Fournier Père et Fils Vin de France Pinot Noir 2023

Fournier’s crowd pleasing, hedonistic 2023 Vin de France Pinot Noir offers enticing aromatics and plenty of tasty, feel good flavors. Cranberry, black currant, and plum flavors caress the nose and grace the palate. The juicy flavor of freshly picked raspberries and a touch of exotic spice emerge in the mouth, too, carried on a soft flow of succulent tannins that left us all asking for more. Balanced and lovely, the 2023 Fournier Vin de France Pinot Noir is hard to beat. Accessible and gratifying all at the same time, it’s difficult to imagine a more enjoyable Loire Valley red than Fournier’s 2023 Vin de France Pinot Noir. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest affording the extremely satisfying Fournier Pinot Noir 5-10 minutes of aeration before serving it cool (58°-62° F). Anticipated maturity: 2024-2027. Santé!

The 2023 Fournier Vin de France Pinot Noir is positively delightful on its own, but a wide variety of well-prepared dishes will certainly enhance one’s enjoyment of the food as well as the wine. Classic French specialties such as Coq au Vin, Quiche Lorraine, and Crown Roast of Pork served with brandied apples, caramelized onions, and other savory condiments provide ample evidence that food and wine both complement and enhance each other. Steak and Frites make fine companions, too. Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon provides another delicious accompaniment. A succulent Veal Chop served with a delectable risotto also makes an exquisite duo. In addition, any poultry dish served with a cream, mushroom, or truffle-based sauce will allow Fournier’s lovely 2023 Vin de France Pinot to shine. Bon Appétit!

Fournier’s juicy, lush 2023 Vin de France Pinot Noir makes a fine companion to a wide array of cheeses. The most exquisite soft Camembert, Fontina, Gouda, Gruyere, Port Salut and of course Sancerre’s special regional cheese Crottin de Chavignol are just some of the superb cheese selections to pair with the 2023 Fournier Vin de France Pinot Noir. For the very best in expertly selected international cheeses delivered monthly to you or the cheese lovers in your life, visit our cheese club at www.cheesemonthclub.com. Why settle for only one of life’s pleasures when you can have more?

« Le vin réjouit le coeur de l’homme. » (“Wine makes glad the heart of man.”)

The Fournier family are longtime growers and producers of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon, and Sauvignon Blanc from select vineyards in France’s Loire Valley. And, like many of the best growers in Sancerre and its environs, the Fourniers have expanded their holdings over the past half century to include vineyard parcels from growers with the most outstanding terroir. From these parcels they craft several exceptional Sauvignon Blancs and a delicious Pinot Noir, including this month’s feature, the 2023 Fournier Vin de France Pinot Noir.

In addition to producing the crowd pleasing, highly acclaimed Fournier Vin de France Pinot Noir, Fournier also fashions several illustrious wines that are consistently deemed by critics to be among Sancerre’s finest cuvées. The domain’s Les Belles Vignes, Grande Cuvée, and Cuvée Silex sit atop the pinnacle of quality for wines from France’s iconic Sancerre appellation.

Begun in 1950 with just over 10 acres in Sancerre, the Fournier Père et Fils estate has grown to nearly 222 acres in various appellations and locales throughout the Loire Valley. In each appellation and with each wine, the emphasis is always on quality. Although Sauvignon Blanc remains the Fournier family’s claim to fame, the estate also fashions aromatic, high quality Pinot Noirs, which rival the best that the beautiful Loire Valley as to offer.

The Loire is France’s longest and most picturesque river, and the valley that bears its name is known affectionately as le jardin de France (the garden of France). From the Loire’s lush gardens, pastures, and vineyards flow a treasure trove of fruits, vegetables, and wines to grace elegant tables throughout France, including those in the most fashionable temples of gastronomy in Paris and beyond.

Given the Loire’s length, varied terroir, and multitude of microclimates, it is not surprising that this vast region produces a wide array of wines. From the chalky hills on the upper reaches of the river as it bends in sight of Burgundy come several of the world’s finest dry white wines in the guise of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon and Quincy – all from Sauvignon Blanc – as well as a growing number of very fine Pinot Noirs. As the river flows westward towards the heart of France, Chenin Blanc and soft sparkling wines predominate, followed by the superlative sweet wines of Touraine and Anjou, which emerge from green hills in sight of stately châteaux. And, by the time the slow moving Loire reaches the sea near Nantes, it becomes the home of Muscadet, a quaffable, fresh, bone dry white wine that is superlative with oysters and nearly everything that once swam in the sea.

Nearly all of the Loire’s greatest wines are white, but one should not miss the growing number of excellent red wines now being made in “the garden of France.” Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir are the most important red varietals in the Loire, at least in terms of quality, but some very good Gamay-based wines can be found as well. It is Sancerre and its environs where Pinot Noir thrives, while Anjou, Bourgeuil, and Chinon are typically the appellations along the Loire most notable for soft, velvety reds from Cabernet Franc.