2023 Domaine Didier Fornerol Côte de Nuits Villages

Didier Fornerol spent sixteen years at Domaine de l’Arlot, from 1982 to 1998, as vineyard manager and cellar master under Jean-Pierre de Smet, and in 1999 he went home to Corgoloin to take over six hectares of family vines that several generations had farmed without ever making the wine famous. De Smet, retired from Arlot, has worked alongside him in the vines and cellar since 2006. Almost everything Didier owns falls under Côte de Nuits-Villages, the appellation that covers the quarry towns at the southern end of the Côte de Nuits, which is why the wines cost what they do. The red comes from 3.7 hectares across three parcels west of Corgoloin, one by the cemetery and two higher up the Route de Villiers, with vines averaging 40 years. The grapes go into the vat whole, extraction is kept light with hand punch-downs and pump-overs, and the wine spends 14 to 16 months in barrel with about 10 percent new. Didier also holds his wines back and sells them when they’re ready rather than when the market wants them. William Kelley, writing in The Wine Advocate, said “there’s no smoke or mirrors at this address” and that the wines would embarrass plenty of grander appellations in a blind tasting, young and with age. Thomas Parker MW gave the 2022 92 points and noted it was among Didier’s last vintages before retirement, which makes the 2023 one of the final releases from this cellar.