2009 - Gevrey-Chambertin Vieille Vigne, Fourrier

The 2009 Gevrey-Chambertin floats on the palate in its finessed, well-articulated fruit. Subtle and ethereal through to the finish, the wine captures the essence and nobility of Gevrey. With time in the glass the fruit turns darker and the wine puts on weight, showing tons of pedigree and dazzling overall harmony. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2029. Count me among the Burgundy fans who are thrilled Jean-Marie Fourrier chose not to pursue the career as a commercial airline pilot for which he studied. Fourrier began picking on September 17. The fruit was destemmed. Cuvaison lasted around 14 days but Fourrier commented that he had an unusually high (50%) amount of shot berries, which had the effect of extending the fermentations for another week or so. The malos started and ended early, hence Fourrier decided to bottle early as well. Per his usual practice, Fourrier left the wines on the lees with no racking until the wines were prepared for bottling. On average the wines saw 20% new oak. I tasted all of the 2009s from bottle. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Good deep red. Musky aroma of raspberry, blueberry, smoke, crushed rock and game. At once sweet and taut, with an impression of lift and energy rare for the vintage. Really lovely fruit here. Fourrier told me he liked the effect of elevage in mostly older casks in 2009. More new oak would have speeded up the evolution of the wines, he explained. That would have required using more sulfur dioxide but we still would have lost fruit.