Domaine Faiveley Burgundy Offering Featuring the Newly Released 2021 Vintage and all the Domaine Faiveley wines in the store on SALE!!
“There is truth in wine, but you never see it listed in the ingredients on the label”
― Josh Stern
Burgundy has the highest concentration of resveratrol of any wine making it the healthiest wine on the planet to consume. I have often touted my good health is because I drink two bottles of wine per day and a lot of Burgundy.
We have been following the wines of Domaine Faiveley for a long time at Wine Watch and even hosted a dinner with Francois Faiveley at Café Maxx in the 1990’s which was the first French wine producer we hosted a winemaker dinner with.
Francois passed the day to day management of the Domaine on to his son Erwan in 2005. As soon as Erwan Faiveley assumed the helm of Domaine Faiveley, his first initiative was to invest in new winemaking facilities, thus ensuring the continued excellence of the wines. In 2014, Erwan was joined by his sister Eve, the first daughter in seven generations, and together they work to preserve the legacy of the Domaine for future generations. As part of this effort, the Domaine obtained its High Environmental Value Certification (HVE) in 2019, serving as a testament to its careful cultivation practices and desire to keep environmental impact to a minimum.
The new release from this Domaine are among the best wines in all of Burgundy with the next generation of the Faiveley family dedicated to carrying on this families tradition of making estate bottled wines from their own vineyards you are sure to get the best wines possible from Burgundy under the Faiveley moniker.
We have a few wines from the 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintages left here in the store but there is a great selection of 2021 vintage wines available to us from the distributor which I have listed on this offering they are only a few days away if you would like to place an order do it quickly this was a very short vintage with some villages suffering a 75% loss in quantity.
All the Burgundy from Domaine Faiveley in the store on SALE!
2020 Domaine Faiveley Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Price: $95.00 Your Price: $79.00 Quantity in Stock: 57
(94 points) Great purity of fruit and a silky elegance on the palate that consistently surpasses the already-elevated norm for this village. This wine is a selection of the best parcels among the 26ha Faiveley owns in Gevrey (over 30 parcels). The wines that don't make the cut are sold to other négociants; the average ripeness of the wines that do are 13% alcohol. The grapes are mostly destemmed and fermented with very little punching down before being aged in cask (20% new). Decanter
2020 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey Rouge Vieilles Vignes
Price: $49.50 Your Price: $39.00 Quantity in Stock: 32
Winemaker's Tasting Notes: This "vieilles vignes" (old vines) are over thirty years old and produce an exceptionally aromatic wine that offers a true reflection of its Mercurey terroirs. The palate reveals a smooth, fruity attack and evolves towards notes of ripe red berries and a touch of vanilla. An intensely aromatic wine with a delicate structure and silky smooth tannins that will win over wine experts and amateurs alike.
2020 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey La Framboisiere Monopole
Price: $63.75 Your Price: $56.10 Quantity in Stock: 3
(90 Points) Vinified with some 20% whole bunch this year, Faiveley's 2020 Mercurey La Framboisière offers up inviting aromas of sweet berries, plums, rose petals and rich soil tones. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, it's rich but lively, standing out as one of the more supple, ethereal wines in this year's range. It exemplifies the great value still to be found in contemporary Burgundy. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2020 Domaine Faiveley Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Les Porets Saint George
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 6
(93 Points) On the oaky side today, displaying vanilla and sweet sawdust aromas that give way to black cherry and blackberry flavors underlined by an iron accent. The balance tips toward dry, lightly astringent tannins, improving with air. Best from 2026 through 2045. — B.S. Wine Spectator, January 2023
2020 Domaine Faiveley Chassagne Montrachet Morgeot 1er Cru
Price: $228.75 Your Price: $201.30 Quantity in Stock: 6
A pale yellow color. The delicate mix of fine floral aromas and woody scents makes the nose complex. The attack is round. On the palate, this wine has beautiful structure with very satisfactory acidity which counterbalances the sensation of smoothness and fullness from being raised in oak. It is rich, and really long-lasting.
2019 Domaine Faiveley Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Les Porets Saint George
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 6
(92-94 points) "A mixture of domaine and purchased grapes that are vinified together, Faiveley's 2019 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Saint-Georges wafts from the glass with notes of sweet berries, plums, espresso roast, dark chocolate and spices. Medium to full-bodied, layered and gourmand, it's sumptuous and charming, with lively acids and a ripe, enveloping core of fruit. Jérôme Flous told me that Faiveley began picking on September 9, finishing by the 20th, and that yields averaged out at around 35 hectoliters per hectare in white and a little less in red. Comparing the 2019 vintage to "a more concentrated version of 2010," he admires—as I do—its vibrant fruit tones and refined tannins, finding it more elegant than 2018. The quality of the red wines chez Faiveley is old news, and for more information on this firm's evolution I direct readers to my report published in the August 2020 Week 1 issue of The Wine Advocate. It's worth underlining, however, how good the whites are these days: Flous tells me that he now includes fûts from Damy and Chassin in the white wine barrel program, and in the last few vintages, I've found the wines' new oak component better and better integrated. (WK)" (1/2021) Wine Advocate
2018 Domaine Faiveley Nuits St Georges Les St Georges 1er Cru
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 2
(92 points) "The 2018 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes has turned out nicely, opening in the glass with notes of smoky berry fruit, sweet soil tones and a deft application of new oak. Medium to full-bodied, lively and fine-boned, its pretty core of fruit girdled by bright acids and underpinned by fine, powdery tannins, this is a suave, vibrant Nuits that will offer a broad drinking window. (WK)" (6/2021) Wine Advocate
2018 Faiveley Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru
Price: $262.50 Your Price: $231.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
(95 Points) The 2018 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru is another of the portfolio's high-points this year, bursting with aromas of wild berries, orange rind, incense and smoked meats. On the palate, it's full-bodied, fleshy and textural, with old-vine concentration, broad shoulders and a long finish. While this is a muscular, serious Charmes, it's also very elegantly rendered. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2018 Domaine Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru
Price: $495.00 Your Price: $435.60 Quantity in Stock: 4
(96 Points) Aristocratic' is how winemaker Jérôme Flous describes this superb Grand Cru bottling, which combines understated power and concentration with some tannic grip and refreshing acidity. It's a wine that needs more time in barrel and bottle to integrated its 50% new wood, but has all the elements to be age with distinction. Rich and serious. Decanter
All the Domaine Faiveley wines available from the outstanding 2021 Vintage
These wines are available and, in most cases, there are only a few 6 packs here in South Florida and they will be gone quickly as this is a very short vintage but a very highly rated one.
2021 Domaine Faiveley Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune
Price: $841.50 Your Price: $740.52
(94-96 points) "Broadly speaking, the Bâtard comes from the top of the same rows as the Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. A fuller but fresh yellow, with an immediate sense of concentration on the nose. This is the easier to read of the two and does not show its wood (50% new). Useful citrus touches help to freshen the finish. An impressive length of aftertaste. Drink from 2029-2036. (Nov 2022)" Jasper Morris, MW (Inside Burgundy)
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MERCUREY BLANC “CLOS ROCHETTE” MONOPOLE
Price: $63.00 Your Price: $53.55
This parcel neighbors La Framboisière. The soils in Clos Rochette are very compact, hard to plough, and scattered with small rocks that give this climat its name. This parcel has been one of Domaine’s Monopoles since 1933.
This wine reveals exceptionally complex aromas and a fresh nose offering white flowers and spices. The lively attack gives way to a smooth, oily palate thanks to its oak aging. The flavors and aromas combine harmoniously resulting in a beautifully elegant wine.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MERCUREY BLANC
Price: $56.25 Your Price: $49.50
(91 Points) Lean, displaying apple, lemon, vanilla, clove and citronella flavors. Gains intensity and depth as this evolves on the palate, ending in a cascade of fruit, mineral and spice notes. Wine Spectator
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MONTAGNY BLANC
Price: $56.25 Your Price: $49.50
The grapes are hand-harvested and pressed and vinified on site in Faiveley's cellars in Mercurey. Following fermentation the wines are transported to the main cellars in Nuits-St Georges for aging. Aging takes place of a period of 10-12 months in a combination of neutral tank and oak barrels.
2021 Domanie Faiveley Clos des Cortons Faiveley Monopole Grand Cru
Price: $508.50 Your Price: $447.48
Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley is the only Grand Cru in Burgundy alongside Romanée-Conti to bear the name of its proprietor. The name was confirmed in court in 1937. This unique 7-acre parcel sits on the northern extremity of the hill of Corton fairly high up the slope surrounded by the famous “Le Corton” parcel. Soils are poor and well drained, made up primarily of iron-based stones and clay. The majority of the vineyard was planted between 1936 and 1967 with younger plantings up to 2002.
2021 Domaine Faiveley Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
Price: $508.50 Your Price: $447.48
(93- 96 Points) Pale but pretty colour. Light fruit on the nose. Spared from the frost, and as is typical of such cuvees in 2021, the wine feels more complete – in fact, displaying a particularly long finish. This avoids also the blocky side of Clos Vougeot, showing instead a rather fine fresh but light strawberry fruit. One could almost suggest that it is ethereal for this appellation! Drink from 2030-2038. Jasper Morris
2021 Domaine Faiveley Echezeaux Orveaux Grand Cru
Price: $508.50 Your Price: $447.48
(91-93 Points) "Wafting from the glass with aromas of red berries, plums, sweet spices and orange rind, the 2021 Echézeaux En Orveaux Grand Cru is medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a broad attack and a supple, enveloping mid-palate. Faiveley pruned late here and was rewarded by a creditable yield of 35 hectoliters per hectare." 01/23 William Kelley, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MAZIS-CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU
Price: $675.00 Your Price: $594.00
(95 Points) Cherry, boysenberry and floral flavors are the main themes, along with an earthy, feral note, shaded by sandalwood and sweet oak spices. This red is taut and linear as it plays out on the compact finish, and though difficult to see where it's going, this is intense and long. Best from 2026 through 2045. 50 cases imported. Wine Spectator
2021 Domaine Faiveley Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France
Price: $562.50 Your Price: $495.00
Charmes-Chambertin reveals an attractive deep ruby red hue and rich nose disclosing a variety of small red fruits, spices, and flowers. This indulgent yet very elegant wine offers silky smooth tannins although it requires a few years in the bottle before it reaches its full potential.
2021 Domaine Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Beze Les Ouvrees Rodin Grand Cru, Burgundy
Price: $1929.00 Your Price: $1697.52
Coming from a “Vieilles Vignes” parcel (60 years old), “Les Ouvrées Rodin” is characterized by its elegant tannins and delicate structure.
Marthe Sirieys, Erwan Faiveley’s great-grandmother, had family links with art amateur Maurice Fenaille. In 1885, the latter became Auguste Rodin’s patron. In memory of the unique relationship with Auguste Rodin and as an hommage to the timeless works created by him, we named this new gem of the Côte de Nuits: “Les Ouvrées Rodin”
Deep ruby red hue with purplish glimmers. The complex nose offers a combination of fruit, spice, and floral notes. The lively palate displays exceptional tension, elegant tannins, a hint of white pepper, and menthol notes. Les Ouvrées Rodin is an intense, deep, smooth, elegant, and subtle wine and a perfect reflection of the character of its historical terroir.
2021 FAIVELEY LATRICIERES CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU
Price: $562.50 Your Price: $495.00
(94 Points) Taut and sinewy, with cherry, raspberry, menthol and oak spice aromas and flavors under the grip of dense, dusty tannins. The fruit and supple texture still need to emerge and balance the tannins. Best from 2026 through 2040. 47 cases imported. Wine Spectator
2021 Domaine Faiveley Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru
Price: $900.00 Your Price: $792.00
(93-95 Points) "The 2021 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is beautiful, wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet red berries, orange zest, Asian spices, rose petals and sweet forest floor. Full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it's layered, concentrated and complete, uniting the sensual aromatics and textures of Faiveley's Latricières with all the musculature and more of their Mazis to compelling effect." 01/23 William Kelley, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2021 Domaine Faiveley Gevrey Chambertin Cazetiers 1er Cru
Price: $281.25 Your Price: $247.50
The term "Cazetier" originates from "Castel", the parcel situated just above the Château de Gevrey. It is one of the rare "Têtes de Cuvée" to not have been reclassified as a Grand Cru in the 1930's. Along with "Lavaux-Saint-Jacques" and "Clos Saint-Jacques", this climat is considered to be one of the best Premiers Crus in Gevrey. The Domaine has owned half of the appellation since 2013.
2021 Domaine Faiveley Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Des Issarts
Price: $250.00 Your Price: $220.00
In the 9th century, Charlemagne owned vines in the Côte d’Or. He requested that the best lands be cleared out and this parcel was constructed in the forest. Situated in the southwest of the village, this Monopole climat was purchased by the domaine in 2003 following a 50-year leasing agreement. It is the smallest appellation in Bourgogne even smaller than Romanée-Conti Grand Cru.
Deep ruby red in color with notes of ripe fruits, oak, and a touch of licorice on the nose. The palate offers silky-smooth tannins, an elegant mouth-feel, good balance, and excellent length.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY LAVAUX SAINT-JACQUES, GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN PREMIER CRU, FRANCE
Price: $279.00 Your Price: $245.52
(94 Points) A good crop at 35 hl/ha as Lavaux was pruned late and is a cool spot. Fine crisp red to crimson. A lean but healthy bouquet. Red fruit with orange zest. Tighter and tenser on the palate, with a darker but still raw red fruit and the peppery finish. Promising Drink from 2027-2033. Jasper Morris
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES 'LES MONTROZIERS', COTE DE NUITS
Price: $101.50 Your Price: $89.32
This name pays tribute to the Faiveley family’s ancestors who were, in the early 20th century, industrial leaders and statesmen. Amongst them was Maurice Colrat de Montrozier, great uncle and witness to the marriage of Guy Faiveley (5th generation) and Yvonne Faiveley in June of 1945- an occasion that marked the coming together of two very different industries: wine and rail.
Intense garnet red hue and aromas of fruit, oak, and spice on the nose. The palate reveals a smooth, rich attack, velvety tannins, and good balance. A delicate, seductive, and very elegant wine.
2021 FAIVELEY NUITS SAINT GEORGES LES DAMODES 1ER CRU
Price: $189.00 Your Price: $166.32
The term “Les Damodes” makes reference to the Druidesses who previously inhabited the area. These vines are planted at high altitudes, bordering Vosne-Romanée, and produce a mineral wine with very delicate tannins. A smooth and very feminine wine!
Deep ruby red hue. The expressive nose opens up with black fruits, spice, and subtle toasted notes. The attack is elegant and refined and the palate is characterized by floral notes and a touch of mocha.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY FREMIETS VOLNAY PREMIER CRU
Price: $171.00 Your Price: $150.48
This remarkable “vieilles vignes” parcel is situated halfway up the hillside, near the Pommard appellation, just above the Route des Grands Crus. Domaine Faiveley purchased this parcel in 2007.
The village of Volnay is renowned for its elegant red wines. This wine exudes aromas of small red and black fruits complemented by spicy notes and a touch of oak. Its rich flavors and silky smooth tannins make it an absolute pleasure for the palate.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MONTHÉLIE 1ER CRU LES DURESSES
Price: $81.00 Your Price: $71.28
“Les Duresses” is the only Monthélie Premier Cru to be situated in the continuation of Duresses in Auxey-Duresses rather than on the other side of the valley between Volnay and Monthélie. Domaine Faiveley purchased this parcel in 2007.
Deep ruby red hue with aromas of red fruits on the nose combined with a touch of violet. A well-rounded wine with a pleasant freshness and rich, firm tannic structure. Exceptionally harmonious.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MONTHÉLIE 1ER CRU LES CHAMPS FULLIOT
Price: $85.50 Your Price: $75.24
Located near the Vonlay appellation, this climat lies on a particularly dry terroir. The rock is so close that it was previously sought here for construction purposes. Domaine Faiveley purchased this parcel in 2007.
Deep ruby red hue and a nose offering small red fruits, licorice, violet, and undergrowth. These rich aromas are underpinned by velvety smooth tannins. A rich, smooth, and well-structured wine.
2021 Domaine Faiveley Chambolle Musigny
Price: $126.00 Your Price: $110.88
The village of Chambolle came into existence in the 12th century, when laymen were working just nearby at Clos Vougeot for the monks of Cîteaux.
Like many Côte de Nuits villages at the end of the 19th Century, Chambolle chose to add the name of its best Cru to the village name, becoming Chambolle-Musigny in 1878.
A beautiful, brilliant garnet-red color. The nose is very pretty with woody and fruity notes. The whole is very pleasant. On the palate, we find grilled and fruity, very ripe cherry aromas. The tannins are present without being too intrusive or aggressive. An elegant wine, fine and distinguished.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY GIVRY “CHAMP LALOT” ROUGE
Price: $63.00 Your Price: $55.44
The delicate nose exudes spring-like aromas of fresh flowers. The palate is smooth and well-balanced with the same floral notes as the nose. This Givry combines fruit and freshness resulting in a delicate and elegant mouthfeel.
2021 FAIVELEY MERCUREY LA FRAMBOISIERE MONOPOLE
Price: $73.50 Your Price: $62.48
La Framboisière has been one of the Domaine’s monopoles since 1933 and produces very distinctive wines: intense red fruit aromas and a pleasant minerality. Our Mercurey vat house is named after this iconic parcel.
Our “vieilles vignes” (old vines) are over thirty years old and produce an exceptionally aromatic wine that offers a true reflection of its Mercurey terroirs.
The palate reveals a smooth, fruity attack and evolves towards notes of ripe red berries and a touch of vanilla. An intensely aromatic wine with a delicate structure and silky smooth tannins that will win over wine experts and amateurs alike
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MERCUREY CLOS DES MYGLANDS
Price: $75.00 Your Price: $66.00
The nose reveals notes of black and red fruits combined with subtle woody and smoky notes. The palate offers the same rich, fruity aromas as the nose. This full-bodied wine has a velvety tannic backbone which gives a sensation of warmth on the smooth finish.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY CLOS DU ROY, MERCUREY PREMIER CRU
Price: $85.50 Your Price: $72.68
This small parcel, known as a ‘clos’, formerly belonged to the Kings of France. It was considered one of the appellation’s best parcels and was purchased by the Faiveley family in 1971. This wine could be compared to a Côte de Nuits village in terms of its delicate tannins and length on the palate.
The nose exudes small red fruits combined with notes of oak and spice. The palate offers good balance, rich aromas, and delicate tannins resulting in a very distinctive wine with exceptional aromatic persistence.
2021 DOMAINE FAIVELEY MERCUREY ROUGE VIEILLES VIGNES
Price: $49.50 Your Price: $42.08
This parcel neighbors La Framboisière. The soils in Clos Rochette are very compact, hard to plough, and scattered with small rocks that give this climat its name. This parcel has been one of Domaine’s Monopoles since 1933.
Our “vieilles vignes” (old vines) are over thirty years old and produce an exceptionally aromatic wine that offers a true reflection of its Mercurey terroirs.
The palate reveals a smooth, fruity attack and evolves towards notes of ripe red berries and a touch of vanilla. An intensely aromatic wine with a delicate structure and silky smooth tannins that will win over wine experts and amateurs alike.
2021 Faiveley Bourgogne Rouge
Price: $45.00 Your Price: $39.60
This appellation is made up of the upper reaches of the terroirs above the Côte de Nuits, in diverse, wild landscapes, which are harsher than on the Côte. The Hautes-Côtes vineyards, situated parallel to the Côte de Nuits, cover the well exposed hillslopes which dominate the Côte at an average altitude of around 300 to 400 metres.
In one of the back streets of Nuits-Saint-Georges a rather ugly but functional concrete office block lies over the cavernous traditional cellars of a former sparkling burgundy house (it still says Veuve Labouré on the decaying portals through which the grapes make their entry). This is the headquarters of one of the biggest and best domaines in Burgundy - Bourgognes Faiveley. Domaine Faiveley is run today by François, sixth in a direct line from the original Pierre Faiveley, who founded the business in 1825. François - tall, dark, attractive and bespectacled with just the merest suggestion of a lisp - lives next door with his Anglo French wife Anne and their family, two boys and a daughter named Eve, the first female Faiveley to be born since 1772. François began to take over from his father Guy in the mid-1970's, and he has been solely in charge since 1978. The wines have always enjoyed an enormous reputation - a Faiveley bottling from the 1940's and 1950's, if you can find one, is one of the best guarantees of a fine old Burgundy. However, in the modern era the wines have improved even further. The house of Faiveley is classic, expert winemaking - currently with few rivals. It is Burgundy at its best.
The Faiveley domaine, 277-acres between Mercurey and the Côte D'Or, is not just one of the largest in Burgundy, but it is also probably the richest in terms of its concentration in Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. From the outset, unlike other merchants at the time, François Faiveley's predecessors re-invested their profit in real estate to control the quality chain right through from the planting of the young rootstock down to the day the bottle arrives in the cellar of the client. In Grand Crus the estate comprises vines in Clos de Bèze, Mazis, Latricières, Le Musigny, Echézeaux, and Clos Vougeot. In Premier Crus the main vineyards are located in Combe aux Moines and Cazetiers (Gevrey-Chambertin), Combe D'Orveau and Fuées (Chambolle-Musigny), and in the Nuits-Saint-Georges climates of Les Saint-Georges, Porets-Saint-Georges, Chaignots, Vignerondes, Athées, Lavières, and Damodes. In addition the domaine has a lease until 2002 on the entirety of the 23-acre Clos de la Maréchale, the most southerly of the great vineyards of the Côte de Nuits. The Domaine also owns a few acres of Grand Cru Corton, right up at the top of the slope above Aloxe and Ladoix.
"I am convinced", says François Faiveley, "that the quality of any wine is three-quarters (or more) determined by the quality of the fruit in the first place". When asked about the hidden secrets of great winemaking at Faiveley, François responds: "The secret is that there is no secret," says François. "In the Alps, you come across cairns, little pyramids made up of small stones. Wine making is like this: a mass of interlocking, coherent detail. The time of vintaging is crucial. Everything, from Clos de Bèze to Bourgogne Rouge, is sorted through on a tapis de triage (there is an interesting wind-tunnel to blow away excess juice if the fruit arrives wet). We employ 15 to 20 people just for this, because the sanitary state of the fruit is so important." Faiveley believes that intense competition in the future will mean that the only way to survive will be to produce higher and higher quality. The sole solution, not so much for Chambertin Clos de Bèze, which will sell on its name and past reputation, but for middle-of-road Premiers Crus, is that the quality must be stunning.
The majority of Faiveley's needs can be supplied by its own domaine, and François would rather keep the activities of his enterprise within a boundary he can personally control himself. Again, quality is always the first and the paramount consideration. François Faiveley has no ambition to be master of a mammoth empire. There is some addition to the in-house supply every year. Because Faiveley owns only eight acres of ordinary village wine, he must seek outside sources to fulfill his needs for his lesser Burgundies such as the Bourgogne Rouge. When Faiveley does purchase from outside of his own vineyards, he usually buys grapes - not wine finished by another producer. Expansion of the domaine, however, is continuing in the Côte Chalonnaise to the south of the famed Côte D'Or. Having been farmers there since before the First World War, Guy Faiveley, father of François, purchased the nucleus of the existing Mercurey vineyards in 1964. François has recently extended this by acquiring 27-acres of land in Montagny (it produced its first harvest in 1992). He has also bought twelve prime acres of Hautes-Côtes-de-Nuits, in the valley directly above Nuits-Saint-Georges itself. When queried about expanding in the Côte de Nuits (perhaps Burgundy's most famous viticultural region) Faiveley replies, "the prices are just too excessive."
François is fascinated by the elegance and the aromatic nuances of great Burgundy. "If I'd been able to pursue a second career", says François, "I would have been a parfumier. I am obsessed by the bouquet of fine Burgundy". (One of his favorite books is Susskind's Perfume). "Burgundy has been wrongly thought by outsiders to be a heavier wine than Bordeaux. I still get people coming up to me saying they can't take Burgundy because it is too heavy, too powerful, too alcoholic. But Burgundy isn't like that. Above all it is a wine of finesse. The great thing about Pinot Noir is its marvelous perfume. Even if a Burgundy may be technically correct, if it doesn't exude this elegance, it is nothing."
François Faiveley is a man of taste and culture - a civilized man with an inquiring mind and a wide range of interests. Music is one of his great loves, particularly the music of Bach. Painting, especially Turner, is another great passion. And to relax he has his boat. The boat is named Glenn II (there was originally Glenn I). John Glenn the astronaut? No. Glenn Gould the pianist, supreme executor of the Partitas and other suites of Johan Sebastian Bach. Faiveley's wines are, above all, supremely clean and elegant: definitive examples of Pinot Noir. They are full, rich and concentrated, oaky but not too aggressively so, and sumptuous in the potential opulence of their fruit. Above all they have richness and breed - the thumbprint of a master winemaker.
It is interesting to note that François Faiveley sued Robert Parker, the foremost American wine critic and editor of The Wine Advocate, for factual errors Parker made in reviewing Faiveley's wines several years ago. Faiveley won the libel suit and was awarded one franc in damages plus a published retraction from Parker. François Faiveley is a man very serious about his wines and his reputation.
Erwan and Eve Faiveley are the 7th Generation to run this dynasty in Burgundy and now have the largest holdings of classified vineyards for any Domaine. Erwan has always had a passion for Burgundy and its wines. he took over from his father in 2005 and immediately invested in new facilities in order to continue the same quest for excellence as his forefathers. he strives to produce wines that reveal their potential in their youth and evolve to develop their true potential with cellar aging. The 2007 vintage was the beginning of a new style of the domaine. Eve, the first daughter in 7 generations joined her brother Erwan at the family business in 2014 after working for several years in Paris in the cosmetics industry. She has a passion for luxury and aestetics and is committed to producing fine wines that reflect their terroir using a traditional savoir-faire that has been passed down through the family over the last two centuries. She feels strongly about preserving the beautiful legacy for future generations to come.
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