2009 Gevrey-Chambertin Cherbaudes 1er Cru

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.

Jean-Marie Fourrier waited until September 17 to start harvesting in 2009, noting that it was a typical 100 days after the flowering. Potential alcohol levels were between 13% and 13.5% and Fourrier did not chaptalize. "Growers who pulled leaves before they left for their August vacations could lose a lot of balance in their wines," noted Fourrier, who only takes this step about three weeks before the harvest, after the greatest risk of heat and hail has passed. There was 90% phenolic ripeness in 2009, noted Fourrier, with very high potential extractability, so it was essential not to overextract. He did two pigeages per day, rather than his usual four. Besides, he explained, cold weather during the flowering had resulted in a lot of millerandage, so the tiny grapes tended to release their sugars at the end of the fermentations, drawing out the process. The malolactic fermentations began as early as February, with the wines at a low temperature of about 6oC ("the local wine school says 12oC is a minimum temperature for the onset of the malos"), and Fourrier had racked most of his cuvees into tank about two weeks prior to my visit. He planned to bottle the bulk of the vintage in late December and early January. Fourrier told me that his wines have the silkiest tannins since his 1999s, but that yields in 2009 were much lower than those of the earlier vintage. Right now he believes 2009 will be a "10 to 15 year vintage."