2005 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux Vieille Vignes 1er Cru

Good deep red with ruby highlights. Dark raspberry, blackberry, mocha and minerals on the nose. Sweet and rich but fresh, with terrific sappy intensity to the dark fruit flavors. Wonderfully supple and smooth on the back end, finishing with ripe, broad tannins. Today the wine's volume completely hides its underlying spine.

Very firm and aromatic. Tightly focussed – very fresh, a hint of vegetation, pure delineation. Dry, fine tannins on the finish again – lots of potential here although the tannins dominate the fruit at the moment. For the long term. (JR)

A 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux is the most forward and flattering wine in Fourrier’s cellar, yet still, I suspect, an excellent candidate for 10-15 years of aging. “Well, you don’t have to be clever to make good Champeaux,” jokes Fourrier. While less than a hundred yards separate this site from what he terms the more challenging terroir of Les Goulots, their inherent personalities are dramatically different. (Fourrier’s father routinely blended the two.) Aromas of black tea, brown spices, cherry and cranberry suggest sweetness and obvious advanced ripeness. A silky-smooth palate with refined spice and mineral nuances and generous fruit leads to a satisfying, and for 2005 and this cellar, surprisingly soft finish. The articulate and opinionated Jean-Marie Fourrier staunchly believes in the inclusion of uncrushed fruit (to among other things prolong fermentation and, he claims, diminish the efficiency of alcoholic conversion); leaving the young wines on their lees (with high CO2 retention) eighteen months before bottling; employing a mere 20% of new barrels for all wines; and applying only minimal doses of sulfur. That the property from which he sources is all owned outright, and is largely in vines of over fifty years age planted by his father or grandfather before the days of clones certainly helps explain the consistently excellent quality at this address. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990