Domaine Faiveley builds new winery to increase capacity

Domaine Faiveley has started work on a new €5m winery designed by the architects of Napa Valley's Dominus.

Erwan Faiveley: 'a new image for Mercurey'

Erwan Faiveley, the head of the major Burgundy producer, said the new building will be ¡®one of the most beautiful wineries in Burgundy.¡¯

It is being built by Swiss architect Jean-Fr¨¦d¨¦ric Luscher, responsible for the ultra-modern Dominus in Napa, owned by Christian Moeiux, and for Glenelly in South Africa, which belongs to May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, the former owner of Chateau Pichon Lalande in Bordeaux.

The winery, built alongside the existing Faiveley property, Clos l¡¯Év¨ºque in Mercurey, will have capacity for 90ha of grapes, with ten 70h/l oak fermenters. It will be completed in time for the 2013 harvest, Faiveley told Decanter.com.

¡®It will bring a new image to Mercurey,¡¯ he said. ¡®It will be in the Burgundian style and but will fuse the classic and the modern.¡¯

Faiveley said part of the reason for building the winery was that he and his father François Faiveley had decided to ¡®give a new image to our Mercurey holdings and build something brand new.¡¯

The new winery will only be for Faiveley¡¯s 70ha in the Cote Chalonnaise ¨C which Erwan Faiveley intends to increase to 90ha.

¡®We have the possibility to plant another 20ha, so we will need more capacity in the future,¡¯ he told Decanter.com.

Domaine Faiveley is one of the biggest producers in Burgundy with 80% of its wines coming from its own vineyards.

The house owns 120ha including 10 Grands Crus in Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune and five Monopoles, which include Corton ¡®Clos des Cortons Faiveley¡¯ and Beaune 1er Cru Clos de l¡¯Écu.