Domaine Faiveley has seized a rare opportunity to expand in Burgundy's Gevrey-Chambertin appellation, by agreeing to acquire Domaine Dupont-Tisserandot for an undisclosed fee.
The deal will hand Domaine Faiveley a further 20 hectares of vines in Gevrey-Chambertin, on top of the 10ha it has owned there since 1934. The group has agreed to buy a long-term lease on the vines, as well as rights to manage the vineyard.
‘It’s getting more and more difficult to find vines in the greatest appellations in Burgundy,’ said Erwan Faiveley, a seventh generation family member who has run Faiveley since 2005.
‘When we found out that they were looking for someone to help them, we thought it was a great opportunity,’ he told decanter.com. ‘My father told me that this happens once in a lifetime. I was lucky enough to do it while I’m still young.’
Following completion of the deal, Patricia Chevillon et Marie-Francoise Guillard will continue to co-manage Dupont-Tisserandot, having done so since 1990.
However, Faiveley said that, ‘as far as the style of the wine is concerned, there will definitely be some changes. We are going to try to get Dupont-Tisserandot as close as possible to the style we have now.’
He said that he has tried to bring more elegance to the Faiveley style in the past few years. At present, Dupont-Tisserandot has ‘the same old school style’ as Faiveley in the past. ‘The wines are very colourful, extracted, tannic and with a lot of structure.’
The timing of the deal is also good, because in a 2013 vintage that is shaping up to be extremely variable across Burgundy, ‘Gevrey is going to be one of the best’, Faiveley said. ‘In Gevrey, there’s a chance we will see some spectacular wines.’
With Dupont-Tisserandot included, Domaine Faiveley will possess around 70ha of vineyards in the Côte Chalonnaise, primarily in Mercurey, and 70ha in the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune, the group said.
Written by Chris Mercer
