2011 - Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques Vieille Vigne, Fourrier

The 2011 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques, has a very reduced nose at first and required vigorous aeration. There is a herbaceous and stem-like element that I had not noticed in previous bottles, before the wild berry and gamy scents emerge. The quality is really delivered on the palate: here there is the purity, the fineness of the tannin, the symmetry and precision we come to expect from both Fourrier and Clos Saint Jacques. It still requires another couple of years in bottle and I would not ascribe profundity to it. But there is something enigmatic and intriguing about this Clos Saint Jacques that impels me to plot its evolution.

The wine volunteered by the organiser of the 2017 think tank on fine wine, Nicole Rolet, because one like it had been her wine epiphany. Sweet, fresh, lifted with a tiny hint of something not disagreeably vegetal. Gorgeously complete even at this early stage. (JR)