringent, with plenty of mouth-watering flavour. Rather structural today. The finish impressively intense though – it needs more elevege.
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin Combe-Dessus
From just under the Château of Gevrey.
This nose is more open, faintly spiced, faintly reductive too – but showing impressive depth all the same. Bigger, more intense, finer texture – the fruit very forward, but cool and long – not too ripe. Very long finishing. Again not the finished article but very impressive all the same.
2020 Vosne-Romanée Les Jacquines
‘The most Nuits of the Vosnes.’ 🙂
Lots of colour again. That’s a large, very open, spiced nose – Vosne or wood – probably a bit of both but they work well together. Mouth-filling, some tannin framing the wine like a Nuits but the flavour profile is not quite that. That’s really a delicious and complex finish with interesting bitters – it’s long too.
2020 Nuits St.Georges 1er Vignerondes
A silky width of freshness supported by a more hidden but concentrated darker fruit. Direct, silky, slowly growing a velvet style as the tannin shows more – but no dryness. Deep flavour, sophisticated texture, sinuous. A finish that quickly shrinks but then holds really well.
Lots of colour again. Quite open, faintly spiced and dark fruited – something extra? – at this stage no. Fuller, the same sophistication of texture and the tannin rises but this time with no grain. A weight of fruit that melts beautifully over the palate. The last 1er was more than good but this is a couple of levels better – bravo!
In the family since the 19th century.
Wide, concentrated, a little graphite freshness too. I love the structure, in this case just a little padded, deeply concentrated. Some bitters but what an impressive wine with layers and layers of flavour. It could still be a little more structured but I’m splitting hairs – keep this as it needs plenty of time to open out but here is everything. Bravo!