Jean-Marie Fourrier flanked by elite Ontario winemakers
Gevrey-Chambertin is one of the iconic villages on the Côte de Nuits. It may be the most widely known, and is often the first village wine lovers discover when they start to drink red Burgundy. This is certainly my case, and I clearly remember Gevrey-Chambertin village and 1er cru wines getting serious attention during my first summer in Beaune in 1987. We were drinking a great deal of 1979 Gevreys that summer, and they were delicious! I was also fortunate enough to eat at least a half dozen times that season at Les Millésimes, a top restaurant that remained a fovourite right up until it closed in the summer of 2004. Didier Sangoy introduced me to my first Clos St-Jacques in September 1987. I’ve been poor ever since.
Thursday before last, January 21st, I was able to book two excellent tastings for an Ontario winery that was passing through these parts, looking for equipment and visiting a few Domaines.
Lunch:
Our first tasting was at 2:30 pm with Jean-Marie Fourrier, but, before that, the lunch spot bears mentioning. We had lunch at Chez Guy in the village. It is a very nice bistrot style restaurant right in the centre of town. Here you will find a good selection of different regional dishes, and a very good winelist. We actually phoned our order in early so we could be in and out fairly quickly. They handled this special request perfectly. The dishes were very good – escargots, wild salmon, dorade and poularde de Bresse. The wine was outstanding. It was a lean and minerally, long and seductive Corton-Charlemagne from 2006 (Christophe Roumier). Super bottle at the perfect temperature. Best ‘06 white Burgundy I’ve had to date, I think.
Then it was off to Fourrier. I had tasted here in July of 2004, when hosted by Jean Marie’s wife Vicki. I was invited by two close friends, one of which is no longer alive, so, for me, returning to Fourrier had a pilgrimage-like poignancy. Our visit was eye-opening then, I expected it to be equally great this time. Jean-Marie met us in the courtyard and we walked through to the back where we could survey vineyards behind the winemaking facility. J-M pointed out a number of their vineyards and gave us some insight into work on the vines. You get the sense early on that J-M has a very analytical mind and has been thinking deeply about how great wine is made, for many, many years. Every stage of grape growing and winemaking has been thoroughly examined and continues to be each year, because no two growing seasons are exactly alike.
We tasted four 2008s from vat: a Gevrey-Chambertin villages and three 1er crus – Les Goulots, Champeaux and Clos St-Jacques. Each was excellent in its own way. The Clos St-Jacques stole the show but all showed definition, finesse and great length and lusciousness. We then went to the bottle cellar and tasted two 2007s – a lovely Vougeot Les Petits Vougeots 1er cru and a Gevrey-Chambertin Combe aux Moines 1er cru. Both showed beautifully, even in the cold cellar. Fruit, energy, finesse and length, all wrapped together.
What ends up in the glass is a pure expression of terroir, with as little interference as possible by the winemaker.
Jean-Marie Fourrier’s wines that I have tasted have always shown great balance, lush mouth-feel, and beautiful fruit and energy. I think he is doing terrific work.