January 31, 2024 - Browning robe. Medium body. Initially some VA that blew off after about 15min of splash decanting. Over the course of 1.5-2 hours of decanting this transformed from hard edged with limited fruit - almost brutish - to delicate and nuanced. Quite an amazing transformation as I have seen occur with other 2005 Fourrier.
September 1, 2023 - First time trying a fourrier with some real age. Immediately haunting and perfumed nose of vibrant red fruits, dried flowers, earth. The palate started out a bit rough, softened up over 2+ hours to show gorgeous and juicy berries and spice. Not too complex but those fruits !!!! Yum
December 25, 2021 - very secondary and showing its age quite well. nose of raspberries and sous bois. very enjoyable. would drink now. 88/89
May 7, 2020 - From 75cl, pretentious wax capsule concealing an inferior and evidently faulty cork. One sniff was enough: TCA. Under the taint, a rustic, sound Gevrey was discernable, with strawberry scent, a fine-grained-tannic texture and nice earthy notes. Yes, I didn't want to believe my nose, so I consumed a glass of this stuff and am therefore pickled-poisoned with TCA two hours later as I write this. The rest (and my money, and M. Fourrier's labour and probable craftsmanship) went down the drain once it was clear that the taint wasn't going to "blow off", but was there to stay.
I have had much better luck with red Burgundy than white Burgundy recently, but in this case too I simply fail to understand one thing: what exactly makes it acceptable for a supposedly obsessive artisan producer of a consumer product at this price level to use bottle closures with a guaranteed 5%/10%/X% failure rate 15 years down the line? Why exactly is it not acceptable for that producer to switch to screwcap, or DIAM for that matter?
January 2, 2020 - No formal notes, but delicious. I think this is essentially at peak now, though should keep for a while.
October 27, 2018 - This wine was won in a sporting bet from Nick H, a fellow member of the Solicitors' Wine Society and cricket-lover. I triumphed when James Vince failed to average 30 runs per innings in the 2017-18 Ashes series - and Nick was a true gent and offered this absolute treasure as my prize!
Light red with lots of fading and some orange at the rim.
Intense perfumed cherry on the nose to start with, following by brambly raspberry. Soft and inviting - no real barnyard.
Rounded tannins and balanced acidity. Mid to full-ish weight - smooth and mouthfilling. An absolute pleasure from nosing the bottle when first opened right through to the last pour.
Mrs H thought this was a bit too smooth and would have preferred to drink it 3 to 4 years ago when it might have had a bit more oopmh and edge. I loved it right now - it may well mature and develop more tertiary characteristics, but I wouldn't wait.
March 9, 2018 - X-pensive Winos does 2005 Burgundy: Complete and very much in harmony. En danseuse, and tasted blind, I was thinking chambolle. On day 2 it is richer, more full bodied, still very elegant.
March 8, 2018 - Funky nose, marks of barnyard. Light red fruit, raspberry/strawberry. Very good minerality. Vraiment Pinot, Niels said. Hits the Pinot nerve. Some guessed that this was Emmanuel Rouget. Delicious wine.
January 8, 2015 - Needed a couple of hours to get going, but once it opened up, this was delicious. Elegant, red fruited with good depth and length. Still more or less primary, but quite tasty and accessible for the vintage.
December 28, 2012 - Christmas Eve Dinner 2012: WOTN at Christmas Eve dinner, impressing everyone from white wine drinkers to cabernet aficionados. Deep nose of pure red fruits, intermingling with damp earth, ground mace and black tea. Silky smooth palate with flavors of cherry and refined spice and a backbone of moderate acidity and mineral nuance. Medium-bodied with a broad finish.