Faiveley Mercurey 'La Framboisiere' 2019

91 Points Robert Parker

The finest rendition of this cuvée that I've ever tasted, Faiveley's 2019 Mercurey La Framboisière wafts from the glass with aromas of sweet berry fruit, warm spices, rose petals and plums. Medium-bodied, fleshy and precise, with lively acids and excellent depth at the core, it's deep and unusually serious, with all the charm but less of the frivolity that this cuvée has historically displayed. It derives from an 11-hectare parcel—part of which was planted in 1990 and the rest of which is old massal selections—that was vinified with 15% whole cluster and matured in 20% new oak. The Faiveley family first produced wine from rented vines in Mercurey in 1933, finally beginning to acquire land there three decades later. Today, with over 72 hectares to their name, they number equally among the Côte Chalonnaise's most important landholders and its qualitative reference points. The 2019 vintage is a particular success here; and as average yields fall, a result of increasing vine age and climatic conditions, the compensation seems to be that the wines get better and better. Indeed, the 2019 portfolio is the finest set of Côte Chalonnaise wines I've ever tasted from Faiveley