Domaine Faiveley Archives - Caro's Wines Blog

On Tuesday night we had a very special tasting of Burgundy wines, focusing on the grands crus of Gevrey-Chambertin. With an average price per bottle of $468, it was a rare and fascinating opportunity to taste a range of these increasingly expensive wines from vineyards regarded as among the finest in the world for Pinot Noir.

All of the wines were stunning and picking a preference for one over another was really only possible the context of tasting them among wines of a similar calibre. Put into another line-up, any one of these wines could have stood out as wine of the night.

We kicked things off with a rather decadent wine to whet our palates, Bouchard’s Chevalier-Montrachet 2010. Very refined and restrained on the nose but with great mouth-filling texture. This was still very tight and needs time but was beautifully elegant.

Heading into the reds, we began with the Bouchard Chambertin 2009. From a warm vintage, this had a deep, savoury nose, with floral hints. Medium-bodied, it had fresher acidity than you might expect from ’09, but a gentle, plush texture.

We then tried two vintages of Domaine Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, the first, also 2009 had perhaps more complexity on the nose than the Bouchard wine, with delicious red berry, floral and very sexy spicy oak notes. With a plush and velvety texture and long, spicy finish, this was a terrific wine.

The 2010 vintage of the same wine shared a similar profile but with a bit more of a lighter, fresher character overall. Extremely elegant with a very long finish.

Another 2010 Clos de Bèze was up next, Bouchard Père & Fils. This had a deeper, fuller nose. Bigger and brawnier on the palate too. A spicy, rich and powerful style with great density and mouthcoating tannins.

It served as a warm-up to the three following wines by Domaine Dugat-Py which upped the ante again as far as big and powerful style goes. You could tell from the colours that these three were different beasts to the preceding wines. Deep, dark and purple, even the textures of the wines in the glass seemed more viscous. Bernard Dugat is known for crafting these dense and powerful styles that require long aging in the cellar to reveal their full potential. It’s certainly a style that has won him a huge following and Dugat-Py is now regarded as one of the very best producers in all of Burgundy (with prices to match that reputation).

The first of this trio, the Dugat-Py Charmes-Chambertin 2010 featured deep berry characters and earthy, mushroom notes on the nose. Immense dark fruit flavours were wrapped up tight in big structured tannins.

The 2011 Dugat-Py Charmes-Chambertin was slightly more open and fruit-driven on the nose with some floral notes. Fairly soft and elegant in comparison to the 2010, there was still great depth to this big wine.
The final wine of the night was the Dugat-Py Mazoyeres-Chambertin 2011. Mazoyeres can legally be sold under the Charmes-Chambertin appellation and Dugat is one of the few producers to still bottle a separate Mazoyeres wine. A beautiful nose with a bit more of the typical Gevrey earthy character present. Spicy and dark, this was more structured and tannic than the Charmes. It was easy to see the potential in these Dugat-Py wines but they really deserve another 10+ years in the cellar.

Last night we enjoyed a great tasting of the newly released 2010 red Burgundies from Domaine Faiveley, hosted by their export director Vincent Avenel. While blind tastings have their place, it’s always interesting to have someone like Vincent on hand to guide a an evening like this. His intimate knowledge of Faiveley’s winemaking techniques and their plots in various terroirs really added an extra dimension of understanding to the complex and varied Pinot Noirs we tasted.

2010 was a classic vintage in Burgundy. The crop was small, down by as much as a third on average, but the wines have beautifully ripe fruit, with excellent racy acidity.

Our line-up began with the 2010 Nuits-St-Georges ‘Les Saint Georges’, a Premier Cru vineyard, but widely regarded as approaching Grand Cru quality. This was delicious! Very fragrant with ripe plummy, almost pruney fruit flavours without any hint of over-ripeness.

Next up was the Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Combes Aux Moines’ Premier Cru. A real contrast, this was much more reserved and savoury with a strong mineral streak.

The 2010 Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Les Cazetiers’ combined some of the best traits of the first two wines. A deeper, richer nose. This seemed weightier and riper than the ‘Combes Aux Moines’, but with the same earthy appeal. Great depth and length. This was one of the highlights.

Next, we moved into Grand Cru territory with the 2010 Clos de Vougeot. This large Grand Cru covers 50ha, split between 80 owners. Faiveley own 3 separate plots, two near the bottom, and one larger plot higher up the slope near the Chateau. Though the consensus is generally that the higher portions of the Clos produce the best wines, Vincent pointed out warmer vintages, which are becoming increasingly common in Burgundy, can often favour the lower portion, which more easily retains moisture. Another example of the difficulty in making generalisations when it comes to Burgundy’s complex terroir. The 2010 Clos de Vougeot was complex, with delicious floral notes and seemed relatively delicate compared to the ‘Les Cazetiers’ and ‘Les Saint Georges’.

We moved on to a trio of Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Crus next. First up the 2010 Latricieres-Chambertin. A funky, earthy nose with forest-floor notes was a contrast to the Vougeot. This was delicate, cool and refined. Fresh and vibrant with very good length.

The Mazi-Chambertin was one of the stars of the tasting. A deeper, complex, more powerful nose led on to a ripe, weighty, full-bodied palate with sweet, plummy fruit. Great density and excellent length. Finishing with fine tannins all wrapped up in lush, sappy fruit.

The Chambertin-Clos de Bèze was also fantastic. Like a blend of the Mazi and Latricieres, this had power, complexity, ripe fruit and a nice earthiness. Stewed plum and cherry flavours mingled with notes of roasted coffee and spice. This was a very complex and interesting wine which would be great to revisit in a few years’ time.

The 2010 Corton ‘Clos des Cortons Faiveley’ was the final wine of the night. A monopole of Faiveley (they own the entire Clos), this was the only Cotes de Beaune wine tasted and was quite a contrast. Quite savoury with mushroom and forest floor notes. This also had darker fruit flavours with a plusher, richer impression.

This was an absolutely fantastic line-up of wines and a real treat to try all together. Vincent mentioned a change in style at Faiveley in recent years, with a move towards wines that are a bit less austere in their youth. This was definitely in evidence last night with every wine showing deliciously well. The whole range could be very succinctly summed up by Mary Anne’s tasting note on the first wine… “Yum”.

Chambertin Tasting

2010 Domaine Faiveley Burgundy Tasting

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