Clos Saint Jacques is one of Burgundies most famous Premier Cru vineyards situated in the village of Gevrey Chambertin. The vineyard was split up and sold in 1954 by the Comte de Moucheron to four producers. One of these producers was Henri Esmonin, who at the time of the sale was the metayage for the vineyard and bought 1.6 hectares. The other producers were Armand Rousseau, who purchased 2.20 hectares, the Fourrier family who purchased approximate 1 hectare, and Domaine Clair-Dau who purchased 2 hectares.

Today, this 6.7 hectare vineyard with five strips running from the top to the bottom of the vineyard, are currently owned by five different producers. Sylvie Esmonin, the granddaughter of Henri Esmonin, holds 1.60 hectares. Bruno Clair and Maison Louis Jadot own 1 hectare each, which was split between them from the land purchased by Domaine Clair-Dau. Domaine Fourrier holds 0.89 hectares.

Domaine Jean Marie Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques 2017, 13.5 Abv.

A fine classical vintage that seems to play into the hands of Jean Marie. While there are plenty of easy drinking premier cru’s, the 2017 CSJ displays impressive lifted perfume of pithy black plums, macerated black cherries, black currant confit and a stony, strawberry pip minerality with no overt oak imprint evident. Just fine purity and plenty of focus. The palate too shows fine depth, spicy textured extract, concentrated sweet red and black forest berry fruits tightly underpinned by an impressive stony, graphite minerality. Jean Marie’s wines never lack plush opulence and fruit sweetness, but in a more classical, “pretty” vintage like 2017, his wines strike a superb balance between concentrated fleshy fruit opulence and focused, polished tannin minerality and structure. If you can get an allocation of this beauty, they are certainly worth buying.

(Fine Wine Safari: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)