Domaine de la Fontainerie, 2017 Update
I first visited Domaine de la Fontainerie a few years ago, back in 2014. I ended up there simply because I asked a trusted vigneron in the appellation who else I might visit in a spare few hours in my schedule, and they recommended Catherine Dhoye-Deruet (pictured) of Domaine de la Fontainerie. Never having experienced the wines before, I didn’t know quite what to expect, but what I found was an interesting array of wines, ranging from sec up to quite botrytis-rich moelleux cuvées, as well as a very striking brut cuvée from the 2009 vintage. In the end it turned out to be a worthwhile visit, expanding my knowledge of the appellation a little more, and I was very happy to have met that 2009 Vouvray Brut.
Earlier this year I met up with Catherine again, and this time she put on a rather more comprehensive tasting which gave me a more detailed look at the domaine and its wines. The focus was on the 2015 vintage, now on the market, although as I worked my way through the sec, demi-sec, moelleux and sparkling cuvées my tasting journey was punctuated by encounters with older vintages, little glimpses of what these younger wines might become ten or fifteen years from now. I came away from the tasting more impressed with Catherine and her wines than I was on our first meeting.
The Wines
We started with the sec cuvées, and both the 2015 Cuvée C and the 2015 Coteau la Fontainerie were very impressive wines; the former shows a lovely precision and balance of needle-like acidity with the fruit, while the latter is currently heavily strait-jacketed with oak. Both will age well I am sure, although whereas the former could be drunk with pleasure now, the latter really needs to be left alone with the expectation that the oak will be absorbed. In demi-sec, the 2015 Coteau les Brûlés equipped itself very well, all grilled fruit and botrytis richness, and a generous 30 g/l residual sugar, at the top end of what we should think of as demi-sec for sure. I was also impressed with the 2003 Demi-Sec though; this vintage is not known for its precision or balance, but this example put forth a fresh and floral aromatic profile and a fine-boned acidity too, somewhat to my surprise, and it would be hard not to like this wine.
