Franck Follin-Arbelet said that he began harvest on 12 September. The vines were badly hit by the hail, but aside from that, there was no botrytis even though there was plenty of rain over the summer. He did have to do a trie to sort out grapes damaged by the hail, by sunburn, and by acetic rot from the Asian fruit fly (one parcel in Aloxe-Corton). Overall, yields are down about 20-25% from the maximums (in 2015 it is down 40-50%). Grapes were entirely destemmed in 2014. Malolactic fermentations were heterogenous, although most finished in July, August, and September.
Follin-Arbelet’s wines are excellent for their purity and freshness, but in general, they do need aging to show their best — they reward the effort.
2014 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Les Fichots
This wine is light, intense, and pure with red cherry fruit. It is flowing, fresh, and saline in the mouth. (86-90)
2014 Aloxe-Corton
The Aloxe is light in the mouth and features saline red fruits with tannins, some minerality, and a touch of Aloxe rusticity. (86-89)
2014 Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Clos du Chapître
The Clos du Chapître features darker fruit than the village Aloxe with some salinity and spice. The wine is medium-weight, complex, and shows some tannins and hints of crystallinity. But it is still rather undeveloped. (87-91)
2014 Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Les Vercots
The Vercots is very dense with dark fruit and tannins. This wine needs time to develop. (88-91)
2014 Corton Le Charlemagne
This wine is from white soils on the Charlemagne slope, so it will not have the power of Corton from some of the better-known lieux-dits. The wine displays blueberries in a medium-light body with clarity, freshness, nervosity, and good length. There was hail in this vineyard. (90-93)
2014 Corton-Bressandes
There was hail here, too, but less than in the Le Charlemagne. As one would expect, this wine shows more power than the Le Charlemagne. It features red and dark fruits with good depth and clarity. Tannins are present and the wine is medium-light in weight. (90-94)
2014 Romanée-Saint-Vivant
From vines planted in 1973-74. In years with maximum yields, Franck can make 9 barrels (2700 bottles); in 2014 he made 7½. There was almost no hail that affected the vineyard in 2014. The wine shows dark fruit, especially blueberries, that is typical of RSV. The wine is dense and pure with sensuality but also tannin. (93-96)
And in white:
2014 Corton-Charlemagne
The fruit here is pineapple but with freshness. There’s not a lot of tension here and some butter. This wine should be good for fairly early drinking. (91-94)