“Stupid” and Exquisite

Every now and then, my boss, Sharon, will open what she calls a “stupid bottle of wine.” These bottles are so-called because, as she puts it: “It’s just a bottle of wine.” Yet their precious and rare nature allows them to command a price that most people wouldn’t dream of paying.

Last week we opened just such a bottle: the Domaine Fourrier Gevry-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques 2006—not your ordinary bottle of Pinot Noir. Clos St. Jacques is a premier cru vineyard in Burgundy, France, that many experts agree should have been named a grand cru site—the region’s highest classification.

Winemaker Jean-Marie Fourrier makes his estate-bottled wines from impeccably tended vineyards composed of vines that are between 50 and 70 years old. He is a firm believer in terroir (explained in a previous post) “Until a vineyard develops a root system, it doesn't develop flavor,” says Fourrier. Therefore, wines made from any vines less than 30 years old are sold to other wine merchants (or négociants) rather than being bottled at the domain.

The Fourrier Clos St. Jacques has a nose of deep, dark cherry mingled with a hint of sweet sap and gamey notes. The palate is big and powerful with layers of rich fruit and a slight dustiness to the otherwise smooth tannins. This is a wine that although it is drinkable now, will age for decades into something incredibly refined—“ethereal” as Sharon would say.

It is the ethereal nature of certain wines that drives some wine writers and aficionados to great heights of absurdity when describing them because, quite literally, many are the embodiment of generations of history, culture, and labor all wrapped up in a bottle.

And while Sharon must certainly realize that these exquisite, limited-production wines beg to be sold for a profit, the urge to share one with an appreciative audience of wine geeks (her staff) is just something she can’t resist. Stupid? I think not.

Click here for a previous On the Vine blog post about terroir.

Tags: wine | Pinot Noir | Burgundy, France