Fixin 2020
Directly outside the town of Dijon, the Fixin vineyard, just north of Gevrey-Chambertin, opens the gateway to the Côte de Nuits.
Origin
With a hundred hectares under vine (including approximately twenty hectares of Premiers Crus), Fixin is one of the smallest wine-producing villages though it boasts two A0Cs: Fixin and Côte de Nuits Villages. Twenty years ago, 80% of the wines produced in the commune were sold as Côte de Nuits Villages. This is why this village is not very well known, however, its wines are worth discovering.
Production is largely of reds with 96.21 ha of Pinot Noir but there are some plots of Chardonnay which represent only 5.92 ha. Suffice to say that white Fixin is a real rarity. Our wine comes from a plot called La Sorgentière.
Viticulture
Grape variety: chardonnay
Soils: limestone and marly.
Orientation: East.
Surface area under vine: 0.3481 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 38 hL/ha
Average age of the vine: 41 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 2 September 2020.
The grapes were handpicked.
At the winery: The whole bunches of grapes were gently pressed for 2½ hours. The temperature of the must was brought down to 12°C then was immediately transferred to 450L barrels (demi-muid) with no settling to preserve a maximum of lees. Very long fermentation using indigenous yeasts without stirring or racking for more complexity and freshness.
Ageing
Maturation: aged for 11 months with no racking or stirring to bring out all of this wine’s minerality. 30% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: Oak of French origin toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a subtle, delicate touch of oak were used.
Bottling
Bottling: The wine was not fined but was very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in September 2021.
Number of bottles: 2,794.
Vintage
Balanced and concentrated
The harvests happened back-to-front! They began with the reds ripening before the whites. The harvest was very disease-free but we had to eliminate sunburnt berries, especially in the case of the Pinot Noir vines as the Chardonnays had coped better with the heat. Quality was definitely good, but relatively low juice yields has resulted in Pinot Noirs with high colour and aromatic intensity. On the other hand, the Chardonnay vines produced adequate yields with a good balance of sugar and acidity. This optimal ripeness enabled us to harvest the red grapes in certain plots according to the ‘vendange entière’ approach, where stalks are fermented along with the grapes.
'Lots of lovely colour in the reds, with very high polyphenol content, firm tannins and excellent levels of acidity. Looks set to be a year with great cellaring potential. Summer fruit coulis notes definitely have the upper hand in this year’s vintage! The whites are nicely-balanced, but it’s too early to be more precise. Watch this space…’ Grégory Patriat.
Ageing potential: From 5 to 7 years.
Awards
Jancis Robinson MW - 16 / 20
Tasting notes
With its beautiful golden color, this wine reveals aromas of fresh nuts, yellow fruits and some buttered notes. The mouth is intense, with a very nice grain and a mineral finish.