Domaine Jean-Marie Fourrier

Jean-Marie Fourrier took over the family’s 10-hectare property from his father in the mid-1990s at the age of 23. His experience was gained not only at the family domaine in Gevrey-Chambertin but also while working at Domaine Drouhin in Oregon and with the legendary Henry Jayer in Vosne-Romanée. Jean-Marie was involved in making the classic 1988 vintage at Jayer, and his winemaking philosophy has followed Jayer’s practices ever since: making great wines begins in the vineyard. He is fastidious about maintaining healthy, well-nurtured vines and follows strict, extremely natural winemaking techniques.

Jean-Marie possesses an infectious enthusiasm for the winemaking craft and an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience, which he is happy to share with others. It’s amazing that even during the busy days of vintage, he finds time to pull someone aside to point out something interesting or explain an important step in his winemaking philosophy.

Domaine Fourrier’s portfolio includes holdings in some of Gevrey-Chambertin’s top vineyards, most of which date back to the early 20th century. His most famous holdings are in Griotte-Chambertin and Clos St. Jacques, with vines planted between 1902 and 1910. These wines have already gained the status of “Cult Wines” among serious Burgundy lovers around the world, and the fact that they are produced in extremely limited quantities makes them even harder to acquire. However, Fourrier’s entire portfolio shares the same characteristics, with a transparency that reflects their relative terroir, along with purity and finesse that make them highly desired worldwide.

Quoting Jean-Marie’s own words while walking in his cellar from barrel to barrel, “I now have almost nothing to do in the cellar. The wines make themselves. All my work is in the vineyards and prior to placing the wines in barrel.” The vineyards are treated as naturally as possible, and no effort is spared to keep the vines in top healthy condition. No herbicides are used, and there is an absolute minimum of spraying. During vintage, there is strict selection in the vineyards, and only fruit from vines older than 30 years is retained by the domaine. Naturally, this hard work yields consistently healthy, perfect fruit year after year.

The fermentation room is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology, but the use of these technologies serves the sole purpose of allowing minimal intervention in the natural winemaking process. It is incredible to see how clean the room remains, even during busy vintage times. The fruit from all vineyards is treated similarly, and everything is done by gravity until the fermentation stainless steel tanks. Even the sorting table is raised above the floor to allow the sorted berries to free-fall into the destemmer. This approach requires extra muscle power but eliminates the need for a conveyor belt, which is commonly used by other domaines to lift the berries to the crusher. The fruit is destemmed to almost 100% at an extremely low speed, which ensures that mainly undamaged grapes enter the fermentation tank. This process facilitates what Jean-Marie calls “intracellular fermentation,” meaning that the majority of the fermentation occurs inside the grape before the skin breaks completely. This method, used by Henry Jayer in his cellar, is one that Jean-Marie continues to follow. Naturally, only the grapes’ natural yeasts are responsible for the fermentation process, and hand pigeage is the only technique utilized at Domaine Fourrier.

Jean-Marie’s wines are marked by wonderful purity, transparency, vibrant fruit, minimal use of sulfites, and limited use of new oak (typically around 20%). Bottling is done by hand at the domaine, and to avoid racking and adding sulfites before bottling, Jean-Marie prefers to leave the wine with the CO2 that naturally evolves during malolactic fermentation. This helps ward off oxygen and maintain the wines’ freshness. No fining or filtering is needed, as the wines are naturally clear after the 16- to 20-month aging process without racking. Since the wines retain some dissolved carbon dioxide in the bottle, Jean-Marie recommends decanting them if consumed young.