Forey

The history of Domaine Forey Père et Fils

The estate dates back to 1840, when Régis Forey’s great-grandfather established himself as a winegrower in Vosne-Romanée. The family has quietly grown vines in the village ever since and holds a distinctive place in its history: its vineyards are immediately next to Romanée-Conti, and it once farmed La Romanée, Count Liger-Belair’s legendary grand cru, under a sharecropping agreement. That arrangement, which lasted for decades, ended in the early 2000s, forcing the estate to reinvent itself.

Jean Forey, Régis’s father, crafted charming wines of elegance and finesse that caught the attention of American importer Neal Rosenthal as early as 1980, making the estate one of his very first Burgundy producers. Régis Forey joined in 1983 and effectively took the reins in 1987. Anticipating the end of the La Romanée agreement, he steadily expanded the estate, acquiring plots in the Échézeaux grand cru and vines in Vougeot and Morey-Saint-Denis. From 1999, he also leased a fine plot of Clos de Vougeot just below Château de la Tour. More recently, plots inherited from Domaine Lucien Jacob have added to the family holdings. Today, Quentin Forey has joined his father, and the estate farms around ten hectares across Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Flagey-Échézeaux, Vougeot and Morey-Saint-Denis. Half is owned, while the rest is leased or farmed under sharecropping agreements.

Terroirs and vines of Domaine Forey Père et Fils

The estate’s strength lies in the rare quality of its plots: scattered, yet superbly situated. In Vosne-Romanée, Les Gaudichots wraps around the La Tâche climat and produces one of the Côte de Nuits’ most sought-after premiers crus, while Les Petits Monts occupies the upper slope immediately above Richebourg. Its lean, stony soils bring tension and aromatic finesse. In Nuits-Saint-Georges, the estate owns a 0.42-hectare plot in Les Perrières planted with seventy-five- to eighty-year-old vines, as well as vines in Les Saint-Georges, the appellation’s most distinguished climat.

The Vosne-Romanée village wine alone comes from fourteen distinct plots covering just over one hectare, most of them north of the village toward Vougeot. The oldest was planted in 1942, and most of the wine comes from vines over forty years old. At grand cru level, the estate has vines in two of the finest sectors of Échézeaux, Clos Saint-Denis and Les Treux, and farms a third of a hectare of Clos de Vougeot planted with vines forty to forty-five years old. The estate holds no certification, but its vineyards are farmed thoughtfully, with respect for the soil and vines, limited treatments and meticulous work by hand.

Winemaking at Domaine Forey Père et Fils

The grapes are harvested entirely by hand and rigorously sorted: only the finest bunches reach the winery. Régis Forey then uses a cold pre-fermentation maceration lasting three to four days, followed by a long maceration of three to four weeks, sometimes longer, an approach that long set him apart from fellow winemakers in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Punch-downs are adjusted to the structure of the vintage, without ever forcing extraction. For some cuvées, whole clusters make up as much as half the harvest, bringing freshness and spice.

Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel, and the estate now racks the wine only once during aging, which lasts sixteen to twenty months. The wines rest in small barrels and 600-liter demi-muids, the latter used mainly for village and regional appellations. New oak accounts for 20 to 50% of the barrels, depending on the structure of the vintage and the volume produced. The wines are bottled without fining or filtration. In recent years, Régis and Quentin Forey have also experimented with alternative vessels for the Vosne-Romanée village wine, including terracotta jars and a tapered oak cask, to counter the more rapid evolution of wines in cellars that have grown warmer. The house style remains deliberately classic and uncompromising: structured wines, sometimes austere in their youth, that reward patience and reveal themselves superbly after a few years in the cellar.

The cuvées of Domaine Forey Père et Fils

The Bourgogne Passetoutgrain opens the range with a generous, straightforward blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay. Aromas of blackcurrant and raspberry, a lively, silky palate, deftly extracted tannins and lovely freshness make this a wine to enjoy while young.

The Bourgogne Rouge is far more than a simple regional appellation wine: it comes from six plots across Nuits-Saint-Georges and Vosne-Romanée, with Les Saint-Georges, Clos de Vougeot and Les Gaudichots among its vineyard neighbors. Hand-harvested, rigorously sorted and aged for fourteen months in oak barrels, it has a deep garnet color, black fruit and elegant tannins, with genuine potential to age for three to five years. One of the best values in the Côte de Nuits.

The Vosne-Romanée village wine is one of the estate’s great successes. A blend of fourteen plots, the oldest dating to 1942, it is aged in 500-liter barrels and offers a complex bouquet of red and black fruit and violets, a clean, fruit-forward opening, followed by generous structure and excellent length. A wine for the cellar that benefits greatly from three or four years of patience.

The Vosne-Romanée Jarre uses exactly the same blend but is aged in terracotta jars. These neutral, slightly porous vessels produce a wine with a tighter texture, a more linear, mineral character and remarkably pure fruit. A fascinating, small-production cuvée to compare with the classic version.

The Vosne-Romanée Menhir offers a third interpretation of the same wine, this time aged in a large, tapered oak cask whose shape inspired its name. Rounder, softer and more caressing, it appeals immediately with its gentle texture and floral bouquet.

The Nuits-Saint-Georges village wine expresses the appellation’s firmer, earthier character, with black fruit, licorice and lively tannins that need two to three years to soften. A classic, uncompromising Nuits.

The Morey-Saint-Denis village wine, from plots acquired around the turn of the 2000s, is a dense Pinot Noir with an expressive nose of mocha, blackcurrant bud and peony. Its palate is tightly knit yet harmonious, softening after a few years.

The Vougeot village wine completes the range of village appellations with a supple, fruit-driven character and appealing limestone minerality.

The Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Perrières is perhaps the most appealing cuvée at any age. From 0.42 hectares of seventy-five- to eighty-year-old vines, vinified with 50% whole clusters and aged in 50% new barrels, it offers excellent length, pronounced minerality and exceptionally pure fruit. An immediate step up in quality within the range.

The Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Saint-Georges comes from the appellation’s most prestigious climat, historically considered a candidate for grand cru status. Powerful, dense and refined, it combines black fruit and spice with a noble tannic structure that calls for long cellaring.

The Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Petits Monts, situated just above Richebourg on poor, stony soils, yields a graceful, aromatic wine with exceptional floral finesse and a mineral tension that extends the finish.

The Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Gaudichots is the estate’s emblematic cuvée and one of Burgundy’s most sought-after wines. This climat surrounds La Tâche and shares some of its magic: an elegant ruby color, an array of red fruit, redcurrant and strawberry, fine but present tannins that give the wine real tension, and a finish that approaches the very definition of fine wine. Production is tiny.

The Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru is a blend of several climats, which explains why no vineyard name appears on the label. After a long maceration of around four weeks and sixteen months of barrel aging, it is tightly knit and austere in its youth before developing lovely harmony after three or four years.

The Échézeaux Grand Cru comes from vines in two of the appellation’s finest sectors, Clos Saint-Denis and Les Treux. It combines the aromatic sensuality of Vosne-Romanée with depth and fine tannins, displaying the perfumed elegance for which the cru is renowned.

The Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, made since 1999 from a third of a hectare of forty- to forty-five-year-old vines just below Château de la Tour, is the most powerful and firmly structured wine in the range. A superb nose, intensity without heaviness, a smooth texture and remarkable length: this is a bottle for extended cellaring, best opened after ten to fifteen years.