92+

Stephen Tanzer

Vinous

Medium red. Lively perfume of raspberry, spices and dried flowers complicated by leather and soil tones. Supple on entry, then quite backward--in fact almost austere--in the middle palate, less open to inspection today than the Champeaux. Conveys a touch of rusticity to its flavors of leather, spices, earth and minerals. This classically dry wine will need at least five or six years in the cellar to uncoil. 11/2017

91-93

Neal Martin

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Combe Aux Moines has a gorgeous bouquet with red cherries and bergamot scents, wonderful mineralité seeping through with time with superb delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, fine tannins and very impressive density without compromising elegance on the finish. Excellent. Jean-Marie Fourrier could not join me during my visit, which was great news because that meant I could natter with his English-born better half, Vicky. (Only joking J-M.) He was actually checking out a new waxing machine that will make their task less laborious than it is presently. "We started picking on 10 September with a big team and picked everything within five days..." Vicky told me, as she began summarizing the growing season. Now, that is pretty good considering the size of the portfolio, domaine and négoçiant included. "We have started to use a company where you can hire from around 200 pickers. These people have already been doing harvest in Beaujolais, etc., so they know what to do. We found that the berries had thick skins, very little juice but good ripeness and acidity. Everything is de-stemmed as usual. Stems can affect the pH levels and bring it down, so that is another reason why we would not use them. We did two pigéages each day during the cuvaison. The wines are matured in 25% oak or thereabouts and we will start bottling in January...with our new wax machine." 12/2016