Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Echezeaux Vieilles Vignes 2022
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The Land
This is not Échézeaux. The grand cru of that name lies in Flagey-Échézeaux, next to Vosne-Romanée, several villages south. Aux Echezeaux is a village-level lieu-dit inside Gevrey-Chambertin, and the shared name comes from an old Burgundian place name that turns up in more than one commune. The vineyard sits on the southern edge of Gevrey, right on the border with Morey-Saint-Denis, on limestone-clay soils. That position matters in the glass: southern Gevrey tends to give finer tannin and more lift than the sturdier, more muscular wines from the north end of the village near Brochon. For a village Gevrey-Chambertin red wine, this is one of the most site-specific bottlings you will find, and it drinks above its classification.
The Wine
The Domaine Fourrier Aux Echezeaux Vieilles Vignes 2022 comes from a single parcel of old-vine Pinot Noir. The domaine began the 2022 harvest on September 5, with yields of 30 to 35 hectoliters per hectare, low even by Côte de Nuits standards because the vines are so old. In this warm vintage Fourrier kept 15 to 20% whole clusters to hold freshness, fermenting with native yeasts and extracting by punch-down only. The wine ages about a year on its fine lees with no racking, in barrels that are mostly used, around 15% new, and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. A heavy June storm in Gevrey refilled the soils ahead of a dry July and August, and Jean-Marie calls 2022 "a child of 2019 and 2020": ripe, but with the crunchy red fruit that makes the wines open young. In that frame, Aux Echezeaux leans toward red cherry and raspberry, with a savory, stony finish over fine tannin.
The People
Every domaine wine at Fourrier carries the words Vieille Vigne, and here that is a rule rather than a marketing term: no vine younger than 30 years goes into a domaine bottling, and fruit from younger plantings is sold off or goes into Jean-Marie's separate négoce label. The family has farmed Gevrey since Fernand Pernot began buying vines in the 1930s. Jean-Marie, who worked with Henri Jayer and at Domaine Drouhin in Oregon before taking over in 1994, has kept the approach simple. No herbicides, severe winter pruning and disbudding in place of green harvest, and a cellar where the wine is left alone. His view is that vines this old have root systems deep enough to do the work.
Food Pairing
The finer tannin of southern Gevrey makes this a good match for dishes that are rich but not heavy. Roast chicken with morels and a splash of cream picks up the earthy side of the wine. Seared pork tenderloin with cherries and thyme echoes the red fruit while the acidity keeps it bright. A mushroom and gruyère tart with a green salad works for a meatless night. Grilled quail with a little bacon is a classic Côte de Nuits pairing. This is the Gevrey for a Saturday dinner at home, serious enough to talk about, easy to finish the bottle.
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Burgundy, in eastern France, encompasses several subregions, but it is the Côte d'Or that is home to many of the world's most expensive and revered wines. The region, primarily a single east-facing slope, has mixed limestone soils that vary dramatically from village to village and even vineyard to vineyard. White wines, crafted from Chardonnay, range from rich and opulent to lean and intensely mineral, while Pinot Noir produces silky, perfumed red wines of exceptional finesse and complexity. Centuries of winemaking tradition have resulted in every plot being meticulously recognized and scrutinized, making the Côte d'Or a true capital of terroir.
Burgundy - Cote d'Or
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned, notoriously difficult-to-grow, low-yielding grape that finds its ancestral home in Burgundy, France, where it produces some of the world's most elegant and nuanced wines. While Burgundy remains its spiritual heartland, Pinot Noir has since traveled the globe, finding success in other cooler climates, notably in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Germany. This grape is a challenge for any grower, as it requires specific conditions to show its best, and yet the wines it produces are capable of such a captivating and singular character.
