Philip Fournier

Loire Regional Trophy: White Loire over £10 Trophy

2008 Savennières, Château de Chamboureau, Domaine FL

This brilliantly precise Savennières shows the heights that Chenin Blanc can attain and illustrates that it is often the more difficult, cooler vintages like 2008 that produce the finest dry white Loires. 2008 was a cool summer with little sun. The sun came out in September and October but the temperatures remained cool – rarely above the low 20s˚C. The grapes ripened slowly with a significantly longer hang-time than normal. The result – very pure flavours, minerality and a wonderful backbone of acidity.      

Domaine FL is the creation of Philippe Fournier, a telecommunications tycoon in Angers. FL combines the Domaine Jo Pithon in the Layon and the vineyards of Château de Chamboureau in Epiré (Savennières).

A long established domaine in Savennières likely to have been producing wine for some 400 years, it is at the western end of the village of Epiré. The vines are planted on schist. In 1949 the property was bought by the Soulez family. The vineyards were sold by Pierre Soulez in 2006 to Fournier. The following year the Bordeaux consultant, Stéphane Derenoncourt, was hired to advise here and for Domaine Jo Pithon. This led to the acrimonious departure of Pithon. Fournier then combined the two estates under the Domaine FL umbrella in 2008. A new winery is now under construction at Rochefort.

Hugues Daubercies, Pierre Soulez’s nephew is the winemaker. The grapes are picked by hand with three sweeps through the vines selecting the fruit at just the maturity needed. Native yeasts and fermentation and aging in barriques for 12 months. 

The 2008 is remarkable value: retailing at just 15.60€ a bottle on the FL site (www.domainefl.com). It has the potential to last for 20-30 years.  

Philippe's son, Julien, looks after the commercial side of Domaine FL.


** Back in November 2009 I asked here whether Philippe Fournier was 'serious'. The quality of the 2008 Chamboureau answers my question: he is certainly serious!

On my return from Kent yesterday I found this sample from Philippe Fournier waiting for me along with a letter explaining what had gone wrong at the lunch on 18th November 2009 when he had been due to present his wines to a group of UK wine writers but in the event neither Philippe nor his wines were able to make the lunch.

We opened the 2007 Les 4 Villages last night with cheese – the same selection as we had with the 1969 Clos de Catherine we drank the night before and as good a match. Interestingly Les 4 Villages, although obviously much younger, is similar in style – moderately rich but not super sweet as the Domaine FL site explains:

'Les 4 Villages

Assemblage de différents terroirs sur Rochefort, Beaulieu, St-Aubin et St-Lambert. Tris de grappes en partie botrytisées, généralement entre 80 et 100 grammes/litre de sucres résiduels.'

Rochefort, Beaulieu, St-Aubin et St-Lambert are at the western end of the Layon Valley and are among those villages allowed to add their name to the Coteaux du Layon appellation.



The 2007 Les 4 Villages is a very pale gold with honey, citric flavours as well as pineapple and has the purity and precision that is typical of the lovely 2007 sweet wine vintage in the Loire. As well as being a fine foil for cheese, this would work well with patés and probably rich duck dishes. I must try this style of Layon with Pekin duck sometime. The 2007 would have been picked and started its fermentation during the very end of the Jo Pithon era as the split occured at the end of 2007 with its élèvage completed post-Pithon.

I expect taste some other wines from Domaine FL at the Liberty Wines tasting this week as they are FL's UK importers.

Previous postings on Domaine FL here, here, here, here and here.

Philip Fournier (February 2009): is he really serious about building FL as an internationally reputed brand?

Today I was invited to a lunch at Rowley Leigh's Café Anglais in London to meet three producers: Philippe Fournier of Domaine FL (a fusion of Domaine Jo Pithon, AC Anjou, and Château de Chamboreau, Savennières), Dominique Meneret (Château de Brondeau and Domaine de Courteillac Bordeaux Supérieur) and the son of the owner of Tenuta la Novella in Chianti.

I have met Philip Fournier once before at a dinner in Angers in early February during the Salon des Vins de Loire. Fournier's stated ambition is 'to make Loire wines of the highest level at FL and to create an internationally reputed brand'. Thus it was more than a little curious to arrive and be told by an exasperated Christine Ontivéro, who until now has done PR for Domaine FL, that neither Fournier or his wines were present. Apparently Fournier had turned up at the railway station only to discover that his passport was out of date. It is not known why FL's wines hadn't arrived but suffice to say that those from Dominique Meneret and Tenuta la Novella had arrived at Café Anglais and were served during the excellent lunch.

The lunch had long been arranged, so it would seem foolish to get together a small group of journalists including influential figures like, Tim Atkin MW, Nick Faith, Rosemary George MW and Margaret Rand and to fail to get there. It is not as though Philip Fournier is some country hick. Instead he is the founder and managing director of the Afone telephone group with a turnover of €50million.