Domaine Faiveley Mercurey 1er Cru ‘Le Clos du Roy’ 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

This small parcel, known as a ‘clos’, formerly belonged to the Kings of France. It was considered as one of the appellation’s best parcels and was purchased by the Faiveley family in 1971. This wine could be compared to a Côte de Nuits village in terms of its delicate tannins and length on the palate.

The grapes are cut harvested and sorted by hand. The proportion of de-stemmed grapes and whole clusters varies depending on the vintage. The wines are pumped over twice daily in order to extract colour, tannins and aromas from the skin of the grapes. After a 15 to 19 day vatting period, the alcoholic fermentation is complete. The free-run wine is run off using a gravity system whilst the marc is pressed slowly and gently in order to extract an exceptionally pure press wine. The wines are aged for 15 months in French oak barrels (30% of which are new oak) which have been selected for their fine grain and moderate toast. The wines are left to age in our hygrometry-controlled cellars at consistent, natural temperatures.

ExpositionSouth, Sout-West
SoilClay-limestone, white marls
Grape VarietyPinot Noir
Characteristics of our plot
Surface area2 ha 54 a (6,28 Acres)
Years the vines were planted1971, 1982

The Evolution of Faiveley

Faiveley is one of Burgundy’s institutions. They hold an incredible 25 hectares of Grand Cru vineyard across Burgundy. Since 2012 the wines have taken on a new dimension shifting from the tannic wines of the mid 2000’s to wine of elegance, finer tannins, and, perhaps greater concentration.

Erwan Faiveley made two important announcements in October.

The first was that a new state-of-the-art cuverie was operational. It is elegant, spacious and efficient and will offer the inestimable advantages of room to work, which is rarely the case in Burgundy’s often cramped wineries.

Faiveley noted that the 2016s were vinified in the new facility but the élevage was still on-going in the vast old cellars.

The second was arguably more important in that it heralds a change in style. Long-time readers may remember that in 2007 the Domaine made the dramatic decision to change the style of its reds, which up to that point could be fairly described as unapologetically old school. In other words, reds that were firmly structured, sturdy and built-to-age for the long-term. In 2007 this at times rustic style was discarded in favour of wines that possessed more elegance and finesse in the hopes of creating more supple burgundies that required less long-term cellaring.

“While we like the current style and what it offers, for several years we were feeling that perhaps we had strayed too far from our roots. To this end, we finally asked if there might not be a way to combine the two in a way that remained true to our history but didn’t require 20 years before the wines were completely ready to drink. So now we’re looking for more density and riper tannins while doing our best to retain a more refined mouthfeel. To achieve this we’re harvesting a few days later in the search for a higher level of phenolic maturity and then vinifying the fruit in a fashion that reduces forced extraction and emphasizes natural extraction. In other words, we will take what the fruit has to give in any given vintage without forcing more out of it that often results in overtly extracted wines.” Faiveley

Erwan Faiveley, the seventh generation owner of one of Burgundy’s largest grand cru site holders, Domaine Faiveley, is making a sharp turn away from his father’s big and tannic winemaking style. After 13 years at the helm of the family estate, the dynamic Burgundy scion confessed that it was only in 2012 that he began to achieve exactly what he wanted in terms of style and concentration.

The 2019 Vintage by Faiveley

As is typically the case, I met with both Erwan Faiveley and technical director Jérôme Flous. The domaine has huge holdings in the Côte Chalonnaise and they made some interesting comments about it that I include herein for the interest of readers. They noted that “the Côte Chalonnaise really got hurt from a quantity standpoint. The quality is genuinely remarkable, but the wines are concentrated and quite structured and perhaps too serious in the context of the style that most people look in that area. Setting aside the flowering, which did not pass particularly well, the main problem was that much of the Côte Chalonnaise has less marl than the Côte de Nuits and thus it drains better. This can be a qualitative advantage in wet vintages but in very dry ones, like 2019, the hydric stress in the vines can be very problematic for the vines as it causes them to shut down. This is also the case in the Côte de Beaune. In the end, the quality of the reds is excellent, but the wines are definitely tannic.” With respect to the Côte d’Or they commented that “we picked from the 9th to the 21st of September and the fruit, both chardonnay and pinot noir, was super-clean. Like the Côte Chalonnaise though, yields were quite limited, coming in as they did between 25 and 35 hl/ha, which was also true for both colors. This is the smallest yields that we have had in chardonnay since 2007. Alcohols were relatively high if not truly excessive at between 13.5 and 14.5%. Because of the high level of extractability, we chose to vinify very lightly with limited amounts of whole clusters. When looking at 2018, we were in a sense at the mercy of the raw materials in terms of extraction because the skins were so thick that you could not have touched the fermentations and still had very big and tannic reds. In 2019, we had more room to maneuver in terms of an extraction strategy. In retrospect, we chose well because 2019 also gave us quite structured wines so less was more in a sense. As to the wines, the reds are genuinely exceptional with excellent freshness and energy as well as lovely terroir transparency. They’re not necessarily greater than their 2018 counterparts but they are definitely more homogenous. By contrast, the jury is still out for the whites. They continue to improve month by month and they are already very good. But where they will ultimately come out relative to the 2018s is hard to say.” While it was not presented, I inquired about the Clos de Bèze-Les Ouvrées Rodin and was assured that there will indeed be one in 2019.

Burghound

The videos below explore each of the seasons following the full cycle of the vine and wine at Domaine Faively.

Faiveley’s Vineyards

Faively’s vast holdings stretch from the very top of the Côte d’Or through the Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune and into the top of the Côte Chalonaise with Pinot holdings in Mercurey. Below are maps of their terroirs. You can enlarge them and explore the regions and vineyards. We’re writing a series of primers on each of the main villages in Burgundy and on Burgundy in general you can check out where we’re up to in the Wine Bites Mag.

Check out all the Article on Burgundy!

Faiveley Grand & 1er Crus de la Côte de Beaune

Detailed Map of Faiveley’s Côte de Beaune Holdings

Faiveley Grand & 1er Crus de la Côte de Nuits

Detailed Map of Faiveley’s Côte de Nuits Holdings

Check out all the Article on Burgundy!