Domaine Georges Lignier, an incredibly respected estate in Burgundy, offers a pristine, textbook example of classic Gevrey-Chambertin terroir. Although Georges finally passed the torch to his nephew and former decade-long protégé, Benoit, in 2008, the future of the family business remains dedicated to traditional Burgundian Pinot Noir. Benoit has made a few small but significant changes to the estate’s protocol that have resulted in a crop of especially young drinking red Burgundies. Benoit carefully tends the vines so that each cluster spends slightly more time on the vine without over-ripening or increasing potential alcohol. In the cellar, Benoit adjusted the ratio of whole cluster to destemmed fruit to only 20% whole cluster; as a result, the wines are less brittle and—at least to my palate—more complete in texture than vintages past. In short, Benoit seems to have found the magic formula for his various individual but equally impressive terroirs. Across the board, his wines are full of energy and incredibly alive aromatically. They are an absolute joy to drink now and I’m confident they will only improve for decades.
The 2012 Georges Lignier Gevrey-Chambertin exhibits a polished dark ruby core with a slightly orange hue on the meniscus. The nose offers just ripe red fruits with ample seductive savory notes. The palate unfolds with firm red currant, red plum, red cherry and a touch of raspberry, plus fresh herbs, wet forest floor, black team, crushed clay and rocks. Today this wine needs an hour in the decanter—and I should mention that it won’t suffer from another year in the cellar. As always with top Burgundy, if you have the patience to wait for this wine’s peak, please consider opening it in five to seven years. I guarantee the result to be utterly divine. For pairing options, I recommend a classic roast chicken.
The resurrection of Domaine Fourrier under the passionate care of Jean-Marie Fourrier in 1994 is one of Burgundy’s most triumphant success stories. While Georges Lignier’s wines offer classic Burgundy at its most finessed, Jean-Marie Fourrier produces a ripe and super structured offering that has built an unprecedented cult following across the globe. After military service as a pilot, Jean-Marie interned for the godfather of modern Burgundy, Henri Jayer, as well as with Domaine Drouhin in Oregon. Following Jayer’s lead, Jean-Marie began severe winter pruning to drastically reduce yields, he enacted a system of rigorous fruit sorting that borders on obsessive perfection. Jean-Marie vinifies single parcels separately and almost all grapes from vines younger than thirty years old are sold off. The vines that produce this bottling range in age from sixty to an impressive one hundred years old. Jean-Marie de-stems completely, uses minimal sulfur (if any), and controls temperature in his cellar like a maniac. These techniques create a wine that is so sought after in the wine world that most restaurants and retailers are not offered even a single bottle. We are thrilled to offer them today.
Jean-Marie Fourrier’s Gevrey-Chambertin displays an opaque dark ruby core with a slightly pink rim. The nose is incredibly concentrated with ripe, sweet fruit that includes cherry and black plum laced with wet rose petal candy and a touch of crushed rock. The palate offers almost candied fruit that is simultaneously balanced and lush, with notes of huckleberry and wild raspberries. You have to experience this wine to understand the incredible complexity and depth—all I can say is that the hype is well-deserved. It’s perfect. For an ideal meal, decant for twenty minutes then serve with
Julia Child’s classic Boeuf Bourguignon.
