Cote de Nuits Villages, Domaine Didier Fornerol 2017

Drinking beautifully today, the 2017 Côte de Nuits-Villages offers up expressive aromas of plums and red berries mingled with warm spices and sweet soil tones. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with lively acids and melting tannins, it's suave and seamless. Drink 2021-2034.

I'm mortified that it has taken me so long to report to the Wine Advocate's readers on the impressive wines of Didier Fornerol. But better late than never. After over a decade at Domaine d'Arlot, Fornerol returned to his six-hectare family domaine in Corgoloin in 1999, and ever since—based on older bottles that I've recently had the occasion to drink—he has been turning out terrific wines. There's no smoke or mirrors at this address, just thoughtful viticulture, vinification with a considerable percentage of whole clusters and careful élevage in barrel with minimal percentages of new oak. The results are striking wines that would embarrass, nay humiliate, plenty of winemakers' grander appellations in a blind tasting—and not just out of the gates, but with bottle age too. Complex, perfumed and elegant, the wines merit a place in any serious Burgundy lover's cellar, and the modest tariff they command proves that great Burgundy remains, for the time being, accessible to all.

Mid red, lighter than the 2020 of course, but stronger than the 2019. A really fine bouquet, delicate raspberry and light fine wild strawberries. Some tannins behind. But really would be lovely to drink on a spring evening.

Pale ruby colour. Fine hedgerow fruit, peppery spice and just a hint of leather make for a complex, layered and fragrant nose here. The palate follows in the same light, matching floral tones with an almost garrigue like ripe herbal note, this is a wine with superb definition and typicity. Focused, with tannins resolving into the fruit, this finely etched and precise Cote de Nuits is fantastic to drink now. Long and moreish.