2020 Gevrey-Chambertin Cherbaudes 1er Cru

Jean-Marie Fourrier is a busy man these days, what with running his winery in Gevrey-Chambertin and now overseeing the winemaking at Bass Philip in Australia (albeit via Zoom, since you cannot enter the country). So it was Fourrier’s right-hand man François Orise who guided me through the 2020s. “We didn’t do any hedging in the vineyard in 2020, to create more shadow, though we did in 2021," Orise explained. "The season was similar to 2019 in terms of lack of rain throughout the growing season. But the harvest was September 1 compared to September 21 in 2021. We always keep to 100 days hang-time or thereabouts [which explains why they are a few days later than other Côte de Nuits producers]. We only picked in the morning, from six to twelve, and used a cooling room with AC and an oxygen pump to keep the berries cool and anaerobic. We de-stemmed 100% but added the stems back into the tank in a millefeuille [layered, like the dessert] so that the stems absorb the alcohol, tannins and color to balance the cuvées. This means we can reduce the pigeage and use less pressure during the pressing. The Village Crus have around 10% new oak, 15–25% for the Premier Crus. We will bottle toward the end of January. We use natural corks that are checked individually for TCA." This was a splendid set of wines from Fourrier, leaning more toward black fruit in style, and often quite sorbet-like in terms of freshness.