Five of us got together to enjoy drink Fourrier Clos St. Jacques and Griotte single blind along with some other great wines. As usual the staff at Black Salt did a great job hosting our group.
1995 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot- France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
The color of the wine showed it’s age as it was a deep, dark, shade of yellow. No need to worry though as the wine was in great shape. The flavors of the wine were savory and earthy while the wine also had a saline quality and hints of citrus fruit that contributed freshness and completeness to the wine. The complexity and depth of savory flavor makes aged Raveneau a singular experience. Great stuff. (95 pts.)
1995 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne- France, Champagne
This bottle was slightly better than a bottle enjoyed six months ago. The aroma is strong and deep as it wafts out of the glass. There is a beautiful funk on the nose that is intertwined with toasted bread and roasted nuts. The bubbles are still plentiful and flavors still quite precise although they are secondary at this point as the toast note is echoed along with graham cracker and citrus fruit. Many remarked that this will be a long lived Comtes and it’s easy to imagine it going at least another 20 years. However, it’s darn good right now so I would drink away without regret. I’m sure the wine will evolve but it’s hard to imagine it getting any better. (96 pts.)
2005 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
This was a very consistent impression as I had about 4 months ago. Great showing. Very precise and dominated by lemon lime fruit over a backdrop of minerals. Still very light yellow in color. It’s hard to believe that this wine is more than ten years old as it is still so fresh and primary as well. This wine lingers on the palate urging you to take sip after sip. I’m not sure how this will develop but it is quite tasty right now. (96 pts.)
The wines were served single blind. All tasters correctly identified the vintages.
2012 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Vieille Vigne- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Served single blind alongside the 2013. While 2012 was a bit more reticent on the nose, the palate offered a lot more pleasure. This a racy and hedonistic wine still showing dense layers of glossy red fruit balanced by minerality and well balanced acids. The wine has not yet shut down and is very enjoyable. I wouldn’t feel guilty at all about drinking these young until they shut down and the juice is definitely worth the squeeze so to speak. (96 pts.)
2013 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques Vieille Vigne- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Drank single blind alongside the 2012. The perfume on this wine alone was worth the price of admission. The aromas were pure and dominated by sweet berry fruit. The palate was a bit more elusive and clumsy as the typical 2013 acids were at the forefront. Still, the fruit and spice are lurking underneath and this one could be incredible if it all comes together. Hands off for now.
The wines were served single blind. All tasters correctly identified the vintages.
2012 Domaine Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Vieille Vigne- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru
Drank single blind alongside the 2013. There’s a bit more going on here than the Clos St. Jacques in terms of complexity and variety of flavor. Mineral and spice and yes, delicious primary red fruit. While the Clos St. Jacques begs you to guzzle it, the Griotte is more of of thinking wine that urges you to decipher the kaleidoscope of flavors it offers. (95 pts.)
2013 Domaine Fourrier Griotte-Chambertin Vieille Vigne- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru
Drank blind alongside the 2012. As with the Clos St. Jacques I found this wine very difficult to asses at this stage of development. Yes, you can sense the overall quality and refinement in the wine. At the moment acids overshadow the fruit and mineral elements that lie underneath. I’m sure this wine will come together in time but I’d let these mature and evolve right now.
2007 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut- France, Champagne
At it’s best, Cristal is a slutty wine and this was no exception. The wine is drenched in sweet apple flavor balanced by ample acids. The texture is delightful and coats the palate while fine bubbles add refreshment. (94 pts.)
1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon- France, Champagne
This wine was incredibly fresh and youthful for a 20 year old champagne. The color was only slightly darker than that of the 2007 Cristal it was served behind but it offered more depth and complexity. This is a generous wine in all respects offering an abundance of fruit and acid. (95 pts.)
1970 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage- Portugal, Douro, Porto
Decanted three hours before serving and perhaps this could have used a longer decant. Like many other 1970 vintage ports this wine has tons of life left as evidenced by it’s dark color and youthful, primary, fruit flavors. The alcohol is slightly evident and the fruit is bright as opposed to the dried fruit and spice I crave in Port. Don’t get me wrong, this was still enjoyable. I would hope this gains depth and complexity as it continues to age. (91 pts.)
Drinking the 2012 and 2013 Fourriers blind was a great opportunity to get a sense of both vintages. At this stage of evolution, I prefer the 2012s by a wide margin.
The 2013 Fourrier wines showed beautifully from barrel samples in London. I would feel very confident owning them—in fact I do. I just wish I had some Griotte.
Seems like the 2013s are for the most part shutting down hard thanks to their acids. But there have been enough misjudged vintages like 80, 87, 91 etc to think that they may well yield stunning surprises in the fullness of time.
I had a difficult time assessing the 2013s and they suffered from being served with the 2012s. It would seem that they in an awkward phase right now. If they turn out like the 1991s, that would be an excellent outcome.
I appreciate your point of view and I enjoy reading your posts, especially with respect to Burgundy. Still, I would think one would have to be pretty closed minded to not imagine what the upside might be. I concede that aged Grand Cru can offer immense pleasure and that the wines will likely evolve into something even better than they are today. How are we supposed to know what that might be if we don’t try them at different stages along the way? How does one figure out what makes Clos St. Jacques such a great terroir without drinking multiple vintages and having the opportunity to compare them? How does one get a sense for a particular producer without drinking the wines horizontally? There is also the fact that young wines can offer immense pleasure in their own right.
I will argue that there is lots of upside to the tasting we conducted and that great wines are meant to be enjoyed at any stage in their development during which they offer pleasure. I collect and cellar wine to enjoy it, not to admire the pretty bottles in my cellar.
David, thanks for your notes. The acid profile may not make these '13 Fourriers very attractive young. However, having tasted them in barrel, and hearing that JM Fourrier rates his '13s ahead of his '12s, I think with 10+ years cellar time they will come through as a top vintage.
Lots of producers were rating their 2013s ahead of their 2012s back when I visited in March. It wasn’t everyone, but I’d say about 50% of the people I visited prefer the 2013s. Because of the especially long malo’s, many people did not realize just how good the wines were until pretty close to bottling. In my anecdotal experience, I also preferred the 2013s, but then again I love 2008s. I did not get to visit with or taste Fourrier on this trip, so I can’t speak to that address specifically.
Thanks Howard. I still have a hard time making this type of assessment when the wines are very young or simply not showing. I read your notes as I entered my own and it seems like you had a very different experience with the wines than I did. It also sounds like it would be interesting to repeat this tasting 10 or even 15 years on. I would also relish the opportunity to taste all of those Champagnes again, especially the 05 Taittinger CdC and 96 Dom.
I understand your point of view and appreciate your thoughts. I am unfiltered here. Maybe I’m reacting to posting notes on 4 potentially great infant grands crus more than the infanticide (and these are really infants). I think there is “pleasure” and intellectual “pleasure”. Perhaps I value the latter with Burgundy too much.
There are no good answers to your questions, of course. There’s always a tradeoff drinking wine. It’s not reusable. Other than, perhaps, “immense pleasure”…almost none of which is due to their being of grand cru quaility, given their age, I don’t see the upside, especially of killing off 4 of them for the very limited information one can glean from just-bottled wines. I am skeptical such totally primary grand cruse could provide more pleasure than wines costing a ton less and having a ton less potential. But, it is your right to do whatever…and to post. I just had a strong reaction to reading what you posted and wanted to express is, especially since I don’t tnink it was your intention merely to attempt to impress (unilike with some extravaganzas people post here with so many wines and so much food that Superman would be fazed.
I tend to be with Stuart on this issue, but knowing David, I can attest that his intention truly was to glean information and not to impress. In my opinion, the problem here is the decision to do such a comparison with Fourrier 1er and GC wines. Unless David and friends have some magical source that gets better allocations than the rest of us, these are exceedingly difficult wines to acquire, so the usual analysis of whether it’s worth risking a bottle to “check in” at an early stage would, for me, turn on the fact that I just don’t have enough to sacrifice. I drink the Gevrey VVs early all the time, though, because they are super fun and delicious and I usually get enough of them.