Aromas of plums, wild berries, sweet soil tones and woodsmoke introduce the 2019 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Fournaux, a medium to full-bodied, richer and more muscular expression of Savigny than the supple, charming Lavières. Less immediate, this is more of a medium- to long-term proposition.

The 2017 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Fournaux is one of the weaker links in the portfolio this year, its rich bouquet of red fruits and creamy new oak introducing a succulent but open-knit, somewhat facile wine. Since this cuvée is routinely superb, either I caught it on a bad day or the vines, frosted in 2016, simply gave too generous a crop in 2017 to deliver the depth and concentration one expects from this address.

The 2015 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Fourneaux includes around 15% whole bunch, which is less than usual. It has a rich and opulent bouquet with lush red fruit, dates and fresh fig, a wine that is flirting with over-ripeness. The palate is rich and quite decadent on the entry, layers of kirsch, creme de cassis and blueberry fruit with a chewy finish that needs to manifest more grace and precision by the time of bottling.

The 2012 Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Fournaux includes 30% whole cluster fruit (which was included in my barrel sample.) The malo-lactics were not finished, so the aromatics were too primal to assess, although the palate is very smooth and voluptuous in the mouth with quite precocious dark cherries and blueberry fruit lining the generous finish. This will be very seductive once in bottle. I have been tasting the wines of Nicolas Rossignol for several years now, but this was the first time that I had visited him at the winery in Beaune that he shares with Benjamin Leroux. “I didn’t have enough space in Volnay where I was working with my father,” he explained. “My first vinification here was in 2011.” He now farms around 15 hectares of vine that have been handed down from his family. “My father is from Volnay and my mother Pernand,” he continued. “In 2002, when my grandfather was 89 years old, he said that he was going to sell the grapes to a negoce. I said ‘O.K. Then I will be your negoce’. Then in 2008, one of my uncles who also sold grapes to negoce said exactly the same thing. Most of his vineyards were next to my father’s and so I made the same deal with him, on the condition that I worked the vineyards like he had been doing. That was fine because I like to spend time in the vineyards. So now my grandparents’ and uncle’s vines go into the domaine’s wine. And now in this winery, I can do what I want, whereas before I did what I can.” In 2012, like so many producers, his vines were affected by the growing conditions and especially the hail, therefore he has had to blend some premier crus together because the quantities were simply too miniscule to bottle separately. “I lost a lot of grapes in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune,” he rued. One topic of conversation that kept arising was Nicolas’s approach to whole cluster ferments and to this end, I have detailed the percentages with respect to each barrel sample. “I like whole clusters,” he enthused. “It gives energy to wine. But it is not appropriate for all terroirs. For example I do not use whole clusters for ferrous soils because the energy comes from the terroir already.” Nicolas prefers punching down the fruit rather than pumping over and presses once the tannins are fully ripe, which he assesses on taste rather than analyzing the must. He opined that his 2012s will probably require an extended period in bottle, possibly up until August or September for some wines. Like many growers I spoke to, he eschews new oak and raises all the wines in 30% one-year-old barrels, 30% two-year-old and the remainder in older wood. These were generally excellent wines: taut, bursting with red fruit, very distinctive and respectful of their terroirs and brimming over with personality. The judicious application of oak allowed the vagaries of the fruit to be expressed, while lending the wines just enough body to give them structure and intensity. While most will be approachable in their youth, I believe that the premier crus will have a propensity to age in not dissimilar fashion to his 2010s. Importer: Becky Wasserman Selection (Le Serbet) and through various US importers (see www.leserbet.com for full list.)