The Seduction of Purity of Fruit
By Lucien Michel | October 25, 2018
Two Burgundy Domaines that have really caught my attention at recent tastings are Domaine Perrot Minot and Domaine Fourrier. I was incredibly impressed by the purity of fruit in these wines that offer so much seduction and charm!
Both Domaines share a more modern method of winemaking that contributes to a fruit forward style that often exhibit bright red fruits on the nose, with a wonderful vibrancy and terroir transparency. There are key factors for these results in the glass:
• Exceptionally vigorous sorting of grapes in the vineyard and then multiple times through sorting tables - to keep only whole berries
• Limited use of new oak to 20 - 30 %, even at Grand Cru level! Unwanted barrel influence on the fruit to avoid excessive oak influence.
While both share a modern winemaking approach, they don’t fully share the same techniques. Where Perrot Minot prefers pumping over, at Domaine Fourrier punching down is preferred. Jean-Marie Fourrier while working for Henri Jayer has adopted his approach to completely destemming the harvest, and Christophe Perrot-Minot destems 50% to 100% depending on the vintage.
This results in wines with different characters but all are accessible when young, even at Grand Cru level. The 2015s we have available for instance are very appealing, open and ready to drink, but can also mature for decades. That being said it would be a disservice to Fourrier’s, Clos St Jacques 2015 Cuvee Centenaire, as this exceptional cuvee of 100+year vines from the iconic Clos will reveal its full character with more cellaring time.
Some of these bottles might need a bit of aeration to before they reveal themselves, so if they seem closed at first you can pour a glass out and allow the rest of the bottle to breath for a few hours.
