I wasn’t looking for another northern Rhone to sell, but, like several other producers, Bernard Faurie moved from Robert Chaddderdon to Kermit Lynch, so I got a sample of this from Kermit. Wow, this is some beautiful stuff. The dark fruits, olive and pepper on the nose are lovely, but the gently (fruit) sweet black fruits, old-vine intesity and texture on the palate, complemented by refreshing acids and ripe tannins, really grabbed me. I will be making some room among the Faury, Gonon, Clape and Allemand in my warehouse for some of this and, I expect, more of the Faurie wines. I really can’t imagine anyone who likes northern Rhone syrah not finding this wine to be show-stoppingly good. The day after the dinner party at which I served this, my wife asked what it was, commenting that it was “gorgeous.” I’d appreciate others chiming in with their Faurie experiences.
Disclaimer: I have sold some of this and intend to sell more.
Faurie is a great producer, but like a lot of the Chadderon portfolio, distribution was notoriously spotty. Hopefully, this will be corrected with the Lynch line-up, but I fear Lynch’s monopoly pricing power to prevail as well. His Saint Joseph is excellent as well.
Angelo, it sounds like you may have some older Faurie in your cellar. Lucky you. Merry Christmas.
Marcus, I don’t know what Faurie pricing was like when Chadderdon was distributing the wines, so I don’t know how Kermit’s pricing compares. I fully expect that distribution will be much better with Kermit handling the wines, at least where Kermit distributes directly. In places where Kermit relies on distributors it will, of course, depend upon whether the distributors choose to handle the Faurie wines. (Before Kermit began distributing his wines directly in San Diego County, the local distributor did a pathetic job in terms of selection and availability.) Currently, Kermit is not offering the Faurie St. Joseph, which I would love to try, but he does have the 04, 05, 07, 10 and 11 Hermitage, one or both cuvees.
I recently attended a tasting of Faurie’s Hermitages at a LWS that sources from Kermit Lynch down the street in Berkeley. Here are some of my TNs for the 2010’s.
Greffieux/Bessard is the gruffer of the two. Cool granite, Burgundy truffle, beef blood, and burning incense wrapped around a core of red and black fruits. Fantastic balance and the freshness of the acid and tannins make all the rich flavors seem weightless.
Meal/Bessard is the more flamboyant and exuberant of the 2, jumping out of the glass with red berries, potpourri, dried roses, and something a bit toasty like rosewood fresh from a kiln. The tannins are a bit more grippy.
Current pricing at the KL retail store is $105 for the Greffieux/Bessards and $110 for the Bessards/Meal.
This wine is as “show-stoppingly good” as Martin suggests, so good that I came close to keeping this wine to myself, but I would be remiss.
I’ve consumed a lot of top quality Northern Rhone this year. Allemand. Clape. Levet. Gonon. Texier. St. Cosme*. Etc. Quite a few vintages of very nice quality stuff, such an incredible region that is firing on all cylinders, with very good to great years from '09-'12, which follow some really strong vintages in the 2000s.
This Faurie is the best showing I’ve had all year from Northern Rhone. While I tend to love rusticity and distinctiveness, where one distinctive trait predominates over the others, leaving a hallmark for me, this wine is not that at all. This wine struck me so incredibly because of its harmonious, balanced presence. A remarkably pure, textured, seamless, silky wine that reeks of place. Not a single hair out of balance. Only some firm tannins served to remind me that this wine is still young, still an infant, and if it is showing this well now, watch out in 5 years, 10 years. I ordered more this morning.
As I just finished a glass of what remained of an '05 Levet La Chav that I popped on Friday, the dissimilarities between the two wines struck me. While one is savage, wild, rustic, the Faurie is so incredibly polished, elegant (as elegant as wild syrah can get). Not a delicate flower, though, but a very powerful wine. It’s like comparing a brutish Scottish broadsword to a finely balanced Italian rapier.
Served on pop and pour and enjoyed over a 3-hour dinner. Paired with, among other things, a 2005 Beaucastel. The CDP tasted candied, liqueur-ish by comparison.
Nice note, Robert. To my mind you very well captured the difference between this wine and the Levet C-R, though I haven’t had the 2005 (yet!). I like your descriptor of “seamless” – my closing comment on this wine, which we drank last weekend: “A seamless wine.”
The 2010 Faurie SJ Vielles Vignes that I had last summer drank beautifully, with notes somewhere here in this board.
I’m patiently holding on to my 2001 Faurie Hermitage in storage. It was backward back when I first tried a bottle.
An incredible lesson from a great vigneron in a pretty underestimated vintage. Drank 6 already, will keep the remaining 6 for later.
Hermitage is such a fantastic terroir.
Robert, I checked the website. He is referring to the 08 and 09 Hermitage (the site does not indicate whether it is Bessards/Meal or Bessards/Greffieux; I prefer Bessards/Meal). If the wines have been properly handled, those are outrageously good prices, far below the wholesale prices of the vintages that I am selling.