(Please see my overview of the vintage here.)
Technical director Jérôme Flous said that harvesting began on 28 August on the Côte Chalonnaise and the Côte de Beaune. The Côte d’Or finished about 16 September.
The Amoureuses and Echézeaux are made with some whole clusters, as were a few other wines that I did not taste and that are in the area of Chambolle-Musigny.
Some young vine cuvées were acidified. There was no chaptalization. Alcoholic fermentations were slow, and there were still some cuvées that hadn’t finished when I visited in October 2019. Malo-lactic fermentations were uneven; some finished by December, some finished in summer. Alcohols range from about 13º to about 14.5º. On the Côte Chalonnaise, yields were 39 hl/ha. They were higher in Côte d’Or, and the whites were much higher — around 50 hl/ha.
There was a big risk for brettanomyces, so the premiers and grands crus were racked in spring — first time in Jérôme’s 12 years that he has done this.
Given the inherent trickiness of the vintage and the very quick ripening of the grapes at harvest, it’s not surprising that there is some unevenness in the wines from a producer that covers as great an area as Faiveley.
All wines below are estate wines under the label Domaine Faiveley, except for those indicated Joseph Faiveley, which are negociant wines. (Continue reading here.)