2013 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux 1er Cru

Jean-Marie Fourrier picked early in 2013, with high acidity but still-healthy foliage, which he had been able to protect against an attack of mildew. He told me he's astonished by the phenolic maturity of the wines, adding that "people who had greenness in their wines had yellow foliage by the time of the harvest. The solar panels of their vines weren't working anymore." Two thousand thirteen was "a battle all year," said Fourrier, who recalled his tractor getting stuck in the vineyard in March. "Two thousand eight was our most recent previous October vintage but there was less phenolic maturity that year," noted Fourrier. "The evolution of knowledge in Burgundy has been massive since then."

"If you were able to keep the foliage in good condition, you could benefit from the periods of cool but sunny weather in September," said Jean-Marie Fourrier, who described the 2013 growing season as "like a difficult pregnancy." The first of 14 vine treatments had to be done by hand in mid-April because the vineyards were too wet to work by tractor, he added. The cool temperatures in September allowed the grapes to retain acidity, he went on, and the acidity helped to protect the fruit against rot. But at a certain point (October 2 through 6), Fourrier picked quickly with a large team because "acidity levels were starting to plunge and rot was skyrocketing." In the end, he said, there was good phenolic ripeness: "80% phenolic maturity and 70% extractibility." The malos finished in July and the wines spent another three months on their lees "gaining silkiness." Fourrier then racked them into tanks because September and October were warm and he didn't want to risk the wines evolving too quickly. Today he considers 2013 "a cousin of 2010 in its tension and acidity." In fact, he told me that he's "in love with this vintage" but is afraid to overstate his case as the vintage did not begin with a strong reputation.