FAIVELEY

Founded in 1825, Domaine Faiveley is one of Burgundy's greatest domaines. Originally the company was a classic negotiant business, based in Nuits St. Georges and engaged in the buying and selling of wine but not the production of it. After seven generations of steadily acquiring properties throughout the Cotes de Nuits, the Cotes de Beaune, Cotes Chalonnaise and now Chablis, the Faiveley family have established themselves as the most important vineyard owners in Burgundy, with 120 hectares of painstakingly selected small plots (typically not larger than 1 hectare in size) spread across the region. The domaine now includes an astonishing 10 hectares of Grands Crus , 25 hectares of Premiers Crus, and outstanding Monopole vineyards in the Cotes Chalonnaise. The list of Grands Crus reads like one of the most sublime poems ever written - Chambertin Clos Des Beze; Clos Vougeot; Echezeaux; Latricieres-Chambertin; Mazis-Chambertin; Musigny; Batard-Montrachet; Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet; Corton Clos des Corton Faiveley; Corton-Charlemagne - and represents a treasure trove of vinous tradition spanning many centuries. Until 2007 Domaine Faiveley was run by Francois Faiveley, an intense, somewhat reclusive, fearsome intellectual devoted to the music of Bach (he plays every day; his sailboat is called 'Glenn Gould') who was deeply committed to preserving the austere, understated style of Burgundy that he considers to be classic. Despite the fact that Francois' wines are spectacularly long-lived and do indeed become 'classic' after several decades of careful cellaring, they became more and more out-of-step with modern ideas and began to fall out of favour with critics and collectors. In 2007 Francois retired, passing the torch to his 25 year old son Erwan, who has utterly transformed the Domaine in his short time in charge, expanding vineyard holdings (especially chardonnay vineyards in Chablis, Meursault, and Puligny-Montrachet), updating the cellar, and producing wines full of fruit, complexity, and charm. He has also hired the dynamic and much-admired Jérôme Flous as Managing Director, further advancing the culture of change that now infuses the company. Faiveley's wines are once again highly prized, considered by connoisseurs to be amongst the finest Burgundies in terms of quality and amongst the very finest in terms of value.

Reviews for this winery

Jérôme Flous, who has headed up the winemaking team since 2007, joined us at the beginning of the tasting. He has changed the winemaking style, introducing more elegance and finesse to the previously austere, dense and occasionally unyielding wines. “I want to be reactive to Nature,” he told me, “and I want to adapt with the vintage. I don’t have any recipe.

[In 2017] the Latricières-Chambertin, and both the Echézeaux and the Clos de Vougeot are some of the best that I encountered during my visits. Of course, there is plenty to be found at the lower rungs of the hierarchy.

January 2019

This was an impressive tasting with Eve and Erwan Faiveley and able winemaker Jérôme Flous. Likening the vintage to "a broader-shouldered 2007," a judgment with which I wholeheartedly concur, Flous presented a selection of some of the 2017 portfolio's high points. Supple, expressive and nicely integrated, the reds showed very well; and the two whites were simply superb.

January 2019