I thought Faury 2018 VV was a big miss. Obviously too young but I’m not sure how this monster ever sorts itself out
A friend brought this to dinner a few weeks ago, and it really surprised everyone at how open, fresh, and enjoyable it was.
Great to hear. Balthazar is a top notch winemaker in my book.
I have very similar views to this post by Alan. Not surprisingly really, I just do not go ga-ga over the riper vintages as I do the more balanced vintages (and sometimes, so-called “off” vintages), that to me, express the cepage and the terroir more plainly. I think 2011 and 2014 do that quite beautifully. The 2011 Gonon has always been a winner for me, and the Levet, a geeky green-tinged syrah. The 2014 Juge has crazy aromatics, probably the most aromatic young Juge that I have had, with 2011 right behind it. I think 2013 outshines, but like 2010, needs far more time, thinking that the Rule of 15 is apropos here. I also love 2007. I’ve recently had another 07 Levet and a Faurie Hermitage, both so gorgeous, and to pardon this too-often-used descriptor, quite Burgundian. BTW, the 2008 Levet is a very pretty wine; not great, just pretty.
Adrian, how are the champagne glasses coming?
Looks like Bernard Faurie is retiring from Hermitage according to the recent offering from VineTrail, one of his UK importers.
I also believe Marc Sorrel handed off to his son.
“Bernard Faurie has just 1.5ha of very old petite sérine vineyards on prime sites of the Hermitage hillside
and is a local legend. He is an eccentric’s eccentric, meticulous and fastidious (he rinses his pipette with
a jet wash at least four times before drawing wine from any barrel). He has two full time employees
working his vineyard. He uses no chemical weed killers, preferring to plough the soil using a horse. His
wines have exquisite balance, everything is done with fine touch and the oak regime of new to 6yo
600ltr demi-muids suits the wines perfectly. More than a few top growers in the northern Rhône have
commented to us that they believe that in certain vintages Faurie’s reds are as good as the Hermitage of
Jean-Louis Chave. Indeed, JLL rates Faurie’s Bessards-Méal 2019 as his leading wine of this vintage.
They are prized wines that offer extraordinary value.
For the last seven years he has talked about retiring and moving away to enjoy the mountain air in the
Alps (and off piste skiing through the woods, nothing could be more perfect according to Bernard). And
he has now confirmed that 2020 will be his last vintage.
According to Bernard, 2019 was an ‘année solaire, bien mûre’ giving yields of 35/37hh, slightly less than
2018 and alcohol levels varying between 13.7 to 14.7%. He explained, ‘there was an early start, a regular
spring, flowering in early June. I lost maybe 10% – there was a bit of hail on Hermitage on 15 June,
when Crozes was really badly hit, also on 5 July, which dropped the grapes on the ground – that was
actually good, rather than having damaged grapes still on the vine. We had maybe 20-30mm (0.8-1.2 in)
of rain after mid-August. Nowadays you can make balanced wines at 14.5°; before it was 13.5° for
balance. Nature adapts, the yeasts have adapted, and the wines can handle 14.5° without destabilising.”
He continued, ‘2019 is like a cross between 2015 and 2017, less ripe than 2015, more so than 2017’. We’ve
always found that Hermitage delivers impressive results in warmer vintages, and the pitch, balance,
weight and fruit quality of Faurie’s 2019 wines are quite out of the ordinary.”
Generally agree with your strategy here, for the same price, I’d probably take the 15 or 16 vintage over 18. Balthazar certainly did well in 15 – I loved this Chaillot and bought quite a bit of it. I’ll keep an eye out for his 18 and give it a shot when it lands.
Will give that a shot too, I usually buy a little of this every year, but seems like this time it’s a try before you buy situation. I don’t generally like the regular St. Joe (I’ve found it almost carbonic sometimes) but maybe that’s a style better suited for 18.
They’re on the way. I forgot to update the thread, but I’ll do it once I have them in hand.
Well, apparently you had better insight than I did when these were released. You piqued my curiosity to check back in. The 2015 Iles Feray is excellent. Yes, much larger-scaled than those vintages that I raved about, but it is starting to take on more pronounced notes of grilled meats, iron and savory things. Cool, I have 9 left!
Glad it showed well. I’m guessing the 15 Iles Feray will become a wine similar in scale to a cooler-vintage St. Joseph. I’m not sure where the 15 St. Joseph is going but it doesn’t seem to have any overripeness issues, so my guess is it’s just going to be a relatively long-lived edition. Will probably confuse people into thinking it’s an Hermitage or something.
What is your take on the ideal drinking window for the St Joe?
Gotta be 15 years, right?
Honestly I think longer than that. The 09 which I would say is a close vintage analog has still been tasting young and grapey (as of 2019) so I figure something like 20 years… 2035 seems like a long time away.
What was the release price for '15 Iles Feray in the US?
2009 was balanced but not giving anything when I tried within the last year or so…no interest in trying again any time soon.
I had the 2009 last month. Still young but was jumping out of the glass and a good wine.
I paid $23.00 US for a case purchase
Yup. Dirt cheap back then!
I have been told that Allemand did extraordinary well in 2018. Look forward to taste them
So spot on, Adrian. Just popped another. Texted Fu and the boys and commented that this is not drinking like a 2015. Has some tangy cool-climate inflected notes, iron and minerals also coming to the fore. Granted this has a few more years on it, but enjoying this more right now than the 2018 Levet that I had last night. I think I’m going back to taking a full case allocation of the Iles Feray. Last year I just did a case of the St Joe and 6 of the Iles Feray.