Domaine Faiveley Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru ‘Les Damodes’ 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The term “Les Damodes” makes reference to the Druidesses who previously inhabited the area. These vines are planted at high altitude, bordering Vosne-Romanée, and produce a mineral wine with very delicate tannins. A smooth and very feminine wine!

Exposition East
Soil Shallow hard limestone, marls
Surface area 0 ha 81 a 48 ca – [2,01 Acres]
Years the vines were planted 1950, 1983, 1989

The grapes are harvested and sorted by hand. The proportion of de-stemmed grapes and whole clusters varies depending on the vintage. The wines are punched down daily in order to extract colour, tannins and aromas from the skin of the grapes. After a 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 16 months in French oak barrels (40-50% new oak and 50-60% one-wine barrels) which have been selected for their fine grain and moderate toast. The wines are left to age in our cellars at consistent, natural hygrometry and temperature.

About Faiveley

Based in Nuits-St-Georges, the famous Domaine Faiveley was founded in 1825 and in more recent times, the domaine has greatly expanded its vineyards across the entire Côte d’Or. The grapes are entirely destemmed and fermented in a mix of new wooden vats for the top end wines and stainless steel for the lesser cuvées. Once notorious for being fairly austere, there has been less emphasis on extraction over the last ten years and the wines show increased freshness, purity of fruit and more judicious use of oak. A contender for one of the most improved domaines in Burgundy over the last decade.

The Evolution of Faiveley

Erwan Faiveley made two important announcements a few years ago.

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.

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 2020 Vintage by Faiveley

From Allen Meadows www.burghound.com

I met with technical director Jérôme Flous, who commented that “while there are of course many factors that define the 2020 vintage, if I had to choose just one, it would be hydric stress. From the 15th of July to the 14th of August, there was not a drop of rain. Your vines either had the necessary root systems to deal with that, or they didn’t, and that was the key determining criterion for whether you had phenolically ripe fruit. April was relatively wet, and it was this rainfall that mostly explains the difference in the quality of the tannins between 2020 and 2019. It’s incredible to think that by the end of April, the vegetative cycle was already fully 24 days in advance compared with 2019!

The flowering didn’t pass especially well here in the Côte de Nuits compared to the Côte de Beaune though it wasn’t a disaster either. This meant that there was some shatter and a high incidence of shot berries, which in most vintages is a positive, at least in terms of quality. But in drought years, the tiny shot berries don’t resist the heat nearly as well as normal berries. On the plus side, these hot and dry conditions meant that there wasn’t much disease pressure so the fruit at the harvest was quite clean. There was a small rainstorm on the 15th of August that gave the vines just enough of a boost that they went into high gear to finish the ripening process.

We chose to begin picking on the 19th of August, which is even earlier than we started in 2003. Yields were fairly consistent at between 25 to 27 hl/ha for the reds though the whites were more generous at around 40 hl/ha. Potential alcohols for the pinot came in between 13.5 and 14.5% while the whites were a bit more moderate at between 13 and 14%. We did almost no punching down as the thick skins made clear that it would have been easy to create tannic monsters plus, we used fairly small percentages of whole clusters. The colors emerged almost immediately, and I found it interesting that after only 1 day of cuvaison we had more color than in some vintages after 3weeks! To guard against have too much extraction even though we did very little punching down, we limited the total cuvaison to only 10 to 15 days.

As to the reds, the 2020s stylistically remind me of a blend of 2019 and 2014 but with more austerity. They’re ripe yet serious and very dense with excellent post-malo pHs of 3.45 to 3.5. They should age effortlessly. I would also observe that the vintage is more successful in the Côte de Nuits compared to the Côte de Beaune as the vines suffered less.” As the scores and commentaries confirm, I was suitably impressed by the quality that I found chez Faiveley in 2020.

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

Faiveley’s Wines & 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!