2020 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques 1er Cru

Jean-Marie previously worked for Domaine Drouhin in Oregon and completed several internships at Henri Jayer. He is assisted by his English wife Vicki. Fourrier owns ten hectares, the vast majority of which lie within the municipality of Gevrey-Chambertin. He also owns some plots in Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny and Vougeot. A large part of this is planted with old canes. The vineyards are worked with the utmost care and, partly due to the old vines and strict pruning, the yields are remarkably low.

Only Pinot Noir grapes from vines that are more than 30 years old are used to make the estate's wines. The grapes are carefully selected in the vineyards, destemmed and not crushed at all before the fermentation process. The wines are aged for approximately 16 - 20 months, using only a small percentage of new oak (approximately 20%). All wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered and it is advisable to decant the wines if they are less than 5 years old. For several years now, Fourrier's wines have been in great demand, he enjoys absolute star status and his wines are among the most sought-after red Burgundies.

“In 2020 we did not install hedges in the vineyard to create more shade, while we did so in 2021.” “The season was similar to 2019 in terms of lack of rain throughout the growing season. But the harvest was on September 1st compared to September 21st in 2021. We always maintain a hang time of 100 days or thereabouts. They only pick in the morning , from six to twelve, and used an air-conditioned cold room with an oxygen pump to keep the berries cool and anaerobic. They removed 100% of the stems, but put the stems back in the tank in a millefeuille so that the stems absorb the alcohol , absorb tannins and color to balance the cuvées. This allows them to reduce the pigage and use less pressure during pressing. The Village Crus contain approximately 10% new oak, 15-25% for the Premier Crus. They use natural corks that be checked individually for TCA." This was a beautiful set of wines from Fourrier, which lean more towards black fruit in style and are often quite sorbet-like in freshness.