Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Fournaux Simon Bize & Fils 2009

Lot presentation

Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Fournaux Simon Bize & Fils 2009

The wine

The estate was founded in 1880 by a certain Simon Bize but didn’t really take off until 1972, when Patrick Bize took over. Since then, the estate has become a veritable star of the Savigny-Lès-Beaune vineyard area, producing wines with the great finesse of which this village is capable. Made using whole bunches, the estate's red wines are among the most precise, elegant and floral in the village.
The Fournaux plot, facing due east at the mid-slope level, produces wine from vines planted in 1962 and 1963. The soil is stony at the top and deeper in the lower part of the slope. This gives the wines depth, density and tension, as well as admirable ageing potential. Very little oak shows in the wines of this estate, which favours barrels used for several wines, up to six vintages even, in order to reduce the oak influence.

Domaine Simon Bize, founded in 1880 in Savigny-lès-Beaune, is one of the discreet but essential pillars of the Côte de Beaune. Having passed from generation to generation, the estate experienced remarkable growth from 1972 onwards under the impetus of Patrick Bize, a respected figure in Burgundy winegrowing for his exacting standards, his sensitivity to the terroir and his artisanal approach. After his death in 2013, his sister Marielle Grivot took over the reins with the same commitment to excellence. Today, the estate covers around 22 hectares, mainly around Savigny-lès-Beaune, but also in Aloxe-Corton, Beaune and Pernand-Vergelesses.
The work in the vineyard is meticulous and respectful of the environment, with no official certification but with practices that are close to organic, including mechanical weeding, manual harvesting and no superfluous inputs. In the winery, the estate takes a low-intervention approach, fermentation is carried out with natural yeasts, and the ageing is long and precise, with little use of oak (10-20% new barrels maximum). Each wine is designed to reveal its terroir in the most honest manner, with precision and depth.
The estate’s red wines are among the most elegant and subtle in the Côte de Beaune, and are always well-balanced, without heaviness or excessive power. They have good ageing potential and a classically elegant, precise style, full of finesse. The whites, of which there are very few, stand out for their purity, mineral backbone and great freshness on the palate.
Some of the most famous cuvées are Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru Aux Vergelesses, appreciated for its complexity and well-balanced structure, and Les Lavières and Les Marconnets, with their nuance and tension. The simple village-level Savigny is a model of elegance and finesse in itself. The whites from Pernand-Vergelesses and Savigny, although rare, show delightful precision, freshness and ageing potential.
Today, the Simon Bize estate is sought-after by connoisseurs the world over. His small-production wines, with their classic, no-nonsense style, offer a sincere, refined interpretation of Burgundy, which is becoming increasingly hard to come by.