Terroir Insight: Domaine Faiveley Musigny – a minuscule cuvée

The Burgundian vineyards are often very fragmented – fragmented to a degree where it’s almost incomprehensable to collectors who has never walked the vineyards of the Cote.

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Some plots are small – very small indeed – and in some cases it’s can therefore be difficult for some owners to have enough grapes to make a wine from these plots – let alone making a wine in commercial quantities.

But if you own a small plot on one of the big Grand Crus then it could be well worth the effort to make a tiny cuvée and put this on the market.

One such tiny Cuvée is the Musigny from Domaine Faiveley – only approximately 150 bottles are made each year according to the Faiveley website – equivalent to half a normal barrel.

But whats the story behing the Domaine Faiveley Musigny … 

The Faiveley Musigny – plot and location

The Musigny vineyard is actually quite fragmented, with several very small plots. The Faiveley plot is only 0.0338 ha – i.e. 338 square meters and is located in the northern end of Les Musigny on the border to Les Argilliéres and Les Borniques – see map below.

To the south of the Faiveley blot we find the 0.67 ha holdings of Maison Joseph Drouhin⁵.

Looking at other rare Musignys the production of the Faiveley Musigny is miniscule. The very rare Musigny from Domaine Georges Roumier is made from a 0.1669 ha “large” plot i.e. more than four times the  size of the Faiveley plot.

Further info about the Faiveley plot

The Faiveley Musigny is made from very old wines planted in 1945 – i.e. 70 years old⁶. According to Domaine Faiveley they have no info of the previous owner, but the plot was presumably acquired in the 1930s by Georges Faiveley, the great grand-father of Erwan Faiveley.

Looking at 1880 map of Musigny it looks like the Faiveley plot was owned by Malbranche in 1890. – see map below.