Erwan Faiveley at the helm

It’s no secret in Burgundy and beyond that Faiveley has been on a roll. And it’s no secret why: the arrival of the young Erwan Faiveley at the helm.

Erwan, 32, is the seventh generation in his family to run the company, which was founded in 1825 as a negociant, buying and selling wine. When his father was 25, Erwan’s grandfather literally turned over the keys to his dad. And in 2005 when Erwan was 25, his father continued the tradition and put Erwan in charge (Erwan himself has no children, so his position is likely safe for 25+ years). I sat down with Erwan in New York a few weeks ago to talk about how he has improved the house style, overcoming paternal resistance, vineyard acquisitions and biodynamic winemaking.

With the weight of generations on their shoulders, today’s heirs to the storied estates of Europe could be forgiven for having one primary goal: not screwing up. And when the family company holds a jaw-dropping 300 acres of vineyards in Burgundy, including 25 acres of Grand Cru, and makes wine across 18 different appellations, the pressure ratchets up even further. I could certainly understand if a scion asked for the instruction manual along with the keys and followed everything to the letter; ripping up the manual would seem like a remote possibility.

So when Erwan took over in 2005, he was careful not to rock the boat. He grew up in Nuits-St.-Georges and studied in Versailles (and later did an MBA at Columbia in New York). He told me that he wasn’t happy the first two years running the domaine, as he contemplated a change in style and personnel. He went out into the market and discussed changes with key accounts in the Japan and the US and elsewhere. In the end, he decided that “when you don’t take risks, you don’t make great wines.” He hired a new technical director and a general manager, Bernard Hervet. The shift was underway; he didn’t rip up the manual entirely, he just did a total rewrite.

Describing the stylistic transition, Erwan says that his father prefers strength, where has he prefers more elegance making a comparison as shifting from Nuits-St-Georges to more Chambolle in style. His inspirations for the shift were the wines of Dujac, Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Domaine Henri Gouges, and Dominique Lafon. Erwan shelled out for a new vertical press at the winery, paid more attention to the wood for barrels, and purchased vineyards in the Cotes de Beaune, including two acres in Batard-Montrachet.

The results in the glass are terrific. The 2009 Bourgogne wines, made from mostly purchased grapes, are both solid examples of Burgundy under $20. The 2009 Clos des Myglands, a premier cru from Mercurey, offers good depth, acidity and a tannic structure that provides intrigue. The 2009 La Combe aux Moines, a premier cru from Gevrey Chambertin, climbs the scale in terms of quality showing a lot of richness, minerality on top of approachable tannins with a good does of come-hither fruits earthiness on the nose. The 2009 Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley, a grand cru, is a terrifically rich wine that is not over-the-top, just concentrated with ample stuffing. Young as it is, my time with it in the glass showed an unfurling of aromas–spices, red fruits, plums and earthiness–and layers of complexity on the palate. It’s pretty sexy stuff.

Although we tasted all 2009s, I asked Erwan which vintage he preferred, the 2009s, which have been derided by some contrarian-minded Burghounds as underwhelming in favor of the 2008s. He replied that while the 2008 was very classic and fresh, he preferred the 2009. In the vineyard, he said, there was so much perfect fruit in 2009 while in 2008, some selection had to be done. As to biodynamaics, he worked with only one grower who was biodynamic but he asked him to stop in 2010, citing the large amount of copper and silica used in the vineyard treatments.

Are more vineyard purchases in the offing? “I would love to purchase a vineyard in Chablis,” he said. He has his eye on one site and every year he thinks it will be the year. But that might actually happen this year, he says, citing a January 31 change in the capital gains tax on real estate that may trigger sales. A developing story–just like the domaine.

By Jay McInerney

By coincidence, just a few days before the 1996 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill nearly stole the show at a Champagne tasting I’d organized, I sat down with Hubert de Billy of Pol Roger at the Lion, in Greenwich Village, to check out his recent releases.  Pol Roger has always been a connoisseur’s Champagne, one of the smallest of the big houses, which has remained in the same family since its founding.  Hubert de Billy is the great-great-grandson of Pol Roger, who founded the house in 1849.

When I told de Billy that the greatest Champagne I’d ever tasted was a 1914 Pol Roger, he smiled.

“Yes that’s probably my favorite,” he said.  “We still have some left, thankfully.”

The vintage was unique due to the combination of spectacular weather and manmade catastrophe; the First World War had just broken out in August, and by the time of harvest most able bodied men had been conscripted and the vineyards were being bombarded by the Germans.  De Billy’s grandfather Maurice was the mayor of Épernay at the time.  In an attempt to boost morale he offered to buy any and all grapes from his neighbors.   “He said, pick as much as you can and I will buy it,” de Billy told me.  “When he ran out of money, he printed IOUs.”  Such was the mayor’s prestige that the IOUs were accepted as currency in the region until he was able to pay them off years later.  Due to the bombardment, the harvest was small, but quite a bit of it ended up at Pol Roger, a small stock of which remains in the company’s labyrinthine cellars.

After the war Maurice, who was an avid hunter and sportsman, forged close ties with the British aristocracy, making Pol the No. 1 brand in the British Isles.  One of its biggest fans was Winston Churchill; after his death the company created a special cuvée in his honor.  The first vintage, 1975, was bottled exclusively in magnums.

Released only in exceptional years, the Pinot-heavy cuvée has been called “Burgundy with bubbles,” and it is almost always one of the greatest Champagnes of the vintage.

When I asked de Billy what makes Pol Roger different, he answered unequivocally.

“Time,” he said. “Perhaps we’re lazy, but we do everything slowly.  We try to pick later than others, though it is not always easy to get the growers to wait.”  (About half their grapes are purchased.)  “And we ferment more slowly; we cool the must and take as much as one week longer than our neighbors.  And we bottle later.”  They also seem to release their Champagnes later. Of their new releases, the youngest vintage is the 2002 rosé, a beautiful, vinous bubbly that has great body and complexity.

Although Maurice, like Winston Churchill, was a Pinot Noir man, his successors have crafted a beautiful Blanc de Blancs from 100% chardonnay.  The current release here, amazingly enough, is the 2000, and it’s a beauty, full-bodied and toasty.  It’s a Blanc de Blancs for Pinot lovers.  Also just released: the 1999 Winston Churchill, which is more approachable on release than its predecessors, although still a big, powerful bubbly. It’s a food wine, really.

For everyday drinking, and for the perfect aperitif, it’s hard to beat the nonvintage Pol Roger, which is also a very good value.

Hugel, Jubilee Riesling 2005 Alsace

29 Jul 2011 by Richard Hemming

From £22, £49.98, €31.95.

Find this wine

Persuading readers of this site to drink Riesling shouldn’t be a problem. Especially in Riesling week, no less. We are surely all devotees of this perennial gooseberry of a grape. But Alsace Riesling? When was the last time you honestly had one of those?

Doubtless many of us drink Alsace Riesling regularly, but I expect many more do not. Having visited Alsace recently, it is certainly back on my radar as one of the dazzling stars in the Riesling firmament, across the whole range of styles from everyday drinking to super premium, and always good value – one of Riesling’s key benefits.

There were many I could have chosen to feature here, but one stood out as an outstanding wine for its affordability and widespread availability: Hugel, Jubilee Riesling 2005 Alsace.

It’s a dry style yet has a wonderful honeyed character to the palate, which adds richness and weight. There is a mature, decadent, petrol-fuelled nose as well as the lime fruit and floral hints you would expect. There is a measure of refinement and elegance to this wine which encapsulates all that is great about Riesling. I enjoyed tasting it so much because it explains everything about the variety: the esoteric complexity, vanishing-point length and masterful balance which underpin greatness in any wine, plus tremendous value for money. All in one gulp.

It is also a formidable match for Vietnamese cuisine, with which we enjoyed our bottle. To be precise, we were at La Baie d’Halong in Colmar, a great little restaurant with a BYO wine policy that I can highly commend to anyone visiting the region.

The grapes for the Jubilee Riesling come from the Schoenberg Grand Cru, but Hugel are among several top producers who eschew this classification on their labels. (See more on this phenomenon in The Trouble With Alsace.) The hand-picked grapes are pressed, settled, fermented between 18 and 24 ºC and then racked and clarified. No bells or whistles here, the grape and terroir are left to do all the talking.

2005 is the current release for the Jubilee Riesling, meaning it comes to you fully developed and ready to drink, though with the capacity to age comfortably  for another six years or so. Hugel is well distributed around the world, to over 100 countries in fact. Even their website comes in nine languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Korean. If you can’t find the Jubilee bottling, their regular Riesling from 2009 is a very good bet, though without the preening brilliance of its grander sibling.