I am persuaded, I am charmed, I am seduced. It begins with a deal made in kind to a region’s most consistent producer, by allowing a cross section of their wines to act as a teaching moment for the vintage. Submit to the truth and the circumstances. There are moments when you think “there’s really no point in doing anything in life, because it’s all over in the blink of an eye,” and then you taste through some Bourgogne 2017. But one never knows until the the contract is signed and the ink dry. Still we can dream. Kingdoms for an allocation.
Champagne Henriot is the parent distribution company at the head of the Bourgogne houses Domaine William Fèvre and Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils. Each year their Ontario agent Woodman Wines and Spirits puts out the call to media, buyers and sommeliers to taste the current vintage. There simply is no other event on the Toronto calendar that affords a comparable taste, assess and climb into the heart, mind and body of a Bourgogne vintage. Two dozen reds and whites from the region’s great villages are a sample size large enough to know that the 2017s bring quality to a modern day high with that rare combination of fruit and structure. These are chardonnay and pinot noir that tease, hypnotize and excite.
The quality is noted through both the whites and the reds and while pricing is reflective of the vintage it’s really just about as fair as can be expected. There are in fact some exceptional deals to be had and at all appellative levels. Russell, Jason and Rachel Woodman laid out the Bourgogne red carpet at Montecito Restaurant hosted by Heather McDougall and staff on Thursday, September 12th. Please read on through my notes below to gain some insight, agreed upon or not with respect to these exceptional 17s.
Mysteries of climat, soil and orientation in Chablis and The Right Bank
Domaine William Fèvre Saint Bris 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($24.95, WineAlign)
Not that we wouldn’t expect flesh and unction from a Fèvre Saint-Bris but ’17 brings sauvignon blanc in Bourgogne next door to Auxerre into a whole new sun-shadowy light. It’s one of those dappled mornings, at once bright and cast effusive, then cool, greyscale, at calm respite. Terrific interplay of patience and energy, activity and rest. Does both and well done at that. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted September 2019
Chablis
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($76.00, WineAlign)
Fourchaume the most broad shouldered Premier Cru steps lightly into view from 2017 before offering up an aromatic bite into a just ripened basket full of yellow and green fruit. The fruit accumulation is impressive, variegated, crunchy and fulsome. There’s something suggestive, hidden, shadowy and yet unearthed about this one from the wide swath of a hill. Something two to three years away. Patience will reward that curiosity. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted September 2019
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($96.00, WineAlign)
Bougros the Grand Cru holds little back in a gone for broke style it should be suggested few other Cru Chablis will frame from the vintage. There’s dramatic foreshadowing of fruit exceedingly healthy, wealthy and destined to greatness. Truth be told the cumulative offer of sheer sustenance suggests no sneaking here but simply an advance and a leap into a pool of chardonnay exceptionality. Drink this with pleasure and confidence almost immediately and then for 10 further years of incremental bliss. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted September 2019
The Reds
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Premier Cru Beaune Du Château 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($66.00, WineAlign)
A true estate expression and the first google result for a search of two words, Bouchard + Beaune. The Château de Beaune, the true estate vernacular and the spokesperson for its dialect. Higher toned, darkness of fruit, pure black cherry and then a silken, liquid limestone chalky palate. Here’s the introduction to pinot noir, Premier Cru and Beaune. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Savigny Lès Beaune Premier Cru Les Lavières 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($71.00, WineAlign)
Lavières is silky smooth and stunning, gently if generously spiced and who would not want to think that the flat stones used on roofs would be found in this Bouchard sector of soil. From the word “lave,” not a volcanic reference but indeed in reference to those limestone slabs atop the old houses. The palate brings in some fine-matchstick sliced fennel and then good clean fun in healthy dark cherry fruit. Very ripe Savigny. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Nuits Saint Georges Premier Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($73.00, WineAlign)
Quite bright and effulgent Nuits-Saint-Georges and showing more lithe ease and attitude than the Beaune labels. Here is a crossroads, not middle of the road but twain team building pinot noir. This is a glue for the Bouchard group in the reds, residing somewhere along a line between the light and the dark, the silken and the gripped, the beauty and the beast. It’s all of that and more, big red fruit, crunchy and intense. It’s all so very posh and polished. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2019
Bouchard Père & Fils Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($77.00, WineAlign)
Gevrey Chambertin is at once open, friendly, getable. It’s also sneaky structured, grippy, formidable even. The great Premier Cru chameleon giveth and taketh away. It teases and then pulls back. While it may at certain moments act like a pinot noir in love it is in fact looking for affection but not yet ready to accept. Wait a few turns of the calendar for this Romeo. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted September 2019
Bouchard Père & Fils Chambolle Musigny Premier Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($91.00, WineAlign)
Chambolle Musigny is constructed of a structure enabling its fruit and acids to tether along the frame for long, longer and longest aging. This may be the first of the ’17 Premier Crus to lash immediately back, to speak on its own behalf and say “back off” with emphatic hand gestures and voice. This as C-M is a cherry brick of limestone and marl, equipped with all the tools necessary for looking into the next decade, without equivocation and whether or not you are prepared to listen. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune Clos De La Mousse Monopole 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($95.00, WineAlign)
The aromatic intensity of pure demure, depict and delight is the combed and combinative epitome of what Clos de la Mousse can be, whether probable or possible. This entry is confident, streamlined, crystal clear. The transitions are chord-constructed, seamless, effortless and executed with maximum efficiency. This fruit meets acid melting into and with fine tannin is a get on the same page affair. It grabs hold of nerve endings and hangs on for seemingly ever. Great Premier Cru. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted September 2019
Bouchard Père & Fils Pommard Premier Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($112.00, WineAlign)
Pommard 2017 brings the violets and florals en masse as the conduit and foil apposite its firm and grippy nature. This is truly an aromatic wonder, a gatherer of sunshine and a hunter of fine to finest acids and tannins. There is a silky component that settles the palate but it’s just a trick. There is pure limestone melt throughout this mouthfeel and structure is a matter of great demand. Look ahead towards seventeen years from 2017 I would imagine. Drink 2023-2034. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Volnay Premier Cru Ancienne Cuvée Carnot Caillerets 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($129.00, WineAlign)
It seems to me that for the first time since 2005 the artist known as Les Caillerets is want to act this way. Free, fruitful, humid and excitable yet built on rock ’n roll swagger. This sashays across the olfactory and the palate like nobody’s business. A mashup of 1970s star power; Mick strutting, torn and frayed. Rod in Faces mode stay with me, both pictures telling a story. Remarkable concentration, consistency throughout its components, always acting tough, cocky and cool. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune Grèves Premier Cru Vigne De L’enfant Jésus 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($170.00, WineAlign)
Hard to believe how deep into its tenure this absolute iconic pinot noir has come but it is indeed the one, the expert, the consummate professional and never wavering traveller. Moves without impediment through time and space, in and out of consciousness, which is exactly what happens to us as we taste this 2017. Spice of the highest delectability and a seamless weave of impression meeting expression. What more can you say? Drink 2023-2035. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Le Corton Grand Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($199.00, WineAlign)
A magical entry can only lead towards and into a land of great hope and expectation, a place where pinot noir is a rare gift, expensive mind you, but a true gift for the select few. This is the magic elixir indeed, pure, crystalline and of a fabric ethereal, alluring, luxe and pristine. This graces all buttons and notes for pleasure and longevity. It’s hard not too be seduced and if you are not you are simply not paying attention. Drink 2023-2038. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Echézeaux Grand Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($391.00, WineAlign)
There is a next level concentration, glycerin texture and layering in seamless accord that few other 17s are capable of showing. There is also a bit more grip and tension that stands apart from that silky luxuriousness that Corton just seems to integrate with less pronouncement. This is a splitting hairs matter because Echézaux is everything imagination can conjure and more. Magnificent pinot noir. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted September 2019
The Whites
Bouchard Père & Fils Montagny Premier Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($43.00, WineAlign)
Montagny makes a quick and informative introduction into the zippy nature of the 17s mixed with fleshy substance and emotion. There’s a little bit of everything to go around and the world is a chardonnay oyster through the lens of Montagny. Good for all and all for one. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune Du Château Premier Cru Domaine 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($65.00, WineAlign)
Bliss in chardonnay amenability with all the purity, necessity and accumulated estate culpability gathered to act out the epitome of Beaune capability. More flesh than Montagny but also increased bite. A bit reductive and certainly exuberant with grip in the bag and the bank. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted September 2019
Bouchard Père & Fils Meursault Domaine 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($76.00, WineAlign)
There’s pure savour, lush fruit ascension and absolute Meursault movability unshaken, unstirred and just merely whetting the appetite and thirst. So tight and wound to thrill there’s Meursault coursing through arteries and itching to spill forth. Just wait three years for the honey to emit with emotive aromatic intensity and then to tell a next stage story. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2019
Bouchard Père & Fils Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($77.00, WineAlign)
Puligny brings some power to the table with help from the glorious barrels, aiding and abetting the lush constitution. The quality is exceptional and this despite being the one that is non-specific, made of fruit from varied blocks and carrying no moniker such as Combettes or Champs-Gain. If you consider the purity and clarity, not to mention the rise from fresh through texture and into structure then you’ll see how this P-M is the affordable steal of the vintage. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Meursault Premier Cru Genevrières 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($140.00, WineAlign)
Toasty and integrated with exceptional ability, reductive in the ways of Meursault and how it’s protective custody of this particular parcel is unlike any other. Great strength and composure, purity and crystalline limestone exclamations. Exceptional toast and smoky, singsong voice. So worthy of its reputation. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($283.00, WineAlign)
Boasts more outward behaviour then Chevalier-Montrachet and also a quicker knowing acceptance of flesh, texture and full attack. Great reduction, even greater smoky smoulder and a healthy pinch of rock salinity above and beyond. Wonderful work by the Cru, the vines and their uncompromising fruit. Drink 2021-2037. Tasted September 2019
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru 2017, AOC Bourgogne ($513.00, WineAlign)
The couverture is all encompassing acting as a full sheathing tapestry in surround of a fruit core of sheer concentration and yet as a whole so understated. It’s hard to imagine more coaxing and less pronouncement. Relatively speaking there’s no estate equal to what has happened here. Great mineral crash into life and love, into fruit and impossible acidity. A magnificent chardonnay with 25 years of life ahead. Drink 2021-2039. Tasted September 2019
Godello, Museo civico e diocesano d’arte sacra di Montalcino
Welcome to Godello’s annual list of the most memorable, game-changing and mind-altering moments, also known as his 18 mind-blowing wines of 2018. Godello started this year-end assessment first in 2012 though first blessed the list with the moniker for the 14 mind-blowing wines of 2014. Whether it’s the fifth or the seventh incarnation matters little to negligible because in the end it’s all about the who, what and where.
With thanks to the winemakers, friends, colleagues and pirates I welcome you to read on. Godello’s 18 mind-blowing wines of 2018.
Taittinger Comtes De Champagne Blanc De Blancs Vintage Brut Champagne 2006, Champagne, France (55277, $205.95,WineAlign)
Rarities are special for many reasons but in the case of the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs it’s a matter of chardonnay incarnate. Some details must be kept in the pocket of assessment. Only exceptional vintages lead to its production, fruit is drawn from the finest Côte des Blancs parcels of chardonnay and only the first press juice is used. So what? So the gathering might lead one to think of words like purity, elegance, refinement, finesse and delicasse. In actuality there is the finest wisp of smoke and smoulder, a bite from a perfectly ripe apple and the zen golden taste of honeyed Japanese toast. Who could not be overjoyed to zen out with the Comtes B de B, anytime, anywhere. Drink 2018-2030. Tasted January 2018 champagnetaittingerfwmcanchampagne_officiel@TaittingerUK@FWMCan@Champagne_UKChampagne Taittinger@FWMCan
Dr. H. Thanisch Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2014, Prädikatswein, Mosel, Germany (298182, $40.95,WineAlign)
In a word, thank you, well two, to say how important, generous, fortuitous, philanthropic and poignant it is to taste Spätlese from this combination of producer, vineyard and alcohol. At 7.5 per cent proper and out of arrested necessity the frame on which the ultra-clean fruit and fineness of acidity hang is kevlar light and built to last. The poise and integrity in exhibition toasts lithely from stones warmed and earth cooled by night through excitable seasonal fluctuations. If this does not soothe the savage while wooing the unaware then few German rieslings will. This can’t be missed nor will it pass lips without eliciting a response set passionately in the ethereal and the sublime. Amazing. Drink 2021-2035. Tasted April 2018 #braunebergerjufferawsmwestgermanwine_ca#braunebergerjuffer@AuthenticWineON@germanwineca#braunebergerjuffer@awsmon@germanwinecanada
Into the South African mystic ~ A formidable line-up led by @mullineuxwines with thanks to Chris, LK @WOSACanada JG @lbstoronto @wosa_za @NicholasPearce_
Mullineux Schist Chenin Blanc 2014, Swartland, South Africa (Agent, $89.95, WineAlign)
Mullineux’s Schist is a 100-120 case production (though only 72 in 2014), from schist, of course, not granite, which adds mid-palate weight and texture. Also from older (36 and 40 years) vines based from soils of the Kasteelberg. It’s a heartfelt message and cerebral pulling string from the 2014 density gifting vintage. Older barrels wrap like a blanket for fruit richer than you’d ever imagine, full-bodied, beautiful and robed in petticoat unction. It’s also dry as the farmland desert. Truly one of the finest chenin blancs from South Africa and beyond. Drink 2018-2027. Tasted May 2018 mullineuxwinesnicholaspearcewineswosa_ca@MullineuxWines@Nicholaspearce_@MullineuxWines@WOSACanadaAndrea MullineuxChris MullineuxNicholas Pearce@WOSACA
How to have an epiphany. Taste 25-30 year-old #southafrican white wines. Case in point @kleinconstantia sauvignon blanc
Klein Constantia Blanc De Blanc 1987, Constantia, Western Cape, South Africa (Winery, WineAlign)
Poured by Managing Director Hans Astrom in Cape Town alongside 1994 and 2009. Planted in 1979, the inaugural vintage and the first South African sauvignon blanc was 1986. The 1987 was not labelled as sauvignon blanc but rather as B de B because of the botrytis-affected vintage. Honeyed but not in the way you might expect, not pushed by a petrol-fuelled sweetness but instead as the action of an old world inspired mash up. Like Loire Jolivet Sancerre meeting Huet Demi-Sec chenin blanc head on. The collision explodes into a smoky smoulder with textural consequences. It’s a bees-waxy ethereal treading of chaotic spaces between worlds. The astral travel must have twisted through three decades of nether to arrive at this place, with the low pH vineyard soils to thank. And the magic, despite or perhaps in ode to the ’87 botrytis. In the end aridity wins and the wine drinks so proper, perfect and fine. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018 kleinconstantiahalpernwinewosa_za@KleinConstantia@HalpernWine@hansverbier@WOSA_ZA@KleinConstantia@halpernwine
Alheit Vineyards Sémillon La Colline Vineyard 2017, Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa (Winery, WineAlign)
“Qu’est-ce que c’est?” From a vineyard housing both light and dark skinned sémillon and if there are others in this world I am not privy to the information. The resulting wine is 85-90 per cent blanc and 10-15 gris. La Colline was planted in 1936 on the southern slope of Dassenberg and is now farmed by grandson Anton Roux, a direct descendant of the Huguenot refugee Paul Roux who arrived in Franschhoek in 1688. The vines stretch up the hill from 310-350m and it is the fruit from the middle slope that is best to leave for picking long after the chenin blanc. This is the indispensable fruit used in Alheit’s Cartology. Thick skins elevate the natural talking tendencies, from a super healthy pH for drupe of apposite attack and confusing like great whites you would not or should not compare it to. Chris Alheit’s invades your head’s consciousness with this amazing depth for sémillon, with no definable context, pretence or precedent. The impossibility is totally unique in the world and yet utterly South African. It’s both tense and nervous but somehow I can still relax. Psycho Killer sémillon. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2018 chrisalheitgsoleil123@ChrisAlheit@GroupeSoleilTOChris AlheitGroupe Soleil Fine Wines
Chablis Grand Cru can be found in the commune of Chablis on the right bank of the Serein River and the appellation comprises seven climats; Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, and Vaudésir. “The terroirs, formed in the Upper Jurassic era, 150 million years ago, are composed of limestone and marl with Exogyra virgula, tiny oyster fossils. Chablis Grand Cru is one of the rare French AOC wines to make reference to its geology, notably the Kimmeridgean age.”
Christian Moreau Chablis Grand Cru AOC Les Clos 2015, Bourgogne, France (Agent, $82.00, WineAlign)
Who has not waited for the sovereign Grand Cru to get together with the 2015 vintage? I’m quite sure Christian Moreau was one of those who looked at the alliance with all his acumen and experience to craft a high point of Chablis benevolence. Christian’s ’15 is beautifully fruity, ultra fresh, richly endowed and reductive perforce. So young and precocious but begging for our patience, his is a model of Les Clos richesse. Resides on the cocotte or chouette side of Chablis with notes of white flowers and fresh herbs. Also layered of fruit over stone upon fruit, of peach, persimmon, citrus and wet stone. Implosive intensity reminds of Chablis Grand Cru structure though Moreau’s is more elastic than many, of a subtle and sultry liquidity. Great potential here. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted May 2018 @christian_moreau_pere_et_filsrogersandcompanywinesvinsdechablisvinsdebourgogne@ChristianMoreau@rogcowines @vinsdechablis@GrandCruChablis@purechablis@VinsdeBourgogne@BourgogneWinesChristian Moreau@rogcowines
Makers’ cool pinot noir warmth from regional @wineaustralia as explained by the man, @vintagemarkdavo
The Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir is based upon declassified grapes from the Original Vineyard planted in 1988 and grapes from the new Block K, planted in 2001. Crazy horse nose in the way that other varieties of the world will do, or at least try and simulate when they want to be pinot noir. Especially Italian varieties, like nerello mascalese, dolcetto, perricone and montepulciano. This is a natural leader for grape wishes like those of the lesser known. Very wise from the start, from birth, from creation with more savour and salumi then so many wannabe realists. There is a beautiful raw pasta dough note and then an exotica by fruit that isn’t really nameable. If this is the de-class from Michael Dhillon I’d like to meet the classified. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted June 2018 bindiwineswineaustralia@Bindiwines@wine_australia@WineAustralia
50 years ago this #chianticlassico entered the world. Suffices to say 1968 was a pretty good year ~ @castellomonsanto
Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Poggio 1968, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)
“A good, not an outstanding vintage, with some vines affected by botrytis,” explains Laura Bianchi, though truth be told she’s relating the information from stories and legends. You can taste it, in a sweetness that reminds of quince and apricot. Plums are dusted with white pepper, sherry drizzles over sugar plums and in the end, acidity continues to shine. It’s still a dramatic drop of sangiovese, with longevity preservation going back to the era (1962-1969) when the wines were aged in chestnut barrels. This at 50 years of age is so alive, time encapsulated, dew sweetened, ethereal. Drink 2018. Tasted September 2018 castellomonsanto@castelmonsanto@castello.dimonsantoLaura BianchiCarpe Vinum
Chianti Classico Riserva 1987 is habituated and living life to the fullest in a state of complete and utter sound body and mind. It is sangiovese made at a time when it could it not have been known how impressive it would show 30 years later. Volpaia ’87 is from way back in the cold, pre-climate change days, the acid-washed, roaring 80s, now umami-earthy, cherry-plum fruit with some celery and a real salty-sandstone vein. Still blessed by a healthy, rhythmic pulse of acidity and finally, pure pleasure. Chalk it to bottle luck or a vintage that just had an inkling of greatness that would surely come but this is truly a special and memorable moment to taste. It needs saying with a thank you in words to Giovannella Stianti for sharing, but that will never be enough. Grazie infinite. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018 castellodivolpaiarogersandcompanywineschianticlassico@volpaia@rogcowines @chianticlassico@volpaia@rogcowines@ChiantiClassicoUSA
At the pinnacle of Elisabetta and Emilio Foradori’s mysterio teroldego pyramid is this Granato, theoretically or perhaps spiritually interchangeable with the world’s most fascinating and complex fruit, the pomegranate. There are many theories on separating the edible seeds from the pith and skin but those who know do it the right way. Foradori knows teroldego and raises this singular expression the right way. The roots dig deep into the Campo Rotaliano and Mezzolombardo stony alluvial soils with pebbles and gravel for an alternative-indie northern Italian red wine. Raised in large 20 and 30hL casks it’s still reductive, seriously internal and yet to shed layers, open up and externalize. The red fruit is alone and incredible, sweet and tonic-amended at the same time. It’s both retro and timeless. “And the world fell down, when the moon was blue, and you wore a crown and the word was true.” Like a pomegranate. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted May 2018 eforadorithelivingvine@AzAgrForadori@TheLivingVine@elisabettaforadori@thelivingvineinc
Benvenuto Brunello
Talenti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Pian Di Conte 2012, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $120.00, WineAlign)
Two of the 20 estate hectares in Castelnuovo dell’Abate are dedicated to the the vineyard Paretaio, planted to a sangiovese clone selected by Pierluigi Talenti. Pian di Conte is only made in years deemed worthy of carefully selected grapes from 20-plus year-old vines out of this highly specific, 400m of altitude micro-climate block. It’s a wow Riserva from 2012, perfumed with classic extra time in barrel that Annata Brunello only seems to reach. Notes like dark berries, pipe smoulder and rich ganache, the 2012 is already showing some maturity signs of integration. It’s a fineness of tart dark citrus styled-sangiovese wrapped so tightly around the structure’s finger, indelibly inked, modern and with all parts fine-tuned in synchronicity. Riservas will often sting until they pass at least a ten-year mark but Talenti’s croons romantically with stand-up base note ease. For Montalcino it’s a hit of the vintage and to it I can safely say “I can see the destiny you sold turned into a shining band of gold.” Drink 2020-2030. Tasted March 2018 talentiriccardobrixandmortarwinecobrunellodimontalcino@brixandmortar@ConsBrunelloRiccardo Talenti@brixandmortarwinecoBRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO
The answers are so simple and yet unanswered because magic is involved. You can understand the old vines and the way their fruit turns into wines that begin with ancient wisdom but move so little in the first seven years. What happens at 10 is the turning outward, to express the place and speak the dialect of the cru. The acidity is still high but is now in lift, with fruit at the height and en anergy that flows, really flows, moving across your palate with grace, grab and attention. A contiguous wine from start to finish, with intensity, impression and precision. The structure is come cavallo domato, like a trained horse. Dramatic nd’A but with no drama at all. Tamed and in respect of ancient vine, where it grows and what it wants to give. Ma zitto, a wine to keep you silent. Drink 2018-2029. Tasted May 2018 feudo_montoniwineofsiciliadocwinesofsicily@FABIOSIRECI @WinesOfSicilyFabio Sireci Feudo Montoni (Fabio Sireci)@feudomontoni@WinesOfSicily
Cottá Azienda Agricola Sottimano cru spoiled by Elena Sottimano and Le Sommelier, Wine Agency ~ going vertical with Barbaresco and John Szabo — at Taverna Mercatto.
While tasting through Pajoré, Fausoni, Currá and a mini-vertical of Cottá with Elena Sottimano it is here for the first time that some development appears in a wine. This glimpse into what might happen with their Barbaresco may only be a minor crack in the oasis but it begins to fall away from the curative, tannic intensity into something stretching its limbs towards the ethereal. I can ruminate with this nebbiolo swirling around in my mouth while I wonder how far along we are or have come. But it comes with knowing that no matter how much distance we walk there is still a marathon to run. There is this perfect wonderwall of wild cherry spinning like vinyl liqueur over the cheeks, tongue and gums, refreshing and working its magical fruit dance up to the edges of my nerves. “I said maybe, you’re gonna be the one that saves me. And after all,” you’re Sottimano. Drink 2019-2035. Tasted April 2018 az.agr.sottimanoElenaSottimano@AzAgrSottimano@LeSommelierWine@AziendaAgricolaSottimanoElena Sottimano@LeSommelierWine<
La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 2001, Rioja, Spain (Agent, $65.00, WineAlign)
I am convinced the Reserva 904 is just one of those wines that must be held for 15 years before any deep understanding can be resolved. It beats down the adage that says if the fruit is not gorgeous from the beginning it will never be. At 17 years of age this Rioja of 90 per cent tempranillo and graciano remembers with a hyper-sensitive vividness the 40 year-old vines and the four year-old American oak barrels. The memories are crystal clear and it remembers the comfort, protection, protraction and the possibilities. The power is edifying, stabilizing and eventually but without great haste, emollient. La Rioja Alta has produced the 21st century purpose for what it is to mean Rioja. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted June 2018 lariojaaltasariojawine_es@LaRiojaAltaSA@RiojaWineLa Rioja Alta
And @winealign we tasted the greatest of #madiran terroir with the Man himself, #alainbrumont of @montusbouscasse
Château Montus La Tyre 2009, Madiran, Southwest, France (Agent, $135.27, WineAlign)
La Tyre, literally “the tire” is the pinnacle of Alain Brumont’s tannat from Madiran. It’s a wine that needs a decade to even begin to relent and open up for viewing, nosing and tasting. Pitchy to the nth cimmerian degree it would be hard not to see this wine as THE Madiran, the epitome of a red wine from Gascogne. The nose is über-umami and in fact in character it reminds so much more of Brunello Riserva meets sagrantino from Montefalco combined with Taurasi aglianico than it does Bordeaux. Not that Toscana, Umbria or Campania are the reference points but old school meets micro-oxidative winemaking surely is. The formidable acidity and the way in which the expense of barriques inject major influence is similar to what happens when sangiovese is subjected to said same sort of winemaking. The underbrush, garrigue and intensely concentrated argileux all combine, along with toasted wood to make this one of the most intense and structured red wines on the planet. Should seek and realize its best at some point in its late teens or early twenties. Drink 2025-2039. Tasted October 2018 vinsdemadiranmontusbouscassemarkanthonyon@MontusBouscasse@MarkAnthonyWineMarine Madiran@MontusBouscasse@MarkAnthonyWine
Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard Malbec River Stones 2015, Gualtallary, Tupungato, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina (132340, $95.59, WineAlign)
In a line up that includes malbec from all walks of Mendoza life as well as some extreme altitude northern examples this is the first wine with a somewhat reductive quality, locked in freshness and very high acidity. It’s a wine of exceptional qualities. There is a highly intellectual and sensory balance executed through perfectly ripe fruit, that fine acidity and even more fineness in tannins. A beautifully linear wine that can come full circle if need be. This is a malbec that creates moisture in your mouth, never drying or taking anything away. A wine that is changing the way we are dealing with the idea of different terroirs in Argentina. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted November 2018 lauracatenamdcatenawineswinesofargnoble_estates@LauraCatena@CatenaMalbec@ArgentinaWineCA@Noble_Estates@winesofarg@bodegacatenazapataNoble Estates Wine & Spirits@winesofargentina
Roche De Bellene Clos De La Roche Grand Cru “Collection Bellenum” 2006, AC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $279.95, WineAlign)
The great Cru and the magnificent vintage conspiracy is a tour de force, even by the standards of Grand Bourgogne. I’m a bit surprised by the ascension to secondary life but it is Clos de la Roche that goes there early because of wisdom, curative indiscretion and life as it always was, right from the word character. Only this Cru delivers such soulful funk, perfectly classified and ethereal volatility and fully gathered expressions. It’s like a face that flashes a thousand looks in the span of a few seconds, there is that much going on. I am blown away by this. Still needs another year to settle, gather and explain itself. Drink 2019-2032. Tasted May 2018 domaine_de_bellenedomaine_de_bellenevinsdebourgogne@Nicholaspearce_@VinsdeBourgogne@BourgogneWines@BourgogneWines@VinsdeBourgogneofficiel
Château Margaux 1989, AC Margaux, Bordeaux, France (176057,$1,645.00, WineAlign)
You never want to say that a vintage was perfect but in this case, the vintage was perfect. It seems impossible but the tannins are both present and even a bit drying so at least for this bottle there will be so much residual fruit at the end of the tunnel. Only those tannins seem altered from four years ago because the fruit and the flowers are exactly the same. What rises above, around and in darts between is the fineness and intensity of implosive acidity. Structure in this 1989 is forged by bars of steel as reinforced spikes in the concrete. It may never truly break down. Drink 2018-2044. Last tasted March 2018 chateaumargauxnoble_estates#ChateauxMargaux@Noble_Estates@NobleEstates
The 1989 Château Margaux wears the response to a mondo Bordeaux axiom on its sleeve. Are First Growth wines made for people who want darts of instant pleasure?” Twenty years earlier and now like the 2009, here is a quintessential and exemplary vintage, from day one of bud break to the last day of harvest. Its appraisal as anything but incredible is to assassinate it as if it were the Franz Ferdinand of Bordeaux. The examination 25 years later sees a mellow funk meet a peerless and sublime perfume. A wine cast in utmost density, complexity and length. It noses strength, warmth verging on heat but only for a fleeting moment, to gain attention. The iconic wine has reached the first major peak, up a ways from base camp. In this second phase of young adulthood it looks with conceit to the top of the mountain, seeing 25 to 50 more years on the climb. Mr. Pontallier regrets he won’t be around to taste this wine at full maturity. Moi aussi. The fruit lingers in its full, original state, from the moment it passes lips and for minutes onward. Violets trump roses. Château Margaux 1989 is from a vintage that offers the blessing of ethereal balance. Hear her sing, “Ich heisse Superfantastisch!” Tasted April 2014
Good to go!
godello
Godello, Museo civico e diocesano d’arte sacra di Montalcino
Back in April of 2017 I walked into Canoe Restaurant on the 54thFloor of the Toronto Dominion Centre to taste the Henriot Family wines of Villa Ponciago, Domaine William Fèvre and Bouchard Père & Fils. This tasting hosted by Woodman Wines and Spirits is more than just an annual highlight, it is an event borne of necessity for a multiple of triumvirate reasons. Gamay, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; Beaujolais, Chablis-Bourgogne and Bourgogne; Village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru; Fleurie, Chablis and Les Côtes, d’Or and Chalonnaise; Climat, Climat and Climat. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between producer, Village and Climat then you cannot miss such an opportunity.
The vintage may have been one borne out of sunshine and the wines are unquestionably rich. From a vantage point of precision and structure they may not be as stubborn, focused and direct as 2014 but they hold a famous adage accountable to its meaning. No wine can truly be great if it does not taste that way from the very beginning. Fruit must be there from the start. It will not later be found. These are the 2015 Beaujolais and Bourgogne as exemplified by these three categorical producers. I would have liked to taste all 33 wines on offer that day but time constraints for one got in the way, not to mention this tasting is so popular amongst the media and trade in Toronto so several of the wines were drained before I could get to them. Nevertheless I did manage to squeeze 23 concentrated sessions into a 90 minute time slot and these are my notes. Thank you as always to Russell, Jason and Rachel Woodman.
Villa Ponciago La Réserve Fleurie 2015, AOC Beaujolais, France (Agent, $25.00, WineAlign)
Been waiting for 2015 to come along for Ponciago’s no pain Fleurie la Réserve, a gamay always firm but now of fruit like compound berry butter from the giving vintage. Now with more black cherry than almost ever, or at least in recent memory, the tart compressed, compounded too but variegated mille feuille-like so not really tart at all. No war of juicy versus grippy so “I resist what I cannot change.” Persistent as needed but not forever, so this drinkable drug is just what the Beaujolais doctor ordered. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2017 chateaudeponcie#villaponciago
Villa Ponciago Cuvée Les Hauts Du Py 2015, Fleurie, AOC Beaujolais, France (Agent, $31.00, WineAlign)
Even the generous vintage can’t distract from the quartz-lined granite bedrock of the Hauts du Puy but it does make for an intensely layered cuvée of moving parts. This 2015 is possessive of a repeatable Réserve condition but with bigger, broader and more complex dark red berries, though also here in the throes of the mineral streak of diffidence. There are few examples of Fleurie that concentrate, purify and integrate inchoate soil and munificent fruit like Les Hauts and with the vintage so forward and early expressive this is as gamey getable as there is on the market today. Pour this critical mass with reckless abandon. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted April 2017
Unsparing and benevolent @vinsdechablis 2015s aplenty from @williamfevre_ via @WoodmanWS
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Premier Cru Beauroy 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $58.00, WineAlign)
There can be no surprise that Beauroy is broader, creamier and it can be said, fruitier than Vaillons though again, the salty earth and the ancient ocean are swirling with their liquid mineral solutions and rushing through with their waves. As Févre is so want to insist, to call to order, even in the thick brushstroke of Beauroy. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2017 williamfevre_chabliswoodmanws@williamfevre_@WoodmanWS@domainewilliamfevreWoodman Wines & Spirits
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $58.00, WineAlign)
Vaillons walks along a kimmeridgian trail with so much fruit from the elongated slope and valley in ’15. Though truth be told (winemaker) Didier Séguier has kept the fossils, salinity and direct mineral injections consistent with not only ’14 but in omniscience and with complete trust to what came before. This is not no much a piercing as it is indeed an injection. There is much to learn from how Fèvre approaches Vaillons becuase the consistency is second to none. Vintage matters less and that is the calling card of the house, at least with respect to this Premier Cru. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2017
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Premier Cru Montmains 2015, AOC Bourgogne (488718, $39.95, WineAlign)
Montmains is different, that much we know but this is 2015 and no modern era vintage speaks with more fruit clarity. Still the herbology mixed into the salinity and brine consistently forms the basis for the Montmains oeuvre. What conspires from ’15 is more depth and soild tang than what comes off of the nearby hills. It’s like lime over lemon but it’s not exactly citrus that sits at the forefront, more like savoury syrup swirled in but in thick rotation at the conical bottom’s narrowing point. This is quite intense for 2015, but it is Montmains that effects this indelicacy with great presence and the most insistent Premier Cru persistence thus far. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2017
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $69.00, WineAlign)
This Premier Cru of greatest surface is committed to by Fèvre with a singular duality, of a domaine within a domaine and as cru versus cru. The greater Fourchaume is a Grand Cru hill place of five distinct climats in which Fèvre holds blocks in Vaulorent so they bottle both it and this ubiquitous Fourchaume. Upwards of four hectares deliver a best of all Premier Cru worlds Chablis as Forchaume is gathered for a collective sumptuousness, really layered and propping up the most kimmeridgian of the line-up to date for ’15. Carries its ilk in its DNA and its expresion; compression, lemon and lime citrus, soil conditioning and the broadest yet most direct feel of appeal. If you want Fevre, 2015, Premier Cru and ancient wisdom all wrapped up in one clear package this is the bank expression for you. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted April 2017
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $99.00, WineAlign)
Bougros, the approachable one. Bougros, with great unction and deep intensity but not hard to get. How this has gathered its sensibilities so quickly is a matter of vintage and place but there are layers, many of them, left to peel away. You get a conditioned and developed salinity meets acidity unlike any Premier Cru and yet you can’t help needing to think it should be drinkable straight away. The potential of mille-feuille layering is leaps ahead of (most but not all) of the Premier Pru. Quite domesticated Grand Cru Chablis that is easier to understand than most. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted April 2017
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $125.00, WineAlign)
If Les Preuses isn’t the Fèvre piece, of resistance and resilience. Of memory and understanding, of formidable variegation and in ’15, teasing and tempting open doors. Don’t be fooled or duped because there are many doors and so many fences to tear down before you can find what’s behind the barriers. Intensifies in its delivery of more citrus and compressed stone clarity than Bougros (or at least with more crunch and bite) but it will take years of ruminative meal matching possibilities and execution before you might know where it stands and with it, relative to you. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted April 2017
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (641381, $130.00, WineAlign)
Fèvre’s Les Clos takes a bit of an unexpected turn so from 2015 it currently goes stone cold and remains intensely locked. From what we know the vintage should be generous from the start but in this instance Les Clos makes use of every ounce and fibre of kimmerridgian being to lay only salt, fossil and stone before you. The fruit kept hidden away makes you pine for fleshy orchard apples. Nothing can really prepare you for the Les Clos iron gate, especially when you were expecting a welcome mat laid out at your feet. Take the time to charm and be charmed, at least 15 minutes with a glass or 15 years if you can offer up the time. The Grand Cru will slowly open up and speak in a vernacular of controlled energy, fineness of acidity and exceptional balance. This will be one for the ages. Drink 2021-2035. Tasted April 2017
Bouchard Père & Fils Montagny Premier Cru 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (653683, $38.00, WineAlign)
Montagny is rich and expressive with a shot of tonic and quite the textural viscosity. A bit reductive though another six to 12 months will put it in a honeyed, waxy and preserved citrus place. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted April 2017 bouchardpereetfils@BouchardPereBouchard Père & Fils
Bouchard Père & Fils Saint Aubin Premier Cru 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $57.00, WineAlign)
Saint-Aubin’s proximity to Montrachet and high percentage of Premier Cru vineyards should be an automatic to elevate its esteem but it still flies under the radar. Bouchard feels otherwise and proudly boasts and toasts its ability to effect fine chardonnay. Great 2015 fruit be scorned this is a terrifically taut example but yes it is certainly fruit expressive (apples and such). In relative terms to Saint-Aubin it delivers more perceived sweetness and spice provided by the barrel in what is ostensibly and sensibly really well-intended and generous from the start. A bit of a wild child this one with plenty of upside. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2017
Bouchard Père & Fils Puligny Montrachet 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $80.00, WineAlign)
It has often been said that Village level Puligny-Montrachet from top growers can be very good indeed, but is all too often unexciting and disappointing. Combine that statement with a humid 2015 vintage and you may be left to wonder what will happen from a non vineyard-specific Puligny. Bouchard’s stands firm, acts forthright and tackles the suspicion head on. This is a direct, linear, layered and unctuous P-M with layers of lemon and fresh glade air at their get me vintage finest. It’s also a wine of grace and elegance away from barrel and into something ethereal. Acidity suits the flesh, not as an injunction but as an extension and takes the fruit into a place of inflection. Such a beautiful wine. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Meursault Les Clous 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (661322, $59.95, WineAlign)
Bouchard’s Meursault Les Clous seems akin to acknowledging the ideal of Bourgogne that sit somewhere along the line between Village and Premier Cru and in this instance well right of centre on that line. Les Clous is a bit more reserved than the Puligny, not so much reductive as much as it is wrapped a bit tight. It may be construed as perhaps a bit couterintuitive to Meursault but certainly not impossible to accept. Really brings the idea of lemon curd and a melting barrel into the ideal. Needs two years to integrate and if you are patient it will reward with a comforting hug at that time. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Meursault Premier Cru Genevrières 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $129.00, WineAlign)
Meursault Genevières is so much more fleshy, fruit forward, expressive and feminine than Les Clous though never straying too far from carrying a necessary liquid limestone, chalky streak through and through. The soil speaks more from the middle to the back, creating a fascinating transition for this wine. A warmth challenged vintage be anathematized this Genevières has not gone to blazes, constantly re-energizes and is built from a constitution to see it hang in for the long haul. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Chassagne Montrachet Premier Cru Morgeot 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $141.00, WineAlign)
Bouchard’s Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot is an intense expression of Bourgogne Premier Cru distilled into the finest, most elegant and ancient geology captured expression. The integration and balance is remarkable when you consider how Climat must contract intuition and acumen for the purpose of harnessed power and controlled energy. This is one of the major stars of the vintage. From soil to microclimate and through temperament it just has it all. Drink 2019-2030. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $260.00, WineAlign)
Corton Charlemagne is a thing of great opulence, not the intense and controlled energy of Chevalier-Montrachet but here strutting and the wood more apparent. The fruit component shows off more desire (like Vaudesirs in Chablis but with the volume turned way up). This affinity with Grand Cru Chablis is curious, in a way interchangeable but respectfully mutual, apparent and beneficent. The munificence of this Corton breathes to fleshy texture and from mellifluous honey and bees waxy genteel notes. Power is evident but gorgeous and together is even more so. Toasty in the end, as in the beginning, with lime in gelid curd. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru 2015, AOC Bourgogne, France (Agent, $480.00, WineAlign)
Chevalier-Montrachet is a matter of aromatics, of the finest of the finest, preserved, reserved, impressionable and of quietly powerful impression. The deistic and the parrhesiastic are reached in this Grand Cru, “one who speaks the truth to power.” Elysium in chardonnay is captured for the perfectly ripe orchard and crushed stones. The young palate is almost severe but takes its first steps down the most ethereal path, with the finest drawn lines and rendered streaks of energy lit, sparked and smouldering. This is Bourgogne of intrinsic value, slowly rising to a crescendo where a flame flickers but within the sheltered lamp of a hurricane. How is such harnessed power even possible? Only like this, in Chevalier-Montrachet . Drink 2021-2037. Tasted April 2017
Bouchard Père & Fils Monthélie Les Duresses 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $57.00, WineAlign)
Monthélie is intensely floral where roses merge into violets and then strawberry melds into raspberry. Some firm grip as the Climat would suggest but it’s really quite a salvo, like shots fired into the air as an announcement of the wine’s drink early ability. Dureté could just as easily be fermeté because there is strength in trust, belief and assurance. Les Duresses brings attention to itself quite easily and with shameless selfie confidence. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted April 2017
Bouchard Père & Fils Gevrey Chambertin 2015, AOC Bourgogne (661330, $59.95, WineAlign)
Bouchard’s 2015 is incredibly forward Gevrey Chambertin, full of fruit, flowers and a beautifully integrated red liquid chalky syrup. It’s just plain getable and is the godfather to all of its peers. If you want to show the world and everyone in it who knows or knows nothing about high-level Bourgogne then perhaps consider this to be the journey’s departure point. Gevrey and especially in the hands of Bouchard is such a gate for what it means to build pinot noir from the earth upwards. It explains what needs in a language you can understand and makes an offer you can’t refuse. Pour this every day simply because it is quintessentially ripe and structured stuff. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted April and November 2017
Bouchard Père & Fils Chambolle Musigny 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $78.00, WineAlign)
Initial mannerisms direct the imagination to view this Chambolle Musigny as taking a turn towards a gentler version of itself. It’s quite floral and mineral with fruit the protein in between the covers. The condiments of spice, espagnole and coulis derived by that wood-soaked red fruit provide the structure. There are moments when this pinot noir seems more mineral than fruit and this equivocation will surely repeat depending on the time each one is opened but in time the genial will emerge and remain. For now the fleeting impression is of a grippy, firm, intense, citrus circus of acrobatic ability. At the finish it turns to the botanical and the tonic. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Ancienne Cuvée Carnot Volnay Caillerets Premier Cru 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $116.00, WineAlign)
Caillerets Ancient Cuvée Carnot is no young, impressionable and misunderstood bit of Bourgogne winemaking. There is DNA in this fruit that connects back 240 years to the house’s first vineyard dating to 1775. Here Volnay exhibits a substantial amount of chalky limestone swimming with variegated aggregate and firm, not quite ready to dissolve crunchy stone behaviour. Dark fruit and so much fraises de bois meets this perception brought on by mineral aromas and flavour. A bit savoury and all in for Volnay. So bloody in charge of its structure with grippy persistence. A classic Climat meets vintage of strength, courage and purpose. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune Grèves Premier Cru Vigne De L’enfant Jésus 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $156.00, WineAlign)
When I asked Luc Bouchard which Climat most defines the notion for the estate he replied “from Bouchard estate we are very proud of the Climat of Beaune Grève Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus, monopole of Bouchard since 1791, a unique terroir with gravely soil (unique in Beaune). The roots go very deep into the soil (9m), so if we have a very dry summer there is always enough water far below and if there is heavy rain storm, the drainage is so good that the water is not directly swallowed by the grapes. That explains the consistency of the wine, it’s unique texture and ageing potential.” Beaune Grève Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus in 2015 is the wondrous inhalant, like (dare it be said) Hermitage if it were married to Côte d’Or, of an impossible liqueur and the first to bring this truly rich 2015 element to a Bouchard pinot noir. The finest silk coats the palate and through black composure the mineral (limestone) in here will never relent and let the dark fruit take charge. This is a wine of impeccable balance and gentle, ethereal preciseness. It impresses as much as any Bourgogne will. Drink 2019-2030. Tasted April 2017
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Le Corton Grand Cru 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $180.00, WineAlign)
Le Corton the Grand Cru is a senior, most adult red of the Côte d’Or crowd, an inwardly impressing Bourgogne with more mineral limestone impression than you can bother trying to imagine settling into one bottle. This is a factor of the very top of the vineyard and can’t be denied. Eighty years ago this Grand Cru received its AOC status but you can feel the roots go so much deeper. East-facing below the Charlemagne holding, Le Corton is often one of the last wines to be picked and it is this necessity that speaks to the severity and royal power wielded by this king of the appellation. In a word, wow and provided by so much wisdom. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted April 2017
Bourgogne is but a place built upon a word, of wines designed and articulated through their very own personal vernacular. The region’s most important vineyards are defined in a word, in summary and withoutcomparison. Climat is the word and you may be shocked to hear how it is expressed as a highly complex chain of topographical, elemental and ethnological conditions. The glossary is much longer than you might think and adds up to quite a versatile declaration. To arrive at the distilled quotient of one, no less than 20 words are employed, exercised and ushered into explanation. The lineage travels through geography-geology-topography-landscape-position-relief-aspect-exposure-slant-elevation-slope-soil-vegetation-weather-microclimate-humankind-heritage-history-tradition-knowhow and temperament. While we understand the intellectual autonomy of choosing the unescorted word Climat as acting on behalf of all these conditions, what makes it so specific as to be exclusively owned by the people of Bourgogne?
It’s really quite simple. The people of Bourgogne coined the term or rather it came to them, as naturally as signs and portents but in the most positive, abiding and permanent of ways. Climat as in the Latin verbumsapienti, “a word to the wise,” meaning it stands alone, suffices, tells the whole story. Many will ask how many base and necessary conceits comprise this peerless notion that is Climat? The answer is not how many but that it belongs to the Bourguignons and no one else, so deal with it. Climat is the perfect oxymoron, a low and slow developed and yet truly miraculous occurrence, or perhaps a marvel but also forever etched in stone. It’s hard not to feel some trepidation when it sounds like preaching through a biblical voice because like the phrase that speaks to the Ten Commandments, the word implies that nothing else is as absolute and unalterable. In the case of Bourgogne it is owned because of 2,000 years of recorded history, thanks to the educated and the phrénique, of monks, farmers and intellectuals whose minds were connected to a feeling in the pit of their stomachs and to the earth below their feet. Climat keeps you, as it were, on your toes.
Chablis Left Bank, Bourgogne
It’s hard to imagine one word separating something so complex, multiple and diverse from everything else. In the English language “word” can be commensurate with the phrase “I speak the truth.” Climat may or may not have one single meaning, but in this univocal part of eastern France it is used to convey a collective sense of geographical affirmation, acknowledgement and agreement. It may also indicate that some special place has impressed a group of agriculturalists, viticulturalists and consumers so favourably that they would emphasize it as fixed and unchangeable. Farmers and winemakers can try to do the same elsewhere in the world but good luck coming up with a name or a term as precise, succinct or possessive of some semblance of equal meaning as Climat.
“Les Climats sont des parcelles de terre précisément délimitées”
Precisely defined parcels or plots of land. Another way of seeking a definition is to take the what not to do or not to think approach. It insists that Climat should not be misinterpreted. The notion is unrelated to meteorology but is a specific term unique to Bourgogne, designating a specific vineyard site. Bernard Pivot writes “in Bourgogne, when we speak of a Climat, we do not look up to the sky, we keep our eyes to the ground.”
“Climat is the DNA of each wine
singuliers et multiples”
“Each Climatis a vine plot, with its own microclimate and specific geological conditions, which has been carefully marked out and named over the centuries. Each of them has its own story, produces wines with a distinct character and taste and keeps its own place in the hierarchy of crus (Regional Appellation, Village, Premier Cru, Grand Cru). Over one thousand named Climats extend along the 60 kilometres of the thin strip of vineyards running from Dijon to Santenay, just south of Beaune, and among them are some of the most famous names from the world of wine ; Chambertin, Romanée-Conti, Clos de Vougeot, Montrachet, Corton, Musigny…”
Bourgogne – Regional Appellations
It begins with the broadest of the Bourgogne appellations at the base of the pyramid with regional wines that are the rock and the platform upon which all Climats may stand. Included in this category we find Crémant De Bourgogne, Rouge et Blanc. I asked Laurent Drouhin of Domaine Joseph Drouhin “what does Climat mean to you?” His response. “First of all Climat is a name that is used exclusively in Bourgogne. A Climat to me refers to a specific location in Bourgogne which produces a wine with a unique character only found in that location. That is why in Bourgogne we highlight the name of the wine (Climat) more than the grape variety. I like to say there are thousands of Chardonnay produced in the world, there is only one Montrachet. A good example is the corner of four Climats which are next to each other and produce very different wines due to specifics in the soil and exposure. Montrachet/Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru Caillerets/Batard Montrachet, Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru Les Pucelles. Four fabulous wines, with incredible character and so different. Basically those four Climats are unique and vineyards are touching each others. Well, That is Bourgogne, That is Climat.” On his regional Bourgogne he told me this. “The Bourgogne Pinot Noir is a blend of several appellations from all over Bourgogne (around 13). So not a specific Climat. There is no vineyard designated as it is a blend of other declassified village level wines such as Macon Rouge, Ladoix, Maranges…. The wine is more of a melody which reflects the elegance and subtlety of the Pinot in Bourgogne.”
Cedric Dechelette is the General Manager of Maison François Martenot, the company that includes Négociant and estate owner Moillard, along with sparkling wine producer Labouré Gontard. Dechelette has been involved in the Bourgogne wine trade for over 30 years.
Labouré Gontard Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, Traditional Method, AOC Bourgogne (460816, $20.95)
This blush Crémant is a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and aligoté. The base wines of the Crémant come from the different subdivisions of the Bourgogne vineyards. Their base wines however are predominantly produced from the vines of the Côtes and Hautes Côtes of Beaune and Nuits and the Côtes Chalonnaise. Different soils confer from limestone and marl in the Côtes de Nuits, Côtes de Beaune and Côtes Chalonnaise and granite in southern Bourgogne. The combing of Bourgogne from north to south delivers a true amassed regional expression for Bourgogne AOC, including such a broad, proper and creamy full Crémant like this Labouré Gontard. Feel the texture of layered terroir and note the blush citrus in its precise acidities. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted November 2017 lgcf_parishhdwines@HHDImports_WineLes Grands Chais De FranceH.H.D. Imports Inc.
Domaine De Montille Bourgogne Blanc 2014, AOC Bourgogne (515692, $50.00)
Bourgogne Blanc was never so ambitious, Climat-driven, sober and meditative as this from first Hubert de Montille and today, son Étienne. From toy to bona-fide Bourgogne business, Montille takes regional purpose to the highest level it can afford and with the quest to age. The goal is set for complexity and tertiary aromas, whether Bourgogne AOC or Volnay Premier Cru Taillepieds. This Blanc is so very primary and even herbal, with a specific Bourgogne garrigue, owing to the presence of holly, a thorny scrub bush. The stuff is found in the Beaune vineyard Les Aigrots, from an old dialectical word, “Argifolium.” Texture is viscous, salve-like and peculiar as a result but nothing seven to 10 years couldn’t resolve. The sharp acidity would say the same. If drinking anytime soon it would be a good idea to decant. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted November 2017 domainedemontille@2MontilleDomaine de Montille
Bourgogne Village
The last example causes some wonder as to what may lay between regional Bourgogne AOC and Village level wines. Decanter Magazine just recently reported the announcement by the BIVB that there is in fact a new level of Bourgogne wines coming soon. The new Bourgogne Côte d’Or was inaugurated in Beaune just this past weekend and will be integrated as a Bourgogne Régionale AOC, not exactly a new appellation but it is the 14th regional Bourgogne AOC. Regulations will dictate vine density (9,000 plants per hectare as opposed to 5,000 at the regional level) and only Pinot Noir grapes can be used for the reds, from vines grown across all villages of the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits, from south of Dijon to Maranges. Producers will be able to include grapes from young vines that would not necessarily be used in Village level wines. Prices should fall somewhere in between regional and Village and the new category “should be seen as the top of the regional pyramid, just below Village level,” according to Cécile Mathiaud of the BIVB.
Meanwhile long before the wine there were three geological phases; Quaternary, Tertiary and Jurassic, to set the landscape. During the latter period a shallow tropical sea covered what today is France. Major limestone and clay deposits were formed in a variegated mix that generally speaking runs from harder and more prevalent deposits (in the north) to friable, less regnant and heavier clay (in the south). Today in addition to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay there are Gamay and Aligoté. In Saint-Bris there is Sauvignon Blanc and in Irancy Pinot Noir can be blended with César. The investigation into this essential level of Bourgogne travels in and out of many hamlets and the precisely delineated vineyards associated with the parent village. A Climat is located in the Mâconnais, an outlier is found in Irancy, a not so common white in Marsannay, and an allowable lieu-dit noted on the label in Pouilly-Fuissé. More Village AOC examples are found in a Chablis of a Climat that is essentially Premier Cru, one of the best villages of the Côte de Nuits and the aforementioned Montrachet.
Louis Latour Mâcon Lugny Les Genièvres 2015, AOC Bourgogne (Agent, $23.95, WineAlign)
Latour’s lieu-dit Les Genièvres is a warm, rich and distinctly Mâconnais chardonnay, even in its surprising depth and richness for the appellation, coupled with the warmth of the vintage in delivery of terrific value for the money. Bourgogne for all the right reasons, most of all a food happy way to get satisfaction from and with chardonnay. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted October 2017 louislatour1797markanthonyon@LouisLatour1797@MarkAnthonyWineMaisonLouisLatour @MarkAnthonyWine
From the outlier for pinot noir in Bourgogne, only Irancy tastes like this and carries such linear, in your face, interfaced structure. Irancy is found in the Grand Auxerrois region, on the right bank of the Yonne river, fifteen kilometres South of Auxerre and South-West of Chablis. Domaine La Croix Montjoie was created in 2009, named after a cross located at the intersection of Vézelay and Tharoiseau. This cross signals the spot where pilgrims coming from Avallon first caught sight of Vézelay and felt overjoyed. The domaine is led by a Bourgogne dream team; Sophie and Matthieu (agricultural engineering and oenologist), Thierry and Jean-Louis (farmers), Christophe and Hervé (vineyard workers). Their Irancy is firm, properly and effortlessly acetic in its rising tones. It’s dramatically bright, ripe, veering to darkening cherry and exhibits great tension. While tart, slightly lactic and quick to the punch it’s also peppery and crunchy. This northern pinot noir is blended with césar, a deeply hued variety of only five planted hectares in the Irancy appellation. It is said to have been brought to the area by the Roman legions. Mostly (75 per cent) aged in tank so the freshness steals the show with just enough structure to see five more years of firm pleasure ahead. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted several time May to October 2017 #domainelacroixmontjoiebeauwinespiritsake@davidbeauroyDomaine La Croix Montjoie – Vins de Vézelay
Jadot’s winemaker Frédéric Barnier shed some fascinating insight on how he and his team deal with many different parcels. “As you know we are producing a large range of wines and are really focused on trying to reveal each place. To explain better we are trying to have the same process from a Village to Grand Cru (same ageing same cask same percentage of new oak). We want to show that a Meursault is not a Marsannay and not because we have made something special on the wine but just because they are different. For the Marsannay White, this wine is coming from a blend of three different plots we are farming. One of it is planted with Chardonnay Rosé which is pink but it lost the color after fermentation. It is a rare wine from Côte de Nuits. Most of Marsannay is red or a few rosé. 2011 is showing very well now. Whites are rich but still fresh from an early vintage picked on the very first days of September.”
Louis Jadot Marsannay 2011, AOC Bourgogne (522136, $41.95, WineAlign)
The rare and elusive Marsannay blanc is a fine and beautiful thing, laden with dry extract, intense grape tannin and the pure intensity of liquid limestone. It is here in this wine from the northernmost commune of the Côte d’Or where the idea of fruit and of chardonnay is just an afterthought because the sheer and non-mitigating saltiness of this stony Bourgogne is simply hypnotizing. This is a steal of great Village proportions. I would stack this up against many Premier Cru two and three times its price. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted November 2017 louisjadothalpernwine@ljadot@HalpernWineLouis JadotHalpern Wine
Kerrie de Boissieu, Oenologue at Château de Lavernette explains that “Climat is a vineyard designation. It is the custom in Bourgogne to give names to parcels. Today, those names mean very little to us personally but they do allow us to compile a history for each parcel and follow it better. We have Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards in two different Climats: Maison du Villard & Vers Châne. There is no one named Villard in this area now and I don’t know where their house is or why the parcel carries their name. The parcel faces west – southwest so it captures the afternoon sun making it a more luminous wine – cheerful and easily approachable. Vers Châne means “towards Châne” The parcel faces east – southeast capturing the morning light. It is a colder, stonier, more complex mistress that needs to be coaxed to cooperate. It is well worth the trouble though as it has a nicely chiseled structure and ages gracefully.” I asked Kerrie to comment on Château De Lavernette Vers Châne Pouilly Fuissé 2014, the wine and the vineyards. “This wine has always been our chouchou (favorite). Xavier and I bought the vineyard in 2007. It belongs to us and not to Château de Lavernette. The first time we harvested the grapes was the day our son, Basile, was born and it made for a really exciting day. There are two parcels divided by a row of peach trees (peches des vignes). It is in an amphitheater protected by a forest on the northern side. The soil is a rocky scree with limestone tumbling down from Les Rontets. The wine seems to be marked by each of these elements: peach blossom, stone fruit, woodsy underbrush and saline minerality. Hand-picked, whole-cluster pressed, indigenous yeast, fermented and aged in Bourgogne oak barrels (228 L, 20% new) for 22 months.
Château De Lavernette Vers Châne Pouilly Fuissé 2014, AOC Bourgogne (496372, $42.95, WineAlign)
The lieu-dit locale for Lavernette’s Pouilly-Fuissé is called “Vers Châne,” a chardonnay that might mean “down a silk road.” This is in fact a true expression of polished texture, a Pouilly-Fuissé warm and rich if decidedly linear-focused, with some real vanilla-tinged, toasty barrel notes. That the appellation speaks most truth when the combination of ripeness and smoulder are mixed and then married to the specific PF acidity (like preserved lemon), then reality bites. The smoky, flinty edge is a little over the edge but two years should help to soften, match with the downy texture and ultimately settle the score. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted August and November 2017 #chateaulavernette@NaturalVinesChâteau de Lavernette
Domaine Oudin Chablis Les Serres 2014, AOC Bourgogne (WineAlign)
Just south of Chablis there are hilltop vineyards above and around the village of Chichée where Les Serres draws its superior fruit for what is ostensibly (though not labeled as such) Premier Cru. Jean-Claude and Christiane began here in 1988 and it is now Nathalie and Isabelle who use Les Serres old vines fruit (some up to 70 years) for this transcendent and worthy Chablis. Les Serres are “the greenhouses,” an apropos moniker for a wine that not only receives but gifts so much warmth and generous fruit without ever straying from its stony and salty roots. The texture here is above and beyond textbook for Premier Cru and elevated for the sharp vintage. So settled at this point it is just a pleasure to taste. Drink 2017-2026. Tasted November 2017 #domaineoudinvinsdechablis@purechablis#domaineoudin
When I asked Luc Bouchard which Climat most defines the notion for the estate he replied “from Bouchard estate we are very proud of the Climat of Beaune Grève Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus, monopole of Bouchard since 1791, a unique terroir with gravely soil (unique in Beaune ). The roots go very deep into the soil (9 m), so if we have a very dry summer there is always enough water far below and if there is heavy rain storm, the drainage is so good that the water is not directly swallowed by the grapes. That explains the consistency of the wine, it’s unique texture and ageing potential.” On his Gevrey Chambertin 2015 he had this to say: “The 2015 vintage is a superb vintage; normal quantity and high quality from Bourgogne generic up to top Grand Cru. Gevrey is one of the best villages of the Côte de Nuits and our sourcing of grapes come from four different growers (from different locations too) that allow us to have a better representation of the appellation and a better balance. Gevrey 2015 shows a deep and intense garnet red colour, intense bouquet red fruit and a touch of gamey taste. Good structure and very nice balance, ripe tannins, with a long finish. Can be drunk from now (with good aeration before) and can be aged for five up to 10 years.”
Bouchard Père & Fils Gevrey Chambertin 2015, AOC Bourgogne (661330, $59.95, WineAlign)
Bouchard’s 2015 is incredibly forward Gevrey Chambertin, full of fruit, flowers and a beautifully integrated red liquid chalky syrup. It’s just plain getable and is the godfather to all of its peers. If you want to show the world and everyone in it who knows or knows nothing about high-level Bourgogne then perhaps consider this to be the journey’s departure point. Gevrey and especially in the hands of Bouchard is such a gate for what it means to build pinot noir from the earth upwards. It explains what needs in a language you can understand and makes an offer you can’t refuse. Pour this every day simply because it is quintessentially ripe and structured stuff. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted April and November 2017 bouchardpereetfilswoodmanws@BouchardPere@WoodmanWSBouchard Père & FilsWoodman Wines & Spirits
Mont Chauve En Pimont Chassagne Montrachet 2012, AOC Bourgogne (496372, $67.95, WineAlign)
Still in a state of hyper reductive possibility this is an ambitious and beautifully calcareous Chassagne, full of deep lemony preserve and variegated waves of acidity. Though it breathes of some age development it is in fact a greatly structured chardonnay that will continue to benefit from further development. Where texture and complexity meet. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted October 2017 aupieddumontchauve#BNDWinesAu Pied du Mont ChauveDevon Masciangelo
In addition to running his own Domaine de Bellene and négoce Maison Roche de Bellene, Nicolas Potel has drawn upon some secret resources to deliver old wines made new again. His sourcing of older parcels from producers who somehow hid these top vineyard gems from the world is a gift of generous proportions. Ask Nicolas what he thinks about Les Climats and the hardest working man of leisure, diplomat and ambassador extraordinaire for the wines of Bourgogne will open up his heart and his mind. Says Potel, “the characteristics and Climats of every site and village are truly unique. To make a very good village wine, you need to ideally source grapes from south, central and northern areas of the village. This way it shows the full expression of the village for the vintage in question. Single vineyards based on identification of one site. Volnay is all about elegance. Nice tannin, structure and acidity with pure fruit character. The terroir in Volnay is always very transparent in the wine because of this elegance. What about Gevrey-Chambertin? Last February I tasted the 1999 Village and 2001 Premier Cru Petit Chapelle and today, the ’01 Village. Immediacy meets reflection to bring clarity into the light. This is a wonderful example of the beautiful relationship between producer, Village and Climat.
Though time has exorcised some fining away of the more grainy and delicate texture of this Village level Gevrey Chambertin it hangs securely in the balance between youthful and aged. As a lovely mature pinot noir it should be considered as occupying space in the categorical order between Village and Premier Cru, once destined for greatness but now in the waning, twilight of its career. What happens in this space is a complex combination of cured red fruit, weighty earthiness, mushroom, truffle and dried herbs. All merely hints mind you so several years of life will persist to deliver further pleasure. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted November 2017 domaine_de_bellenenicholaspearcewines@RochedeBellene@Nicholaspearce_BelleneNicholas Pearce
Southwestern slope in Gevery Chambertin photo (c) Scott Zebarth
What is Climat?
Our fiends at the Bureau Interprofessionnel des vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) have established the reference point for the written understanding of the true meaning of Climat. I posed the question of concept to several producers and négociants. Most pointed straight to the BIVB website for answers “Over the past 2,000 years, the Bourgogne winegrowing region has benefited from the experience of men and women, from the observation of the soil, and from the region’s unique microclimates. This has given rise to a patchwork of plots whose qualities have been identified and acknowledged: the Climats and lieux-dits. The Climats and lieux-dits give Bourgogne wines their unique identity. Their names bear witness to the region’s rich history. Their origins lie in the environment, local heritage, savoir-faire (know-how) and human history. The term Climat is unique to Bourgogne. It is the Bourguignon expression of the notion of terroir.”
“The Climats and lieux-dits are the ultimate expression of the notion of terroir. They guarantee the unique characteristics of each wine and offer an unrivaled taste experience. Climats are precisely delineated plots of land that enjoy specific geological and climatic conditions. When combined with human effort and translated through the two great Bourgogne varietals of Pinot Noir for reds and Chardonnay for whites, they give rise to an exceptional range of appellations that are classified according to quality and which enjoy international renown. The Climats confer their own unique organoleptic qualities onto the wines of Bourgogne, such as their appearance, aromas, flavours and texture.”
“exceptional range of appellations that are classified according to quality and which enjoy international renown…the result of the alchemy between men and women and the natural world”
“Some Climats were first referenced as far back as the 7th century, such as Clos de Bèze in Gevrey. For centuries, the reputation of Bourgogne wines was driven by the monks of Cîteaux, and then by the Dukes of Bourgogne. Some wines, such as Clos Vougeot and Montrachet, which bore the name of the Climat where they were grown, acquired a reputation that extended beyond French borders. In 1935, the National Institute for Origins and Quality (INAO), made official the usage of the word “Climat” and began using it in legal texts applying to all Bourgogne appellations, whatever their level of hierarchy. The Climats are a sign of excellence and on 4 July 2015, the Climats were included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lieux-dits are also plots recognized for theirown topographic or historical specificities. Their precise geographical location is not registered by the INAO. A certain number of producers choose to feature the name of their lieu-dit on their labels, such as Pouilly-Fuissé, Le Clos Reyssié.”
Gevery Chambertin photo (c) Scott Zebarth
Bourgogne Premier Cru
Les Climats are Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) defined vineyards or rather the DNA of the vineyards and the official term is specific to wine while the reference lieux-dits is an administrative one. While there are some who consider Climats as also relating to things atmospheric, the pragmatic consensus keeps the discernment ground into dejection depressions, alluvial fans and geological anomalies in an otherwise south by southwest set of exposure slopes for the best of Bourgogne wines. Still others would argue that while dirt makes an impact it is climate that inflicts the most drama on a wine but even more important than climate and soil, it’s the people who give the terroir its cultural identity. The notions of accumulate knowledge that can be transmuted from generation to generation is how each village has managed to produce a specific style of wine from vintage to vintage.
Four exceptional Bourgogne Premier Cru
Domaine Theulot Juillot Mercurey Premier Cru La Cailloute 2014, AOC Bourgogne (473793, $31.75, WineAlign)
Theulot Juillot’s is a Mercurey Premier Cru with a direct connection between Bourgogne and Ontario by way of the great region’s educator and ambassador Jean-Pierre Renard. Given and extra year in bottle the form tannic grip has loosened, if only a lace or two while it continues to match fruit with umami. Persists in its display as one of the more over-performing reds from one of the most out performing villages in all of Bourgogne. Last tasted on several occasions, June-October 2017
From vines planted in 1979 and 1980, the crest of the ridge at 300m is a prized locale in Mercurey that sees fit to fresh, vibrant and structured pinot noir. The beautiful dichotomous relationship between ripe and juicy opposite firm and sweetly tannic is met in this functional Mercurey, a Premier Cru of upbeat excellence. Very representative of place because of the grip but it goes light years beyond the lithe and the under-performed. You could pour this for Burgundy label chasers and they would cry sweet Nuits St. Georges. Raspberry and strawberry with plenty of umami minerality and that firm tannin up the back. Really tempurpedic acidity never reacts and always supports. Theulot Juillot may suggest five to eight years of cellar time but this is a 10-15 year Mercurey. No fooling. Drink 2018-2029. Tasted September and October 2016 #domainetheulotjuillot#domainetheulotjuillotJean-Pierre Renard
Louis Moreau
Louis Moreau studied oenology-viticulture at Fresno State University (California) before working in several vineyards across the state. In 1994, after eight years in the United States, he returned to France to take over the family business, succeeding his father Jean-Jacques. He then expanded his facilities to leverage the harvests yielded on 110 hectares comprising the family’s two estates, namely Domaine Louis Moreau and Domaine de Biéville. Today, Louis Moreau produces and markets Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru, with a focus on finding the best quality and respecting the environment. Since February 2016 Moreau has been the Vice-President, Commission Chablis of the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne.
Domaine Louis Moreau Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons 2014, AOC Bourgogne (124362, $43.00, WineAlign)
Vaillons is drawn from sub-appellative blocks in Les Epinottes and Roncières, with some vines as old as 65 years and yields quite low for where concentration trumps quantity. Very rich and concentrated is indeed the mode here, with good mineral bled from stone and very little in terms of sour or lactic edges. This is amenable Vaillons to be sure. A purity subsists and solicits simple and non-specific pairings, like Dorado, Sea Bass or Magret de Canard. There is this amazing salinity that hints at iodine, lemon and lime, but I would not call it salty. I would call it really refined Chablis. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted July 2016 and several times May-October 2017 chablislouismoreaulouismoreauchablisartisanal_wine_imports@MoreauLouis1Louis Moreau@artisanalwineimports
“The word Climat is from Bourgogne and designates a viticulture terroir,” explains Megan McClune, Directrice at Domaine Jessiaume. “It is a certain piece of land, with vines, that is named, has a story and specific geological and climate conditions. The Climat is the association of land, grape variety and craftsmanship. We strive to produce all of our wines so that each wine expresses where it comes from in the glass. We produce three wines from one parcel of land in Auxey Duresses les Ecussaux. This definitely expresses the notion of Climat. Santenay Premier Cru Les Gravières is a very special piece of land. We have a history of over a hundred years in this piece of land. The soil is quite rocky and produces a wine with a peppery finish year in and year out.”
Domaine Jessiaume Santenay Premier Cru Les Gravières 2013, AOC Bourgogne (487488, $50.00, WineAlign)
Built in 1850, Domaine Jessiaume was purchased in 2007 and is owned and operated by the Scottish family Murray. Situated right at the gates of the important Côte de Beaune village of Santenay it comprises 37-plus acres, with large plots in Santenay, holdings in the Premiers Crus Auxey Duresses Les Ecusseaux and Volnay Les Brouillards and a section of Beaune les Cent Vignes vineyard. Les Gravières is located at the northern end of the village, on the border with Chassagne-Montrachet. Jessiaume are indubitably Santenay specialists and the famous limestone, oolite and marl plot of Les Gravières (to which a new wall was recently added at its base) is interpreted beautifully bright, from cherry tones to cherry strength. The mesoclimate is fully realized in this sunny ’13 and the wine represents the heart and meat of Bourgogne, from that textbook bright fruit and back down to earth. It’s taut and nearly bracing, just a perfect example of a very specific and storied Climat. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted March and November 2017 domainejessiaumebeauwinespiritsake@DmneJessiaumeDomaine Jessiaume
Domaine Chanson Pernand Vergelesses Premier Cru Les Vergelesses 2013, AOC Bourgogne (227199, $66.95, WineAlign)
South of the hill of Corton is where Chanson owns five-plus hectares in Vergelesses, the most famous Premier Cru that gave its name to the village of Pernand. You can feel the lower slope heavy clay but also the upper stones, first in power, grip and texture and then through a liquid red chalky streak. Pernand from the Celtic, “the (spring) source that is lost” and Vergelesses from the Middle French verge, meaning “rod,” a reference to the parcel’s long shape. It is a name which dates back to when Charlemagne owned vines on the Montagne de Corton. Just coming into its zone around now after the toast, grilling notes and calculous grittiness have begun to soften and fade. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted February and November 2017 domainechanson@domainechansonDomaine ChansonJohn Hanna & Sons Ltd.
Premier Crus of Chablis, Montrachet, Mercurey and Nuits-St.-Georges
Domaine Louis Max Nuits Saint Georges Premier Cru Les Damodes 2014, AOC Bourgogne (469080, $94.00, WineAlign)
Here is an outsanding Nuits Saint Georges from a marl and limestone vineyard just a stone’s throw from Vosne-Romanée. Les Damodes sings a northern NSG song and its ladylike name carries a legend that tells of fairies inhabiting the rocky landscape. The formations looked like tall ladies in long dresses, “les dames hautes,” or “damaudes,” then “damodes.” The vines in the furthest northeastern block north and east of the village look to the east and the soils are poor so the expectation elicits a thoughtfulness to solicit tension and finesse. That it does, first from a stony-lime-pomegranate-red cherry purity and then a fineness of acidity meets tannic honesty. Domaine Louis Max holds widely in Bourgogne, in Mercurey and Rully, as well as the south of France estates of Château Pech-Latt in Corbières and Domaine la Lyre in Côtes-du-Rhône. Les Damodes is a perfect example of a larger, modern-day producer making a small, site-specific Premier Cru from a storied piece of land. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted several times, May to October 2017 #domainelouismaxLouis Max
Marchand Tawse Puligny Montrachet Premier Cru Champ Gain 2014, AOC Bourgogne (470112, $114.00, WineAlign)
Champ Gain is located in the northern reaches of Puligny-Montrachet, above Les Folatières, edging off the eastern slopes of Mont-Rachet and in between the appellations of Saint-Aubin and Meursault. It’s essential perch on the rump of the mountain at 350m lends a perfect south-east exposure. The soil is highly variegated, even for Bourgogne, with friable and broken clay-limestone littered with pebbles and stones. A classic élevage of 18 months in (25 per cent) new wood delivers an archetypal if texturally modern Puligny. The name is simply “field reclaimed by the forest,” which separates itself from no other vineyard in the region but one Premier Cru‘s “gain field” is another’s “perdre la forêt.” What really distinguishes Pascal Marchand’s Champ Gain is texture, not just in how it glides, caresses and layers but in how it ties up its laces so taut, tight and in the end it’s an impenetrable Bourgogne. The force field around its fruit is a pure mineral tide that is yet to ebb and flow. It’s coming soon though, despite the crackerjack vintage that elevates the entire gain. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted several times May to October 2017 marchand_tawsemoraytawsewineburgundy_direct_imports@MARCHANDTAWSE@MorayTawse@Burgundy_DirectMarchand-Tawse
Bourgogne Grand Cru
Historically speaking, when did this omniscient term Climat switch to the wine business? It may have origins and or co-existence in the Jura, but it is definitely a word that belongs to that part of eastern France. So why is or better yet, when did Bourgogne become the birthplace of terroir? We know it to be a matter of nature and people, both of which need time, hope and literacy to transmit information. You need place and you need monks. Record keeping, true delineation of land and the erecting of the walled in vineyards (Les Clos) really began after the monks were handed down the torch from the Celts and the Romans.
Between the 15th century and the French Revolution the vineyards began to be divided up and the notion of Climat emerged. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the ranking of Climats and terroir. Regulations were introduced during the 20th century. The word “Clymat” appeared for the first time in Chablis in 1540 and then again in 1584 in a document about the Clos de Bèze. The first mentions of Climats in this sense were recorded by Abbot Arnoux in 1728 when he described the vines of the “côte.” The movement to define and spread the word about the Climats led to the first classifications of the vineyards, by André Jullien in 1819, Dr. Denis Morelot in 1831 and Dr. Jules Lavalle in 1855. The names of the villageson the côtes was added to the name of their most famous Climat, with the first being Gevrey-Chambertin in 1847.
The first protection systems were introduced: The laws of 1905, 1919 and especially 1935, which defined the notion of the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. In 1944, the names of the Climats classified as Premiers Crus were added to the decrees for Village appellations. On July 4, 2015 the term Climat was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Aubert De Villaine, President of the Association for this inclusion said “nowhere else has the quest for harmony between a wine and the place it is produced been as subtle and sophisticated as in the Bourgogne region with the Climats. The Bourgogne region has a universal value.”
Didier Séguier of Domaine William Fèvre
Domaine William Fèvre can be used as an ideal example of a launch point from where control is transferred from the operating system to the process and ultimately, the programmer. That would be winemaker Didier Séguier, he who takes a calm ferment and squeezes out its vital juices to render Chablis with all the attributes it has come to define. Séguier the winemaker is a generous fellow, a giver of Chablis, gift-wrapping kimmeridgian-affected fruit in 50 per cent oak and tank equality for all his Grand Cru.
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru 2015, AOC Burgundy, France (641381, $130.00, WineAlign)
Fèvre’s Les Clos takes a bit of an unexpected turn so from 2015 it currently goes stone cold and remains intensely locked. From what we know the vintage should be generous from the start but in this instance Les Clos makes use of every ounce and fibre of kimmerridgian being to lay only salt, fossil and stone before you. The fruit kept hidden away makes you pine for fleshy orchard apples. Nothing can really prepare you for the Les Clos iron gate, especially when you were expecting a welcome mat laid out at your feet. Take the time to charm and be charmed, at least 15 minutes with a glass or 15 years if you can offer up the time. The Grand Cru will slowly open up and speak in a vernacular of controlled energy, fineness of acidity and exceptional balance. This will be one for the ages. Drink 2021-2035. Tasted April 2017 williamfevre_chabliswoodmanws@williamfevre_@WoodmanWS@domainewilliamfevreWoodman Wines & Spirits
The greatest pleasure to welcome Jean-Pierre Renard and Nelly Blau of @vinsdebourgogne to Toronto.
The only true intrinsic reality gained through a discussion about Climat is accessed by the tasting and assessment of examples that represent a full cross-section of Bourgogne. The appellations of Chablis et du Grand Auxerrois, Côtes de Nuits and Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Côtes de Beaune and Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Côtes Chalonnaise and Couchois, the Macônnais and the Châtillonnais are best understood by comparative studies of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from regional Bourgogne to Village and through Premier and Grand Cru wines. With more than 100 appellations (84 officially recognized) it would take a lifetime and then some to cover them all and several more to come to grips with the very specific meanings and interpretations of their personalized Climats. By that time the moving target would change so much that starting again would be the only option. Make the most of the time there is, which is the way of the Bourguignons.
If you are looking for an answer as to why Bourgogne wines are so expensive, subscribe to the following idea. If to you unadulterated Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, respected producers and Climat mean anything at all then the Bourgognes are worth the price, if only because they are the rarest group of wines on the planet. Consider the region sixty kilometres in length, with 28,715 hectares under vine split up into thousands of different plots. Each are tiny by comparison with most of the rest of the world’s identified terroirs. We can’t all afford Bourgogne but at every level the quality is reflective of the cost. Truly. We can however search for terrific value in the multitude of villages where quality has improved dramatically in recent times. Names like Chablis, Montagny, Saint-Véran, Mercurey and Santenay are but a handful. All of Bourgogne waits for you.
I have spent the better part of these past eight months tasting, assessing, contemplating, excogitating, dreaming about and purchasing Chablis. I may have once believed that the rooted obsession incited by my visit to the kimmeridgian zone last July would cease and desist by the time the clock struck 2017. I was dead wrong. If ever there was a Chablis lifer transformed, you are looking at him.
Chablis Grand Cru can be found in the commune of Chablis on the right bank of the Serein River and the appellation comprises seven climats; Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, and Vaudésir. “The terroirs, formed in the Upper Jurassic era, 150 million years ago, are composed of limestone and marl with Exogyra virgula, tiny oyster fossils. Chablis Grand Cru is one of the rare French AOC wines to make reference to its geology, notably the Kimmeridgean age.”
If at first you have not written enough about a particular subject, keep on writing. My first grand assessment took my olfactory and gustatory senses, emotions and tangent extrapolating explorations into 76 examples of Chablis and Petit Chablis. I followed that exercise with 92 reviews to cover all the Premier Cru tasted in Chablis and Auxerre back in July of 2016 and also those I have assessed in the months since. Finally I have come to the Grand Cru, a group of top echelon Chablis that caused more personal reflection and inner exorcism than I’d like to admit. The count is 54 wines reviewed. At last, again and again I must pay retrospective and forward thanks to @purechablis@vinsdechablis@BourgogneWines and @vinsdebourgogne.
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The south-facing, Right Bank Grand Cru “Valley of Ripeness” parcel known as Valmur is from “val” which refers to “valley” and the French “mur,” which means “ripe.” Valmur and its great, late afternoon sun ensures phenolic ripeness unlike anywhere else, to accentuate the richness and the éclat. Yes there is this strong personality and guarantee of Grand Cru acidity but the creamy richesse is unparalleled for Chablis. Piuze recognizes both the place and the vintage and just lets this Valmur run free. What else should it be? Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Before launching into the Valmur 2012 first an exhortatory preface, or at least a contextual, cautionary tale from Patrick Piuze. “It will look a bit older, on the nose, because we tasted so many 2015s.” True, we have just sailed through 18 (plus one 2014) so this Valmur does seem “dressed-up” and boozy with alcohol but it’s OK because the acidity is divine. Evolution has done some rendering and I get the feeling Patrick was picking later then than he is now. The liqueur leads a remarkable cocktail of pure Valmur geology distilled, subservience to ends, almost now, but now quite. If this Piuze Valmur is a Chablis meme to an aramaic Belshazzar’s feast, the Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin is clearly understood writing on the wall. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Domaine Jean Collet & Fils Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Valmur under the spell and with classic Collet acumen is a tale of two parts told with seamless transitions. Two to three year-old Allier “Moyenne chauffe” barrels hold the central Grand Cru hill’s proud climat fruit for 12 months followed by five extra fortifying and corralling months. The Valmur clocks in at a minor but important and impressing half per cent extra of alcohol and you can nose the slow-release, micro-oxygenated wood. In part two there is this rich and expansive vacuum with definite taxing spice and of course that Collet-specific lemon acidity. The back end is dripping with citrus, taking the reins and leaving the wood behind. In another year or two the transition will complete for perfect symmetry. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016 #domainejeancollet
Sébastien Dampt Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2014, Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
The Valmur is a négoce Grand Cru from Sébastien Dampt, so very rich with razor-thin mineral pastry, fruit and cream layered upon that mineral many times over. It is raised in some wood and some inox, resulting in a tiered tart wrought with some weight. This is really like sucking on a mouthful of rocks, at first, all saline and tangy. Then the custard and the (on the edge of) brûléed orchard fruit creams in. The tension hangs in that caramelized balance in a Grand Cru set from a very clean and vintage driven take on Valmur. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted July 2016 @SebastienDampt@LesVieuxGarcons
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Valmur leaves an indelible mark because in 2014 this one is just so confident and impresses with purpose. The Grand Cru vineyard is located on the top of the hill, both east and southwest facing, with some clay and marl (as a vein into the kimmeridgian sub-soil). There is more richness in Valmur and here surely a by-product of stupidly low (25 hL/L) yields. This carries in its DNA the complex and multi-faceted variegation of Chablis soils intertwined, reticulated and defined. Will make itself readily available ahead of the other Fèvre Grand Cru because of its richness as an extension of soil and exposition. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Domaine Christian Moreau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2013, Burgundy, France (Agent, ON $74.00, BCLDB 116517, $60.99, WineAlign)
From winemaker Fabien Moreau and his tiny parcel of 50 year-old vines sandwiched between Vaudésir to the north and Les Clos to the south. A pittance (for Grand Cru) percentage of new oak is used for half of the fruit, eventuating in beautifully delineated bitter density and fresh dressed pith. Quite open for business at this early stage but so very complex and variegated. Upon a second go ’round you might think reductive when what you are really getting is cool fresh mineral, away from bitter and into the yet unresolved. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted July 2016 @ChristianMoreau@rogcowines
Domaine Jean Paul Et Benoît Droin Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2013, Burgundy, France (SAQ 12280775, $71.50, WineAlign)
Benoît Droin has crafted an esteemed, highly amenable and juicy Valmur in effete for break of dawn business openness. The acidity is really quite round, more so than the Moreau and quite in contrast to the Premier Cru (Montmains and Vaillons) Droins. There is more pitch and assertiveness in Valmur to be sure, qualities to qualify its Grand Cru positioning though still surprising to note how well it drinks while young. It’s a funny vintage to be sure, with more weight, aromatic liquor and pooling viscosity than most. Droin’s Valmur will develop a bilateral petrol-honey secondary note before the decade strikes end. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016 #Droin
L’asperule Barbue, brûlée, légumes verts croquants, jus d’arêtes à l’ugli
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The Bougros vines grown on the plateau and while the aromatics are a bit reserved (like those on the Piuze Terroir Découverte) this inward and recondite Grand Cru is an intense, raging from within Chablis. It is this collected and surrounded power that keeps Patrick’s Bougros so in control and while it is labeled at 12.5 per cent alcohol, Piuze admits that is maxes out at 12.2. This is significant when you consider what sort of sapidity plays out in the context of enigmatic behaviour. “You can’t have a duality between acidity and alcohol,” says Piuze. “I don’t want high alcohol.” What he wants is chaste tension and while 2015 is not the perfect vestal vintage to realize his plans, it stays the course nonetheless. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Jean Marc Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Brocard’s Grand Cru Bougros ’14 is the most reductive Chablis tasted so far this week, striking, chiseled and young beyond youth. Saline and briny to the hyperbole of its younger siblings, the implosion of full extract is at once arid and then rich. This is a full-on pure and simply beautiful Bougros, precisely tart and very long. Will age gracefully into the middle next decade, with ease. In the hands of Brocard Bougros to the west is neither entry or exit point but more like the epicentre of the action. This 2014 is certainly a top example for the vintage and the Grand Cru. Wait three years for it to unwind. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted with Julien Brocard at the domaine, July 2016 @chablisbrocard@LiffordON
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Côte Bouguerots is the two point two hectare Domaine plot close to the river at the base of the Bougros Grand Cru hill. The extreme anti-steppe where only calcaire and kimmeridgian soils exist is the moonscape of Burgundy, bald, austere and machinery retarding. The ’14’s stark karst reality bleeds sea salinity, intense citrus and as much inferential mineral as this place can and ever will. Such a masculine assertion of Chablis predicated on this sort of fluidic geology and assortative power comes across in only so few. While the complexity is increased in Côte Bouguerots it is also like a vacuum within the greater clime, concentrating richness without fatness. This is, simply stated, a great white bottle of wine. The length goes on forever. Drink 2019-2030. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, $97.00, WineAlign)
If Bougros in 2013 is the outlier and the exit west away from the Grand Cru, the follow up 2014 turns that right around. In this terrific mineral meets acidity vintage Bougros strikes as the entry point into Grand Cru Chablis. The southwest facing climat launches the introductory impression of the Fèvre Domaine GCs, with idiosyncratic layers of citrus, namely lemon and lime. Fifty per cent of the Bougros (six of 12 hectares) lies calm and poised on the flat portion of the already mild slope, offering easier access and amenability. A launch point from where control is transferred from the operating system to the process and ultimately, the programmer. That would be winemaker Didier Séguier, he who takes a calm ferment and squeezes out its vital juices to render Chablis with all the attributes it has come to define. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@BouchardPere@WoodmanWS
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, $97.00, WineAlign)
The southwest facing Bougros is the furthest strip west of the Grand Cru climats at modest altitudes ranging from 130 to 170m. Bougros strikes me as the hardest to read and the outlier of the Grand Cru because it is less expressive of that necessary and contemplative Chablis mineral idiom but don’t be fooled into thinking it bourgeois or insignificant. That type off thinking will only look for trouble and lead to dire straits. “Sitting on a fence that’s a dangerous course.” Bougros of marl and clay is a clam before a storm Grand Cru. It is sneaky dangerous and long. The limestone permeate is integrated with deep intent. It fills all nooks but with nary an act of argumentation or attrition. The vintage is an expanding one, not so much one that leaves a direct impression as much as one of wide expression. The palate circulates with citrus and zest, more lime and grapefruit than others and in warmer tenses, native and prominent. One upon a time in the west. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted April 2015 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Côte De Bouqueyreaux
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte De Bouqueyreaux 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The Côte de Bouqueyraux terroir is a (45°) steep-sloping solid bedrock section of Bougros. It’s also a name referring to “how the monks are calling it” back in the pressoir day. “Bougueriot,” from the Latin “bucca” which gave the Old French “bouque” (shrunken). Or, Boquereau, which took its name from “bouque-eau,” (narrow passage by the water). Piuze made only 600 bottles in 2015 from this highly specified, laser-focused, riverine-simulated and disciplined Grand Cru vineyard. This is tasted 14th in the great caves breakfast Piuze rendezvous with Patrick and is unequivocally the most intense. And yet there is this creamy, nutty and tart stone tree-fruit character that adds a level of toothsome delight. Will chalk that up to 2015, from “a really sharp place,” coupled with the warm vintage. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte De Bouqueyreaux 2011, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
At 45° in angle the steep (perhaps the steepest) Côte de Bouqueyraux dangles Bougros like bait on a line and is the farthest thing from a shrunken (from the French “bouque”) or shrinking violet. This 2011 is what Patrick Piuze refers to as “in between ’09 and ’15 in style; my style.” He puckers, shrugs and adds, “pretty good for a vintage that isn’t supposed to age.” Once again it is Piuze that looks at Chablis, at Grand Cru Chablis from the very recent past as a wine of THE past. Most vignerons would see a 2011 Grand Cru as an infant, barely evolved and far too young to even think about passing any real judgement. Pious is the most pragmatic, honest and transparent of them all. It is both refreshing and confounding. Either for Bougros or in sub-climat terms this Côte De Bouqueyreaux is in the sweet spot. Citrus fruit, saline-mineral innervation and a vintage-affected softening combine for this lime-sherbet palate. Will drink with perfect reason for three to four more years. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Vos désirs, in a word, #vaudesir @purechablis #jeanfrancoisbordet @bivbchablis #domaineseguinotbordet
Vaudésir
Domaine Séguinot Bordet Chablis Gran Cru Vaudésir 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Jean-François Bordet’s Vaudésir tells a climat tale with the sort of precision and clarity that really explains the Cru comparative to Les Preuses and Les Clos. Bordet took over in 1988 so 25-plus years of experience later and with the exceptional vintage in pocket he has really locked into Vaudésir. The finesse that calmly breathes from SB’s fruit farmed on this double semi-circled, steep-sloping hill is certainly mellow, golden and mature. It’s also alive. Bordet makes use of 10 hL wood tanks for aging (12 months) plus six more in stainless steel. This has been in bottle six months, just long enough to reveal the intoxicating perfume, the power, rich texture and the elegance. In the present (or futur proche) Bordet’s ’14 Vaudésir will incite your desires, as it will say “je vais congelé vos désirs.” J-F shrugs and holds out his hands as he tells you this so after a glass (and an exceptional meal prepared by Eric Gallet at Le Bourgogne in Auxerre) some of your fantasies may come true. The effect may come with less jouissance than Les Preuses and not quite as much puissance of Les Clos but true power nonetheless. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016 @BordetJean@TheCaseForWine
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 11482703, $77.00, WineAlign)
For some producers Vaudésir is the pinnacle of their Chablis expression and yet here it seems the entry point as it leads in a tasting of four Grand Crus. From three parcels in the amphitheatre, one right at the top by the wood and two at the mid-way point on the hill. A direct, in your sight lines Vaudésir, so very lemon-lime push-pulled and densely tart. It’s taut but not sour, tight but not cringing from the tightening of the winch. The most masculine of Vaudésir perhaps with few equals though unwavering and unquestionable in its achievement of balance. The Inox secret is discarded (or complicated, depending on your vantage point) in favour of 100 per cent (15-16 years) old oak. This is Grand Cru after all. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted July 2016 @Billaud_Simon
Domaine Gérard Tremblay Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Here from Vincent Tremblay a nicely stinky (dare it be said) and reductive Vaudésir of major mineral compression and the combative exaggerated energies of weight, body and density. This is a powerful expression of the climat that sits atop the Grand Cru hill, unique in round shape and steep slope as if created as a natural and ancient amphitheatre. Tremblay cuts a white stony line right through his chemin des vaudésirs, as any self-respecting Grand Cru Chablis should. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016 #DomaineGerardTremblay
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (226373, $110.00, WineAlign)
Vaudésir from Fèvre’s Didier Séguier is the consummate erudite expression from the amphitheatre-chiseled and curled Grand Cru. It is here where there simply is no clay, only the calcaire for the kimmeridgian, so its all about high mineral commission. All Vaudésir is meant for aging but this, this is something other. Séguier the winemaker is a generous fellow, a giver of Chablis, gift-wrapped in 50 per cent oak and tank equality (as he does for all GC). The vernacular spoken is very direct primarily because of the veritable bath of mineral which translates to salinity off the charts. It can be imagined without any real difficulty that the alleged ancient sea bed is in this one. It will be some years before any change is noted and many more until mindfulness reigns in a secondary geological observation. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Domaine Louis Moreau Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 2014, Burgundy, France (124354, $79.00, WineAlign)
Vaudésir in Moreau’s Chablis cellar spent a mere handful of months in one, two and three year-old oak barrels, destined to an end game of gentle spice, then followed up with 24 months in stainless steel. Concentration, resolute vitality and depth render the barrel nearly obsolete, allowing the desires of the Cru’s mineral to really shine through. All that said it is a decidedly feminine expression, delicate and with richesse, but ultimately calm. Will age with charm and grace. Drink 2018-2025 @MoreauLouis1
L’asperule L’abbaye de Citeaux, pommes sautées, raisins, opaline
Blanchot
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The Serein River’s Right Bank Grand Cru faces south with vines that average 40 years-old. Neutral barrels are employed for the Piuze Blanchot so that density is derived slowly, effortlessly and with GC corradiation. In the cathedral of Blanchot there is always a compression intro. of mille-feuille flint and citrus but few act with as much immediate amenability as this ’15. Seemingly warm and downy, things begin to increase with intricate complexity and the point of convergence is met where persistence begins, two years down the tractor road, to carry on into the middle of the next decade. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (401984, $115.00, WineAlign)
From the top right (eastern) aspect of the white stones Grand Cru, just across the valley from Montée de Tonnerre. This is a fuller, slightly richer Blanchot but still so direct, piercing and impressed stone-dominant. Great lemon zest shaved into juice and an amplitude rendering dollop of curd. The lemon-curated and curative house continues to flex its citrus style. Once again, the enigma of Inox barrel and old barrels used. Why pour this last of the four Grand Crus? I suppose it’s because the rich fruit versus exigent stone is the epitome of Chablis paradox, in retrospect and with further addendum to what seemed obvious at the time. Blanchot is the gate-keeper of Grand Cru middle ground. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted July 2016 @Billaud_Simon
Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Four of Domaine Laroche’s total of six-plus Grand Cru hectares are in Blanchot and comprise one third of all holdings in this ancient kimmeridgian climat and its southeast exposure. “We are the ambassador of this Grand Cru,” informs Elodie Saudemont, noting the low and slow ripening processes on the eastern portion of the Cru. The white clay defines Les Blanchots, infusing a fine minerality that delivers a purported sense of fitness and fineness to this wine. In 2014 there is a delicate arabesque lacework and a certain salinity, explicit and inherent to Blanchot. Floral like no other Grand Cru, of stereotypical but percipient aromas that call to the air what can only be white flowers. Not that it’s any shock but the length is exceptional too. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted July 2016 @DomaineLaroche@SelectWinePros@Select_Wines
Une dégustation chez @DomaineLaroche originale, exceptionnelle et tellement informative. Merci beaucoup Elodie #vaudevey #lesmontmains #lesvaillons #montedetonnerre #chablispremiercru #chablisgrandcru #leclos #lesblanchots #reservedelobedience
Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots Réserve De L’obédience 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Réserve De L’obédience is a cuvée coalesced from the best of Les Blanchots barrels, those that show the greatest balance between fruit and acidity. The entire technical team takes part in the process, to the end for a wine with the most finesse. There is no true reference point for such a wine, that is unless you can close your eyes, travel back in time and conjure up some 9th century L’Obédiencerie or 13th century Saint-Martin monks working a pressoir. Grand Cru Chablis separates itself from the rest for good reason but because L’obédience is a cuvée consolidated from the best of Les Blanchots’ barrels this is something other, or rather it is a cuvée spotted in a light separate from the rest of the Chablis Grand Cru. An unusual amalgamation, beyond the idea of selecting the best plots, into the concept of selecting the best wines. Here the practice of lutte raisonnée ensures balance is profligate and etched in stone. The acidity is pitch-perfect, the fruit a metronomic peregrination from streaming to richness and back again. Multiple exposures and various levels of ripeness be damned, this Grand Cru skips over the tribulations of plots and vintage variation. The best is stolen and used for great purpose. And 2014 was a friend. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted July 2016 @DomaineLaroche@SelectWinePros@Select_Wines
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
The Long-Depaquit treatment for Blanchots is with 25 per cent barrel. A real preserved lemon and just a hint of paraffin is replete with such elegance and finesse on the nose. Les Blanchots is at once soft but also of a sexy smoulder, like flint that has been sparked, extinguished and left with a lingering wisp. So beautifully wound and full of demurred grace. But don’t be fooled, there is a punch of acidity and underlying spirit. The house accounts for a meaningful if ponderous part of the Blanchot riddle, its centrism wrapped in a mystery, in a fruit versus stone enigma. Recondite, interwoven Chablis. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted July 2016 @Matth_Mangenot@Bichotwine#LongDepaquit
Down by the river with #raveneau #grandcru #blanchot #chablis @lafolieauxerre #2009 #francoisraveneau #thankful
Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2009, Burgundy, France
It would be misleading to address Raveneau’s Blanchot as chardonnay even as we know it as such because Raveneau produces wines as unique as door keys. They are so inimitable and each will only open the gate to its own unique perception. Blanchot is the southernmost of the seven Chablis Grand Cru climats and blankets the southeastern side of Les Clos. The Raveneau narration does not convey the notion of manifest feeling but instead splits the axiomatic atom of the climat. A sip and you are inside the Blanchot, gliding and passing through rock as if you are the ethereal and the wine is the solid foundation of thought, pathos and avowal. There are aromas that combine citrus and umami with a sweetness that can’t be denied or defined. The wine is just a child, complex, shy and yet unable to express both its meaning and power. But you try to get inside its head, stumbling over kimmeridgian rock replete with the smithereen-crushed shells of ancient fossils. This is a calm young Blanchot and you melt away while under its spell. Three more years should render its hidden meaning. Drink 2019-2034. Tasted July 2016
Restaurant La Folie, Auxerre
Les Preuses
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12034902, $106.00, WineAlign)
Les Preuses faces west, the Grand Cru Patrick Piuze notes “is always last. You cannot beat Les Preuses in Chablis.” The crux of what Piuze is aiming to accomplish with Grand Cru fruit is motivated by this climat and explained like this. “We are early pickers, early bottlers and (patient observers of) late transformations.” Semi-getting on towards vieilles vignes of 35 years are grown in Kimmeridgian limestone and clay soil. La Voie Pierreuse (The Stony Path) is the Piuze GC muse and his tightly wound elucidation will take longer to unravel, flesh up and drink heartily than most. Even in 2015 there will be no immediate Les Preuses gratification but there will be valiance and stony reward. Eventually. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (360834, $99.00, WineAlign)
What separates Chablis from chardonnay begins with these 65 year-old vines, with healthy yields (50 hL/H) that are perfect for the vintage from this stoic and iconic Cru. Here is the essentiality of Les Preuses, “the juice of the stone,” saline, crustaceous, briny and simply, utterly trenchant. This is the vraiment Preuses impression, a fossil entrenched in the chardonnay and subsequently on the brain and the senses. A straight jacket Chablis with length up Les Preuses, back to the river and then straight back up and away into the woods. Inox barrel (sic) and old barrels used. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted July 2016 @Billaud_Simon
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, $123.00, WineAlign)
Les Preuses is comprised of two point five hectares in two plots held in the Fèvre Domaine, one east facing and steep, the second southwest, flat and deep. The memory of an old Roman stone road “Perreuse” lays beneath, as marker and sentinel to the ancient rocks and stones below. Les Preuses is a blend of the two plots, both equal in delivery of rich and mineral elegant fruit. No other Grand Cru offers such near-identical balance from blocks meant to compliment one another. It is this symmetry, mille-feuille layering and gainful repetition that dishes LP such a a different sort of singular variegation, not so much a vein but a 12-string strum over top one another. There is more length to speak clearly of and ultimate elongation in Les Preuses. It is simply citrus beautiful. A near-perfect record, from side A to side B. Play either one first because it always comes around full circle. Drink 2018-2027. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, $123.00, WineAlign)
There is a certain sense of romanticism that surrounds Les Preuses, a cinematic beauty in thinking about a two thousand year-old Roman road which ran below the current vineyard. “Perreuse,” meaning stone and tasted directly after Bougros offers a stark inherent and stylistic contrast and unfairly puts the western frontier Grand Cru to shame. In Les Preuses the fruit speaks with beautiful infancy and fanciful clarity. It’s fleshy, creamy soft and delivers Fèvre’s most markedly chèvre-like aroma. The palate replay indicates this climat is expressly possessive of true goût de terroir. The lines led by stone and friable marl deliver crisp and cool streaks, climbing to higher climes, over hills and collines. Even in the climate-confused 2013 vintage Les Preuses is top quality Chablis, above and beyond. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted April 2015 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2013, Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
This particular concentrated salinity of Les Preuses is briny but not oyster briny, verdant but not savoury, tart but not piercing. The personality forged here is a calm before storm that will soon rage for three to five years and then settle into its predetermined gentile nature. A little bit of hay and popcorn feel is noted from more oak obviousness that couples with the vintage towards developing a richer style. In Ontario the equivalent ideal is like that of Tawse’s Paul Pender and when his wines age they remind me of Les Preuses. Here a great example of a Grand Cru in different hands and what impact the producer has on the specific expression for the terroir. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted July 2016 #LaChablisienne@vbartement@Vinexxperts
Grenouilles
Domaine Testut Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Winery, WineAlign)
In 2014 Grenouille in Cyril Testut’s domain returns to the typical and the expected. Though he employs 17 per cent new oak this persists stylistically so very much in the same range as his Premier Crus. You get oak in the guise of a minor crème anglaise and even more spice, but a delicate one. Round acidity is pronounced and in surround of the fruit richness as per the Grenouilles climat and this is observed as a very dedicated wine to the oeuvre. Lower yields (than the PCs) at 45 hL/H and 50 year-old vines combine for full-on variegated effect. This shows off great length, in oscillation and circular return. Grenouilles is different and the appreciation here is for loyalty and adherence to what is necessary. It’s so simple. Application of “cuivres et boites et assemblage” was completed before bottling. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted July 2016 #DomaineTestut
Domaine Testut Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (Winery, WineAlign)
Some wines can be understood and disseminated just fine, but others are better vetted with the winemaker. Like this Grenouilles ’13, tasted at the domaine with Cyril Testut. The triad of vintage, climat and handling is made clear under Cyril’s supervision and explained with tacit and axiomatic clarity. “I like this vintage very much, difficult but very interesting.” Indeed it is vintage with good botrytis, not typical but so very interesting. In comparative literary and mythological ways it and Alsace Pinot Gris Grand Cru (and Hengst in particular) are construed to be running in parallel lines, with ripeness, metallurgy, orange blossom and tropical notes. But again there is a reigning in and a balance struck to stay away from the lychee, nectarine and mango spectrum. Minerality is still the king so you may allow yourself to be stationed in Beaune as well. I find great preoccupation in Testut’s Grenouilles ’13. It reads like few other Grand Cru. Drink 2016-2023. Tasted July 2016 #DomaineTestut
grandcru for breakfast, jambon persillé for lunch. C’est Chablis. Oh
La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Château Grenouilles 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
The smallest of the greats Château Grenouilles is Chablisienne’s Grand Cru (seven of 9.5 farmed hectares), situated below Vaudésir and sandwiched between (right) Les Clos, Valmur and (left), Bougros and Preuses. Grenouilles is the only estate in Chablis where grapes are picked, crushed, vinified and aged directly within the vineyard itself. Only in this Grand Cru and heightened by this increasingly understood ’12 vintage is a wonderful note of green fraises du bois and floor of the bois above Les Grenouilles. Then comes a palate pricked with darts of green apple and such tart density. Really inward, taut and determined Chablis. Poured at the domaine by Oenologist Vincent Bartement. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted July 2016 #LaChablisienne@vbartement@Vinexxperts
La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Château Grenouilles 2011, Ac Burgundy, France (82974, $99.00, WineAlign)
Tasted with Oenologist Vincent Bartement at the domaine. The Grand Cru Grenouilles sits just above the D965 and the Serein River, with Les Clos and Valmur to its left, Bougros and Preuses to its right and Vaudésir above. It may be the least understood, least discussed and oft forgotten Grand Cru, in part because La Chablisienne farms and bottles a near exclusive (seven of the 9.5 hectares) quantity on the smallest of the Chablis Grand Cru. In a small vertical (that included ’12, ’10 and ’05) when you travel back a year ahead of that cracking 2012 there emerges a clear olfactive difference. The self-effaced “neologism with cloudy contours” whiffs into more herbology and perhaps some crustaceous notes. Certainly a raised funky beat. The gustative sensation salvos to more glycerin and although not as much texture, the age is offering a minor oxidative, liquid maize drip into perceived honey. As a consequence length is not as pronounced and if this ’11 is (at this stage) the most awkward of the three (consecutive vintages), it is also the most tactile and the most astute. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted July 2016 #LaChablisienne@vbartement@Vinexxperts
La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Château Grenouilles 2010, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12449930, $98.75, WineAlign)
In a retrospective examined through a line-up with ’12, ’11 and ’05 in the vertical mix the development of Château Grenouilles emerges with some new-found clarity. This ’10 offer insights in ways the follow up vintages are not yet able to, now a year into secondary notes. The 2010 funk du fromage is musky strong, at first, and then beautifully developed from and into metal-mineral. Wonderful texture from 2010 and very little of the corn liquor. None even. A terrific vintage and what seems to me a near-perfect expression of Les Grenouilles. The most distinction is unearthed and appreciated, a calming pause, poise and such perfect temperament. A wonderful wine. Drink 2016-2023. Tasted with Vincent Bartement, July 2016 #LaChablisienne@vbartement@Vinexxperts
La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Château Grenouilles 2005, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Château Grenouilles Chablis Grand Cru 2005 at 11 years-old is beautifully and slow-micro oxidatively evolved though in many ways suspended in animation and almost not at all. Closer to 2010 than the others (tasted along with ’11 and ’12) for sure, with compressed minerality and excellent glycerin woven into wonderful texture. There will be two to three more years of optimal drinking before a next level oxidation begins to break down the fruit and turn the mineral into mandarin orange mixed with coppery metal. Take advantage of this current open window. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted July 2016 #LaChablisienne@vbartement@Vinexxperts
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles 2009, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Grenouilles is a Grand Cru that Piuze used to work with but does not anymore. This 2009 is close to achieving its full resolve, now waxy, oleaginous, briny and filled with the kind of glück usually reserved for older riesling, especially out of Alsace. Piuze discusses Grenouilles as “the most uni-dimensional” of all the Grands Cru, but he likes the way it has come to this point. If it has to be a one-trick perfect pony than so be it. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Les Clos
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12034929, $106.00, WineAlign)
Piuze gathers equal and opposing Les Clos fruit from two parcels, first (and in dominance) in communality with Blanchots and then by Valmur. While not a perfect vintage for the grand Grand Cru by any stretch of the Chablis imagination, precision and clarity is a guarantee under the tutelage of Patrick Piuze. Hail was certainly a factor so quantity is sacrificed to quality, with herbs, bitters and spicy salinity the collective foil to early picked fruit. It’s a toss-up whether or not Les Clos is more successful than Blanchots and it remains to be seen if phenolics will drive the ageability machine, but Patrick’s caution and judgement should see this through to live another day. It is Grand Cru after all and deserves at least two years respect. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent)
Here Les Clos is a magnified adaptive narrative of the Grand Cru, rich and full of ripe excess. Riper than most of the others, which is saying something. Magnetic, platinum mineral with very expressive fruit from Billaud-Simon’s take out of the grandaddy of all Chablis climats. The biggest bad boy of the flight and in the eyes of the world, textbook Grand Cru. Salinity, floral blossom airy and briny, though not quite expressive of the fossilized, ancient river trenchancy of Les Preuses. But again, Chablis at it old school, from very little shrouded or spice-driven wood, classic, cool-climate, mineral-driven Chablis. The summation confirms why it is poured after Vaudésir and Les Preuses but ahead of Blanchots. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 @Billaud_Simon
Domaine Jean Collet & Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
At first seemingly a different expression of Les Clos, both in aromatics and personality. There is this exoticism about Collet’s ’14, a perfume that imagines far east markets, of incense and peppermint. Then the terroir takes charge, of precious metals, platinum, gemstones and the Exogyra Virgula of the ancient soil’s shells. This combination of sweet fragrance and mineral contusion is intoxicating for a Les Clos. The Collet take is also neutral with respect to wood and unlike Valmur, lemon preserve appears nowhere on the forecasted radar. And yet there is more spirit here than many, if not quite as laser-focused as others. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 #domainejeancollet
Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Laroche’s (45 year-old) vines sit at the bottom of the slope where the ground ripples with an excess of limestone. Laroche build its Les Clos architecture through this super-structured mineral foundation, the use of enclosing shrubs for micro-biological bio-diversity and wood posts as opposed to iron. This Les Clos does not mess around. It’s a straightforward expression in mimic of a craftsman’s personality, i.e. technical director Gregory Viennois. As a portrait it makes a direct connection and an impression with extract, but also tannin and fruit of true Les Clos intensity. This is a truly engaging and laser Les Clos, of mouth watering acidity and repeatedly encouraging return sip-ability. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016 @DomaineLaroche@SelectWinePros@Select_Wines
Domaine Louis Moreau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Moreau’s take on the grand-père Grand Cru is more obvious, showy and in exhibition of wood apparent musculature on the masculine side of the Grand Cru spectrum, not so much as spice but with volume and a broadening in mouthfeel. The mineral is tangy strong and will surely need a few years to settle into the rich fruit and savvy wood. This is really a baby as far as Les Clos is concerned and should not even be considered to be opened any time soon. The long road ahead will twist, turn and loop back into itself before Les Clos settles into the karst of its limestone landscape. Take the time to navigate the sinkholes and cavernous spaces and rewards in the name of miasma, massepain and miel will one day fill your glass. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted at the domaine with Frédérique Chamoy, July 2016 @MoreauLouis1
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (641381, $130.00, WineAlign)
The Fèvre holdings are not so much a cornering of the market but more so, let’s say, are representative as existing out of the creator and chair of the exchange. The four hectares owned, farmed and produced of the largest of the (25 hectare) Grand Crus confirms Fèvre as the largest producer of Les Clos. Fifty per cent of the noble and lofty locale was planted by William’s father in the 1940’s, at the top of the hill. This 2014 is prodigious, ponderous and cracking, because it is a Fèvre, due to the house approach for this stand alone vintage and simply by virtue of that vintage. Here you have the richest Les Clos of them all, perhaps, but the puissance is dramatic. There is more pith and density here than any other. It is simply a wow Grand Cru expression, searing, intense, layered, compact, compressed and very, very long. This is the most gregarious, strutting peacock of Chablis. Tasted at the domaine with Director Didier Séguier. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (641381, $130.00, WineAlign)
Whereas Les Preuses persists as a player as part of its own height scaling process, Les Clos is already perched, permanently entrenched at the precipice. The permeate is integrated with a commotion of purity and clarity like no other. The stone is juiced like real lime in metronome time, with nothing but time on side to see this through 20 years of evolution. The richest fruit, laciest of organza overlay and highest degree of variegation has been gently coaxed from this storied Grand Cru by Director Didier Séguier. Top Les Clos from the challenging vintage. Drink 2017-2033. Tasted April 2015 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Sébastien Dampt Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
I find in this a different sort of Les Clos from Sébastien Dampt, a négoce Grand Cru that is more linear, taut and even a bit austere. I’d go so far as to say this is the most piercing Dampt and the most piercing Les Clos I’ve comes across. For Dampt the first Les Clos was 2010 and here is his fifth vintage the Sébastien stride has been compassed and effectuated. This Les Clos will live very long as the length is exceptional. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted July 2016 @SebastienDampt@LesVieuxGarcons
Sébastien Dampt Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2013, Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Together with Sébastien Dampt I tasted two bottles of the 2013 Les Clos because he was not satisfied with the first. It was the side by side comparison of the two négoce Grand Cru that taught me things about the Cru, the vintage and Dampt. Initially speaking this can retrospectively be looked at as quite anti-2013 and as such more in line with the follow-up ’14. It alighted linear, taut and nearly as piercing. But unlike 2014 it was broad, soft and filled with French crème. Perhaps this first bottle was a bit frenzied and inculpably enzymatic. The second bottle tasted, reminded and reacted more like a ’13, ripe and near boozy, rich and expressive, with the spice so very pronounced. What is learned is Dampt’s unique ability to perpetuate a house style, despite the vintage and the Cru. Some things can’t be fought or changed so his is quite a big Les Clos but in 2013 not without his signature line. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 @SebastienDampt@LesVieuxGarcons
La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2013, Burgundy, France (Agent, $73.00, WineAlign)
The Chablisienne piece of Les Clos takes a fine and even a middle path with copacetic, inert cooperation interfaced between bled citrus and mined mineral. This is a very linear, direct, purely and precisely informative Les Clos. It speaks to the idea of consistency and to the expected despite coming out of a strange vintage. With a line clearly drawn into the dry, stone-flint, “mineral touch” Chablis directive it will take some time to develop its comfort level of flesh though fruit will always be the understudy. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted July 2016 #LaChablisienne@vbartement@Vinexxperts
Lamblin et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2013, Burgundy, France
Smoky, wannabe flinty Grand Cru with a creamy, malo feel. Like a scoop of Grand Cru gelato, with a real almond paste smoothed into marzipan finish. Clearly speaks with more wood finishing than most and rounds out the stones of Les Clos with polish and crown moulding. As a result I would expect this needs a year to integrate but not as long as the more mineral examples. The fleshing has already begun and oxidative notes will rear before too long. Will drink beautifully beginning in the summer of 2017 and for two plus years beyond. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Christian Moreau Chablis Grand Cru Clos des Hospices dans Les Clos 2013, Burgundy, France (Agent, $94.95, WineAlign)
The very specific flint from top to bottom slope off of three hectares of terroir brings a climat’s certain acidity from the soil and in the guise of a multi/micro-parcel tang. From macro-mineral to stone fruity not this specific anywhere so fine. Does not show and will not show fatigue any time sooner or later, after all, it never has to climb to the top of Les Clos. The length here is legendary. It will be tough to find a better example for the vintage, from Les Clos and into an examination more specific and so precise. Drink 2019-2033. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Just because the richest of Grand Cru fruit can handle the added value, Les Clos receives a generous 35 per cent barrel fermentation. As per Les Clos the corpulence and amenability adds up to one grand and inviting Grand Cru Chablis. Always critically evident and full of joie de vivre, there is roundness on les Clos like no other Grand Cru and Long-Depaquit is front and centre to the end of that ideal. What separates this house’s style is the long and slowly evolving finish because and with thanks to the wood adding texture and cream to all aspects of its relationship with the largest Grand Cru. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016 @Matth_Mangenot@Bichotwine#LongDepaquit
Jean Marc Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Les Clos in 2014 to be honest is surprisingly a much more approachable Grand Cru, especially tasted side by side with Bougros, with nary a reductive moment. Here is the broad approach, a rich style, consumer-friendly chardonnay with a willingness to please to no end. Everything about this wine is liquid gold, like a still Champagne, haute of couture and stylish beyond words. That sense of affluence in style, and poise drift away dreamily into a slow, languid drizzle of warm caramel. Les Clos is anything but austere in the hands of many but particularly here, with this Brocard. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted July 2016 @chablisbrocard@LiffordON
Jean Marc Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2007, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Julien Brocard pours the Grand Cru Les Clos 2007 blind from magnum and the first impression is this seems to have at least 10 years on it, but it’s probably older than I think. My initial guess is 2002. From what most mainstream critics considered to be a classic stone-mineral vintage with average acidity, I am surprised by the density of mineral so culpable to its oxidative tendency but the acidity keeps it very much alive. The cork was not in the best shape so this clearly had an bomb effect on speeding up aging by five years. A 2007 that acts like a 2002 is not such a terrible thing. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016 @chablisbrocard@LiffordON
Grand Cru Moutonne Monopole
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Moutonne Monopole 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (46706, $89.95, WineAlign)
The greatest of paradoxical moments is shared in confessional confidence with Moutonne because not just anyone can make a wine with the name and of such a singular distillation from within a venn diagram of places. While some lieu-dit in Chablis share affinities, territorial geography and climats with larger Premier Cru, it is only Moutonne that stands alone in the schematic drawn up for the Grand Crus. Though the Moutonne can’t help but take on the atypical characteristics of the 2013 vintage it also can’t escape from itself. Les deux visages are always relegated into the dichotomous and interconnected realm, of Les Preuses (five per cent) controlled with manifest destiny by Les Blanchots. Les Preuses’ fruit is feisty and must be heard and this is so necessary in the tropical and spicy vintage. There is no lychee here but there breathes some very ripe stone fruit and the great white geology of the Grand Cru. In spite of the vintage this is a beautifully managed Moutonne (fermented in 25 per cent barrel) with trenchant piquancy on the finish. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 @Matth_Mangenot@Bichotwine#LongDepaquit
The clock had barely struck nine when Patrick Piuze opened the doors to his garagiste lair. The level of activity inside indicated that Piuze had already been at it for hours. The Quebec (Montreal’s South Shore) native wasted no time and led the way down into the subterranean structure housing eight years of his labour.
Twenty-five years earlier, at the age of 18, Patrick had a chance encounter with the famous Rhône vigneron Marc Chapoutier. His life changed forever. With Chapoutier’s direction Piuze traveled to find work in Australia at Mount Langhi and Leconfield, then South Africa and Israel. He opened a wine bar in Montreal called “Le Pinot Noir.” He went to Burgundy and joined the team at Olivier Leflaive, then studied at the Beaune CFPPA (Centre de Formation Professionnelle et de Promotion Agricole). Then came his big break in 2000 as the head of winemaking for a Leflaive-Verget joint venture in Chablis. He worked four vintages at Leflaive, one at La Maison Verget with Jean-Marie Guffens and then held a cellar master job with Jean-Marc Brocard.
It was in July of 2008 that Patrick Piuze made the decision to go solo and start his own winery. While Piuze may not be a wine grower, he is an accomplished and respected winemaker. He may not own his vineyards but it took him little time to forge cultivated and solicitous relationships with farmers in Chablis.
We get right down to tasting his Chablis for breakfast but first Piuze offers a quick verbal vintage chart, for reference and for truth. First there is 2014, “a best ever year, razor-sharp and not too much skin maturity.” Then quickly, “well, 2013 is shit. 50-50 per cent rotten grapes.” 2010 is OK, ’11 soft but definitely speaks of place, ’12 is typical, with high skin maturity, though too big. And ’15 is like ’09, the “resto vintage.”
Where you find your grapes is key to making great Chablis, a place where it’s not just about vintage variation but also dissimilitude in climat and exposure. The last wine tasted (of 25) with Patrick Piuze is the most telling. It is a lieu-dit 2008 from his first solo vintage. “We have a glacial valley five km’s wide,” he explains, “where you have these exposures that are so important. But in a vintage like 2008, it’s good everywhere.”
The 2008 Terroirs de Chablis is not just an eight year-old curiosity. It is a testament to a vintage and to a winemaker who connected with and understood right away what had to be done. The wine shows now what Patrick Piuze knew then, armed with the ability to make his own decisions, what he needed to do with great fruit, even before he was able to intuit what might happen over the following eight years. These twenty-five tasting notes should open a window into the portal of Patrick Piuze in Chablis.
Patrick Piuze Petit Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 11463182, $26.40, WineAlign)
From the “restaurant vintage,” like 2009 notes Patrick Piuze and a Petit Chablis more specific and focused than most, if perhaps all. A single-vineyard, lieu-dit PC, “Le Petit Preuses,” right banked and rubbing shoulders with the Grand Cru. Always on the plateau of Portlandia soil. Fine spark of Petit Chablis, like a lime cordial spiked by salinity and welling in concentration. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016 @patrickpiuze@LaCelesteLevure@LiffordON
Patrick Piuze Chablis Terroir De Chichée 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Terroir De Chichée is tasted first in a line-up of seven lieu-dit produced by Patrick Piuze, a Right Bank limestone plateau Chablis that “always takes the wind of the vintage.” The smoothest of entries transitions seamlessly to Chablis in which acidity runs up, down, across and in diagonal streaks across the palate. Done up in natural yeasts, like all the Piuze wines because “there’s no (other) point. It’s on the grape.” Clean, dry, clear and concise. Straight to the Chichée point. Acidity, even in the context of Chablis, must be your thing for Chichée to be your friend. I’d recommend seeking out Burgundian cuisine in the hands of a Japanese chef. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Terroir Découverte2015, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, $34.95, WineAlign)
This second in Puize’s series of seven lieu-dits tastes at first draws more linear and then branches its lines for a broader approach to Chablis. From the cooler “des Couverts” parcel abutting the Vaulorent Premier Cru on the north-facing section of the Grand Cru hill, it is from here in a northerly locale beyond the borders of Grand Cru climats Preuses and Bougros where flint, richness and ancient shells intercede. If only because this was made in 2015, the near-Vaulorent cumulative effect is almost too easy to access. Bloody delicious and drink now Chablis. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted July 2016
Back to his #chablis roots with #patrickpiuze What a way to begin a new career #fresh
Patrick Piuze Chablis Terroir de Chablis2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 11180334, $33.25, WineAlign)
In the pantheon of the seven lieu-dits Piuze Chablis this is likely the great terroir despite its moniker that suggests a broader, cumulative expression. Terroirs is plucked and indeed speaks a Forêts language, its fruit native to the north facing hill occupied by the steely patron of the larger Left Bank Montmains Premier Cru. The reserve and quietude of Patrick’s ’15 is quite surprising but the circumvention of palate acidity is exhilarating and nearly frightening. Lemon meets much lime, texture wraps and ramps, precision leads to density. Striking but with the knowledge that ’14 was and will be more so. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Terroir de Chablis2008, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 11180334, $33.25, WineAlign)
The twenty-fifth wine we taste and Patrick’s choice to remember 2008 is this Terroirs de Chablis, a micro-specific lieu-dit spoken of Forêts vernacular formed on the northern exposition of the Montmains Premier Cru hill. Piuze loves this vintage, noting that “any appellation passes (the ’08 test).” The freshness here astounds. Were this served blind I would certainly guess 2014. Lime is everywhere, limestone everywhere else. Acidity rings in and out of every crevice and pore. If this T de C does not look back and show what Patrick Piuze will be capable of in Chablis then you won’t find a wine that will. And you won’t need to. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted at the domain with Patrick Piuze, July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Courgis2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Courgis was touched by some hail in 2015 on the first of September, a day Patrick Piuze says “I will always remember.” That was the day Piuze had to gather up seven years of go it alone fortitude to make the best of a difficult situation. He had to make a wine with some reduction, more upfront acidity and a different sort of citrus. Resist the temptation to make what he wanted and listen instead to the weather and the vintage. There is major fruit in this Courgis, a Chablis “wherever he laid his hat was his home.” Sly, in the lieu-dit family, Courgis “was a rollin’ stone.” Drink 2017-2020. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Terroir De Fyé 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Fyé comes fourth in a horizontal set of seven lieu-dits, a terroir across the tractor road from the “cape” Chapelot at the base of the fan-like shaped Montée de Tonnerre climat. The herbology and savour in Fyé is almost certainly magnified because of ’15 but so is the texture. The mouthfeel is fuller and wonderfully critical to balance and redemption. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted at the domain with Patrick Piuze, July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis La Grand Vallée 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
La Grand Vallée is the Piuze rendering of the lieu-dit Les Pargues, a Left Bank single-vineyard flanked by the Premier crus Butteaux and Forêts. The exposure is the same just one hill over. Affinities are shared with Terroirs de Chablis though the lemon-lime, layering and persistence run deeper. This also steps up in length, with really old barrels stretching the fruit to an elastic density in a smoky Chablis forged from precision. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis La Grand Vallée 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Tasted side-by-side with La Grand Vallée 2015, the Piuze ’14 from the lieu-dit Les Pargues “shows off the good acidity of the vintage.” With Premier crus Butteaux and Forêts acting as bookends, the Pargues enjoys a one-off hill same exposure and the citrus intensity here is palpable. It’s that lemon-lime, Terroirs de Chablis thing run deeper and in ’14, to the depths of possibility. This plays multi-fret grapefruit notes without capo, bends and holds them forever. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons “Les Minots” 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Patrick Piuze likes this single-parcel of 75 year-old vines in the warmest spot on Vaillons. He likes it a lot. The way he picks and vinifies turns over, inside and out the highest acidity and alcohol but it’s really a matter of place. This Vaillons is a striking wine, “Le Petit,” as he likes to call it and of the most wondrous mouthfeel. This from what Piuze likens as “the resto vintage,” so imagine the possibilities, the flinty, smoky, steely and cracking results that will come from true-blue, platinum, gemstone and ancient sea creature portended vintages. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted at the domain with Patrick Piuze, July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Forêts 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
It would be impossible to discuss Patrick Piuze and Forêts without bringing Vincent Dauvissat into the fray. To Piuze, Vincent is mentor, friend and benefactor. The fruit for Patrick’s ferment comes from Dauvissat’s domain and similarly in new blood’s hands it breathes the way only Forêts can, “with the confidential creak of oak, in the Dauvissat way.” Vincent’s quite politesse in Patrick’s care puts on confident airs, beneath the moon and with parallel lines drawn in a classically sharp but creamy Chablis. The balance struck between grace and tension is a performance only few from this special corner of Montmains learn to craft. Success in 2015 once again, with the best yet to come. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Forêts 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Patrick Piuze gains a whiff of his ’13 Forêts. “Hmm, like a riesling.” No other winemaker in Chablis is as honest as Piuze when it comes to extolling or denouncing the virtues of the vintage. “Like a virgin,” is what I begin to hum, “touched for the very first time.” And for the first time in 20 Piuze wines I consider chardonnay because this does not resemble it, but in a way that the rest do not. Forêts here is gassy, aerified, unusual, full of strange atmosphere and just plain atypical. Oh, Madonna this ’13 “made it through the wilderness” in spite of the weirdness, with enough citrus and mineral impression because, well, it’s still Chablis. “Cause only love can last.” Drink 2016-2017. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Les Roncières 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Piuze’s first attempt at tendering Les Roncières is here in this first edition ’15 from the single-plot, sub-climat inside Vaillons. You can’t help but sense the Dauvissat approach in Patrick’s take on Roncières with the conscious (or unconscious) allowance for the block within the block specific perfume. The stoic and quiet confidence of fruit submissive to mineral presentation points not to obviousness but to the basic tenets of smoke, flint and shell, Together they hover in the proverbial air. But Piuze’s Roncières walks a more direct line and of all his lieu-dit or Premier Cru ’15’s, it seems more akin to a vintage like ’14. This is because in mouthfeel it comes across as lean, but only in comparison to the rest of ’15. This is the one to really wait on and seek more time-rendered flesh. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Les Butteaux 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12936615, $67.50, WineAlign)
Butteaux with Patrick Piuze stands apart not just from other readings but also independent and aside from his own separate Premier Cru dealings. This Butteaux feels a bit more boozy which is not a vintage surprise, nor is it when you consider the cru and its ability to deliver both texture and gastronomy. The chunks of limestone and chalky topsoil get in here like mineral syrup emulsified into grape extract with a Piuze variegation that subdues both aromatics and linear acidity. This Montmains sub-divided Chablis instead plays with length and focuses on presence, delivering successes on both ends. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
#amusebouche #lasperule #auxerre
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Les Butteaux 2010, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12936615, $67.50, WineAlign)
After tasting through 18 2015s Patrick Piuze travels back in time and pulls this Butteaux as his choice for 2010, despite no label but identified by its cork. The sub-climat of Montmains is notable for its variegated character, tang upon tang, density folded into density, tart on tart. It is a fascinating look into the rear-view Piuze mirror from a terrific vintage and a time when he couldn’t yet have fully known what this terroir could do. The citrus is pure, intense and still in demand of attention. Though the window is clearly open it would not surprise to see this drink with similar personality for yet another few eye and palate-popping years. Yet another example of Premier Cru Chablis with ambitious aspirations and a seeker of Japanese inspired Bourgogne cuisine. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Premier Cru Vaulorent 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Patrick Piuze does not offer up any sort of dissertation on the larger Fourchaume in presenting his Vaulorent. He has moved on. “This climat is so focused,” he confirms. “The real Chablis.” In my estimation Vaulorent is the opposite of Fourchaume, of anti-blanketing fruit-mineral amenability, sharp, fixated, honed-in. Though Piuze readily admits this about Fourchaume. “Me, I don’t understand it.” So he traded in his larger Fourchaume fruit for the more parochial Vaulorent. What he’s really saying (or I am thinking) is that he’s relying on instinct and holistic navigation to grace Vaulorent with respect. In 2015 mission accomplished. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The Serein River’s Right Bank Grand Cru faces south with vines that average 40 years-old. Neutral barrels are employed for the Piuze Blanchot so that density is derived slowly, effortlessly and with GC corradiation. In the cathedral of Blanchot there is always a compression intro. of mille-feuille flint and citrus but few act with as much immediate amenability as this ’15. Seemingly warm and downy, things begin to increase with intricate complexity and the point of convergence is met where persistence begins, two years down the tractor road, to carry on into the middle of the next decade. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The Bougros vines grown on the plateau and while the aromatics are a bit reserved (like those on the Piuze Terroir Découverte) this inward and recondite Grand Cru is an intense, raging from within Chablis. It is this collected and surrounded power that keeps Patrick’s Bougros so in control and while it is labeled at 12.5 per cent alcohol, Piuze admits that is maxes out at 12.2. This is significant when you consider what sort of sapidity plays out in the context of enigmatic behaviour. “You can’t have a duality between acidity and alcohol,” says Piuze. “I don’t want high alcohol.” What he wants is chaste tension and while 2015 is not the perfect vestal vintage to realize his plans, it stays the course nonetheless. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte De Bouqueyreaux 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The Côte de Bouqueyraux terroir is a (45°) steep-sloping solid bedrock section of Bougros. It’s also a name referring to “how the monks are calling it” back in the pressoir day. “Bougueriot,” from the Latin “bucca” which gave the Old French “bouque” (shrunken). Or, Boquereau, which took its name from “bouque-eau,” (narrow passage by the water). Piuze made only 600 bottles in 2015 from this highly specified, laser-focused, riverine-simulated and disciplined Grand Cru vineyard. This is tasted 14th in the great caves breakfast Piuze rendezvous with Patrick and is unequivocally the most intense. And yet there is this creamy, nutty and tart stone tree-fruit character that adds a level of toothsome delight. Will chalk that up to 2015, from “a really sharp place,” coupled with the warm vintage. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte De Bouqueyreaux 2011, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
At 45° in angle the steep (perhaps the steepest) Côte de Bouqueyraux dangles Bougros like bait on a line and is the farthest thing from a shrunken (from the French “bouque”) or shrinking violet. This 2011 is what Patrick Piuze refers to as “in between ’09 and ’15 in style; my style.” He puckers, shrugs and adds, “pretty good for a vintage that isn’t supposed to age.” Once again it is Piuze that looks at Chablis, at Grand Cru Chablis from the very recent past as a wine of THE past. Most vignerons would see a 2011 Grand Cru as an infant, barely evolved and far too young to even think about passing any real judgement. Pious is the most pragmatic, honest and transparent of them all. It is both refreshing and confounding. Either for Bougros or in sub-climat terms this Côte De Bouqueyreaux is in the sweet spot. Citrus fruit, saline-mineral innervation and a vintage-affected softening combine for this lime-sherbet palate. Will drink with perfect reason for three to four more years. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
The south-facing, Right Bank Grand Cru “Valley of Ripeness” parcel known as Valmur is from “val” which refers to “valley” and the French “mur,” which means “ripe.” Valmur and its great, late afternoon sun ensures phenolic ripeness unlike anywhere else, to accentuate the richness and the éclat. Yes there is this strong personality and guarantee of Grand Cru acidity but the creamy richesse is unparalleled for Chablis. Piuze recognizes both the place and the vintage and just lets this Valmur run free. What else should it be? Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Before launching into the Valmur 2012 first an exhortatory preface, or at least a contextual, cautionary tale from Patrick Piuze. “It will look a bit older, on the nose, because we tasted so many 2015s.” True, we have just sailed through 18 (plus one 2014) so this Valmur does seem “dressed-up” and boozy with alcohol but it’s OK because the acidity is divine. Evolution has done some rendering and I get the feeling Patrick was picking later then than he is now. The liqueur leads a remarkable cocktail of pure Valmur geology distilled, subservience to ends, almost now, but now quite. If this Piuze Valmur is a Chablis meme to an aramaic Belshazzar’s feast, the Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin is clearly understood writing on the wall. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12034929, $106.00, WineAlign)
Piuze gathers equal and opposing Les Clos fruit from two parcels, first (and in dominance) in communality with Blanchots and then by Valmur. While not a perfect vintage for the grand Grand Cru by any stretch of the Chablis imagination, precision and clarity is a guarantee under the tutelage of Patrick Piuze. Hail was certainly a factor so quantity is sacrificed to quality, with herbs, bitters and spicy salinity the collective foil to early picked fruit. It’s a toss-up whether or not Les Clos is more successful than Blanchots and it remains to be seen if phenolics will drive the ageability machine, but Patrick’s caution and judgement should see this through to live another day. It is Grand Cru after all and deserves at least two years respect. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 12034902, $106.00, WineAlign)
Les Preuses faces west, the Grand Cru Patrick Piuze notes “is always last. You cannot beat Les Preuses in Chablis.” The crux of what Piuze is aiming to accomplish with Grand Cru fruit is motivated by this climat and explained like this. “We are early pickers, early bottlers and (patient observers of) late transformations.” Semi-getting on towards vieilles vignes of 35 years are grown in Kimmeridgian limestone and clay soil. La Voie Pierreuse (The Stony Path) is the Piuze GC muse and his tightly wound elucidation will take longer to unravel, flesh up and drink heartily than most. Even in 2015 there will be no immediate Les Preuses gratification but there will be valiance and stony reward. Eventually. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted July 2016
Patrick Piuze Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles 2009, Ac Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Grenouilles is a Grand Cru that Piuze used to work with but does not anymore. This 2009 is close to achieving its full resolve, now waxy, oleaginous, briny and filled with the kind of glück usually reserved for older riesling, especially out of Alsace. Piuze discusses Grenouilles as “the most uni-dimensional” of all the Grands Cru, but he likes the way it has come to this point. If it has to be a one-trick perfect pony than so be it. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted July 2016
This may or may not have happened #raveneau #memory #monteedetonnerre
It has never been this difficult to narrow it down. This frenetic, fast and forward moving blur of a year has blistered the patterns of thought so much so that I seriously considered throwing the whole 16 in 16 down the drain and laying it all out there. “Here are the 42 mind-blowing wines of 2016…” and then this wave of clarity came over me like a cloudless afternoon in Chablis. I mean I tasted 50-plus Grand Cru Chablis this year. They could all be on this list.
I meant this just the way I wrote it. The simplicity of wine is a beautiful thing. A vine grows and produces grapes. That fruit is picked and ferments itself with help from yeast it just happens to carry in its luggage. Time passes and wine is made. No one had to invent it. The most basic example of shit happens.
As if to presumptuously bookend 2016 before it even began, that first post was apropos. New year, 16 new VINTAGES releases were not mind-blowing by any stretch of the waxing rhapsodic imagination but white space was filled. Like growing grapes in warm climates where just about anything can complete a phenolic journey, the possibilities are endless. So that I may feel comfortable quoting Godello again and again, multeity is the name of the game.
South Africa continued to occupy Godello for the early part of 2016 and that will never cease and desist. Hosting Andrea Mullineux at Barque Butcher Bar was one of the true highlights of the year. The landscape of South African wine is demarcated by ancient geology and by the geographical diversity of its regions, sub-regions and micro-plots. Varietal placement is the key to success. As I mentioned in previous articles, South African winemakers can grow anything they want, to both their discretion and their whimsy. The choice of what grows best and where will determine the successes of the future.
A new riesling on my radar was released in February. Creekside Estate Riesling Marianne Hill Vineyard 2014, Beamsville Bench, Ontario (443572, $19.95, WineAlign) and it paired beautifully with more foreshadowing than I’d like to admit.
Such a showing of 12 from Langton’s does @Wine_Australia proud. Formidable, exemplary #AussieWine #vintagewineconservatory
The Langton’s Classification: Excellent, outstanding, exceptional could have, would have placed 16 wines on this best of list were the rest of the planet not so adept at making wine. Like Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Release 2010, Coonawarra, South Australia (466748, $99.95, WineAlign). Such a gathering of Australian wine delivers the preponderance of form, with the incantatory capacity of narrative to bring truth to light and fulness out of pleasure. The mantra repeated with Savouring the new Australia.
The #napavalley mustard is something else @CalifWines_CA #napa #califwine
Vintage to vintage nuance and the common thread of grothiness, or, @GrothWines in essence @TheVine_RobGroh #suzannegroth #napavalley #oakville #cabernetsauvignon
The most pertinent question now in my mind is this. Can European wine keep up with the fictionality of North American reality? Even these wines could not make this list, however great and exceptional they are. Anakota Helena Montana Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, California (181131, $158.95, WineAlign), Forman Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Napa Valley, California (143925, $160.00, WineAlign) and Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1997, Oakville, Napa Valley, California (Agent, $179.95, WineAlign). Sometimes the answer still persists. All in the Primum Familiae Vini. And by the way, The LCBO keeps Kosher.
Much of what I taste is in a lab with no windows. That is because VINTAGES is a mimetic project, which is a few projects too many. We wine trackers and writers are akin to Cricetinae, perpetually running in a wheel or like Sisyphus, forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down. We read the bi-weekly catalogue, pre-taste the newest offerings, make our lists and check them twice. In every batch there are 10-15 wines that stand out, as much about bell curve positioning as absence of singularity. That is why attending varietal-centric events like The dawning of the age of Austrian wine and travelling the world is so important. Not too mention in my dining room In the Campania of Vini Alois.
To name a few excursions, I visited California in February, Vinho Verde in March, Chianti Classico in May, Chablis in July and Valpolicella in September. November in Paris I re-connected with Earth and sky. The take aways were extraordinary and flush with the relish of new discoveries and brand new days. Who can forget Ca’ La Bionda Vigneti Di Ravazzol Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 1997? Italy in the fall reminded me that Franciacorta is the best kept sparkling secret on the planet. November is a sublime time to visit the province of Brescia and the cellars of Franciacorta. Meraviglioso! Meanwhile, Champagne has to be on the list, right? Lallier Cuvée Millésime Grand Cru Brut Champagne 2008, Champagne, France (Agent, $95.00, WineAlign) should be but again, space restrictions and there was this old bubble from the New World. Decisions, decisions.
Which brings me back to Canadian and more parochioally, Ontario wine. The Canadian wine renaissance is attributed to high-end, artisan winemakers like Norman Hardie and Thomas Bachelder. That’s the cool factor. The truth of the matter is that Canadian winemakers have realized and capitalized on the significance and exceptionality of their terroirs in regions such as Niagara, Prince Edward County and the Okanagan Valley. Journalists and buyers from around the globe know it and have begun to spread the Canadian gospel.
And now #cuvee2016 @CCOVIBrockU #vqa @winecountryont #scotiabankconventioncentre
This 16-strong list has much to do with the beg, Drink now or save it for later? I have spent the last 30 years considering wine in some respect. The last 15 much more so. The tries, trials, errors, tricks, and tribulations have taught me one thing. I prefer and receive much more instant gratification from drinking wines young but nothing compares to the insight and the exhilaration of partaking in older wines.
You never forget your first hunk of #kimmeridgian love @BIVBChablis @vinsdebourgogne #chablis #cotedelechet
The year’s greatest distraction came at the hands of Chablis and fair warning, twenty thousand words are coming soon. In 2016 I published three times, Chablis from Dauvissat to Vocoret, Looking for Chablis in Ontario?, Enlightened Chablis of Château De Béru and Paradox in Chablis. Chablis as a varietal concept, as opposed to and unlike anywhere else in the world, seemingly unrelated to chardonnay. How could these extraordinary Chablis not make the list? Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots Réserve De L’obédience 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign) and Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign). Perhaps because I will soon publish Grand Cru hyperbole next month? That must be it.
Mirror to classicism, history and tradition. Purity from @valerialosi #querciavalle @chianticlassico #agricolalosi #sangiovese #granselezione #pontiganello
For the first time, I think ever, I gave some love to Rosé in the Days of wine and Rosés. I also fell for new dessert wines and these two tried hard but came up just a wee bit short for the list. Domaine Cauhapé Jurançon Symphonie De Novembre 2012, Southwest, France (470344, $38.95, WineAlign), Losi Querciavalle Vin Santo Del Chianti Classico 2000, Docg Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $95.00, WineAlign).
@grahams_port insanity via @abnermallity #onceinalifetime #piratesonapicnic #piratesv4point0 #sharingiscaring #1948 #finestreserve
Singolarità, qualità, diversità. Grazie di tutto @chianticlassico
In 2016, two words. Chianti Classico. The wines have embarked upon an ascension into their contemporary golden age. Image, perception and finalmente, reality, these are the truths all who feel the soul of Chianti Classico are in search of today. Today and moving forward, explaining to the world that Chianti Classico is not what you thought or think it to be. Colle Bereto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2011, Docg Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $67.50, WineAlign) was a side-revelation, as were so many others in Three days, eight estates, Chianti Classico and Gran Selezione, The most important red wine from Italy. And in a year when CC is all that seems to matter, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Ornellaia 2012, Doc Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy (722470, $195.50, WineAlign) and Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva 2004, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $100.00, WineAlign) are but mere mentions in addendum.
David Pelletier, ‘Le Sommelier Fou’ and friends in Vinho Verde
200 yr old vines. 1300m above sea level @vignerietna @somesmartsomm #rosato #vinudilice 2008 #tastethelava #volcanic
I Vigneri Di Salvo Foti Vinudilice 2008, Igt Sicilia Rosè, Sicily, Italy (WineAlign)
So much about this introduction to volcanic Rosato falls under the category and melts into the realm of the impossible. Begin with Vigna Bosco planted to 10,000, (up to) 200 year-old bush-trained (Etnean alberello) vines per hectare in Bronte, Northern Etna. Consider the party goers, endemic alicante, grecanico, minnella and other minor if wholly obscure native varietals. Locate the vineyard at 1,300m above sea level. Tell me it’s not the highest in all of Europe. Go on, tell me. Tended by hand with the help of Ciccio the mule. No refrigeration, yeasts or filtration. Decanting and bottling follow the phases of the moon. Blush has never acted like this, suspended as if put into bottle yesterday, beautifully minutia funky, every detail in laser calm focus. There really is no reference point, not in the south of France or anywhere in Italy to prepare for such an intellection. Vinudilice is nestled in a wood filled with holly oak (quercus ilex or in Sicily, ilice) but in respect for its singularity I would hesitate to categorize or compartmentalize. In fact I would not use the term Rosé, or Orange or natural to realize a need for reason. I would simply taste the lava. Thank you SomeSmartSomm. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted April 2016 @ivigneri@somesmartsomm@WinesOfSicily
Not members Blasted Mechanism. With Chris Wilton and Vasco Croft, Aphros Wines, Vinho Verde
Loureiro of a fashion so rare for Portugal and this region, from a concrete pétillant-naturel style, vinified in stainless steel with wild yeasts and initially no additional sugar, then bottled with 20 grams of natural residual sugar, to alight the single fermentation conclusion. An 11 per cent contrariety of méthode ancestrale dialectic, like a lime-grapefruit cordial housing a dissolving lemon tablet. A bowie cut, boning and dressing of loureiro. This here the whole new way to take the grape, to send it sky-high and bring it down to the rustic roots of glam, sparkling funk. “Like to take a cement fix, be a standing cinema. Dress my friends up just for show, see them as they really are.” Vasco (Andy) Croft walking and his hunky dory pet-nat spinning an original tale of a time and a place, or perhaps a myth, like the rustic deity of the forest riding shotgun to Dionysus and his native war. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted March 2016 #aphroswine@LeSommelierWine
Oldest vines #barossavalley textures in #semillon and #grenache @cirillo1850wine @Wine_Australia #southaustralia #marcocirillo
Cirillo 1850 Ancestor Sémillon 2011, Barossa Valley, South Australia (Agent, $36.00, WineAlign)
A sémillon revelation is found in this Barossa Valley ancient, a wine procured from vines dating back more than 150 years. To discount that prodigious bit of calculated fortuity would be wrong on so many levels. The Cirillo family are guardians of what may be the oldest continuously producing grenache and sémillon vineyards in Australia and by logical extension, the world. Here the combination of dry extract, mineral depth and straight-lined (unsalted) salinity is beyond special. While the Hunter Valley garners the most attention for aging immortal sémillon, this Barossan will likewise escape, somehow, to live another more complicated and mysterious life. I would wait three years for some extract meets tannic sweetness to begin its development and then take it slow for another six to 10. Incredible find here in Ontario from Marco Cirillo. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted May 2016 @Cirillo1850wine@bokkewines@BarossaDirt
Brash Higgins Nero D’avola Amphorae Project 2015, McLaren Vale, South Australia (Winery, $55.00, WineAlign)
The renegade triumvirate of coagulation denotes the shock and awe of this outlier; McLaren Vale, Nero d’Avola and Amphora. Winemaker Brad Hickey and his nickname have taken the troika and created a beautiful monster. A non-oxidative, crunchy, spicy, toasty, chewy and tannic NdA in versicolour, mottled and florid in flavour. There is black and white pepper, cinnamon, zesty orange spritz and a clay influence (plus amphora) to waft one for the ages. The palate flaunts a tapenade of painfully brilliant chalky black olive. The swirl is chocolate and vanilla, mediterranean and meganesian. There should be zero attention paid to the unusual in its concept. This is both a pleasure to taste now and will evolve into something wholly other given enough time. At least 10 years to be sure. Drink 2016-2025. Tasted May 2016 @BrashHiggins@mclaren_vale@TheLivingVine
Rockpile Zinfandel Cemetery Vineyard 2013, Rockpile AVA, Sonoma County, California (Winery, US $47, WineAlign)
Look towards the other arm of Lake Sonoma and let your mind’s eye rest 250 feet higher than Jack’s Cabin Vineyard. The Cemetery plantation is a jagged, craggy outcropping with “a face uneven as a river jag and asperous as the mullein’s flannel.” The Mauritsons are Los Campesinos of Cemetery Vineyard in Rockpile. The rocks below resemble giant headstones along the Rogers Creek fault and you just have to believe all this immensity of geology impacts the vines. It does but don’t ask how or why, just settle into the cimmerian depth of zinfandel touched by black fruit, spice and the akimbo savour of glutamate and amino acid. Three further months in barrel (85 French plus 15 American) accentuates the spice, smoulder and espresso con crema texture. Ripeness of fruit, tannin and acidity are simply stellar out of this dramatic place. “You know us by the way we crawl and you know us by our cemetery gaits.” Drink 2017-2025. Tasted February 2016 @mauritsonwinery@sonomavintners
Though it may long ago have been considered the quintessential one, there may be no other Alsatian gewürztraminer more important than Weinbach’s Cuvée Laurence. The reasons are manyfold but begin and end with memory and legacy. This was daughter and sister Laurence Faller’s prized wine, the wine she put her name to, that defined her gracious winemaking in echo of the estate she worked. Her family has carried the torch and yet her touch is all over this wine. Calm, composed, balanced and ethereal. Laurence is a clear expression of the marly limestone soil beneath the lieu-dit of Altenbourg, located at the base of the great Grand Cru Furstentum vineyard. Where else do you find gewürztraminer of such delicasse, from which classic aromas (rose petal, creamy to boozy-syrupy tropical fruit) and impossible unction combine without ukase? Nowhere. The acidity does not act with impulse. No, it rings, supports and lingers. The extract is intense but out of mind. Exceptional vintage. Drink 2018-2033. Tasted October 2016 #domaineweinbach@AlsaceWines@drinkAlsace@ACT_Alsace@VinsAlsace
Alessandro Palombo is skeptical at first, one eyebrow raised but with the look of possibility on his face. Takes me very little time to acknowledge that this ’79 is very much alive, fruit not predominant (and surely some prune) but neither cooked nor bruised. The brown nose (earth and spice) purports a full concentration of anthocyanins, acidity still full in, dried fraises de bois, black liquorice, dirty leather and worth repeating, still very good acidity. Truffle, forest floor and then black olive tapenade on the palate. This is 70-80 per cent sangiovese with colorino and canaiolo and for 1979 it’s quite incredible. It should not have lasted this long. Antonio says that up to 10 per cent could have been malvasia blanca and trebbiano because at the time it was a field blend, co-planted with the sangiovese, which could explain some of the variegation in the colour. This is a Chianti Classico to lend credence to the idea of using multiple fruit, vegetal and animale descriptors when assessing an old wine. It’s also the reason why you put them away and open them with friends who’s eyes are wide open. Thank you Alessandro for the opportunity and for the connection to your grandfather Alberto. He was a very good winemaker. Drink 2016. Tasted May 2016 @LuiLuiano@chianticlassico
Château De Béru Chablis Clos Béru Monopole 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, $87.95, WineAlign)
In 2012, less density and iodine matchstick is on display in performance for the historic, south facing vineyard beyond the Château’s walls. From this her eighth vintage in the resurrection of the family’s estate wines, Athénaïs de Béru has assembled fruit from Kimmeridgian limestone in rapport with a vintage of portent and intent towards elegance. The acidity is much more linear (than 2013) and the limestone sensations less metallic. Here the feeling is more of a liquid chalk and the balance is much improved. Also less evolved, bright and a much more amenable of a bitter pith, more citrus (lemon and lime) and not as earthy. Longer finish too. What 2013 lacks this ’12 gains and vice versa. The comparative literature and parenthetical study is duly noted as apples to oranges so the wines are exempt of one another. Neither answer all the questions asked and both express their terroir from their time spent on it. This ’12 story will become clearer in another year or two. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted July 2016 #chateaudebéru@TheLivingVine@vinsdechablis@purechablis
“What is Rioja?” asks Telmo Rodríguez. He notes that Lopez-Heredia still manages small vineyards, Grand Cru and Premier Cru plots, but most Rioja houses are industrial. Their wines age in barrels in 100-150 year old wineries but have no sense of place, of origins, of an amazing vineyard. “I want to be radical. I believe it (Rioja) can be one of the most beautiful places in the world but I told my brothers it needed to go in a very particular direction. My brothers agreed.” So costs went up 35 per cent. They bought no grapes. “If you want to work properly in Spain, you have to be a hero.” You have to work the most difficult vineyards, where production costs are five times that of Grand Vin Bordeaux but the price sells for 10 times less. And so Telmo Rodríguez produces this Gran Reserva, a wine that adheres to a Rioja systematic but does so from a blind-eye turned, high density field-blend planting of tempranillo, garnacha, graciano, muscatel, viura and malvasia. A field blend, unlike Bordeaux but a local village farmed gathering of the best fruit. The 2009 is showing no age but the difference between 2010 Reserva and 2009 Gran Reserva is night and day. This makes the ’10 seem fresh, alive, open, almost simple. Here the variegation is distilled down to laser focus, as if the varieties all become one and most people would simply say tempranillo, but who has ever tasted and been dealt such a tempranillo? This is oozing of a liqueur like no other, rich, viscous, natural and dry-extract sweet. An expression of the best microclimates and their vineyard kin. Wait another five years to allow it to remember and tell its tale. Drink 2022-2034. Tasted September 2016 #Remelluri@TelmoRodriguez_@Noble_Estates
Dominus 1998, Napa Valley, California (212381, $176.95, WineAlign)
When I tasted the 1990 in 2012, hanging on to every thread of oscillation from death to life and back again was exhausting. The 2008 tasted that same year could not have been more life affirming. This ’98 is such a zoetic Dominus beast with an embarrassment of resplendent riches. It is everything 1990 wished it could have been and yet the light-hearted George Hrab geological funk reminds me of that wine. The 1998 trips on a trebuchet and I weep at its aromatic reverie. It is hypnopompic, a state immediately preceding waking up, whiffing the most beautiful Brett there ever was or could ever imagined to be. Volatility in a bubble, circumstantial, lost in a dream. Get lost in the butcher shop, the natural cure here, there, everywhere, curative and comforting. Porcine and rapturous, fruit perfect and entitled, structure supprting every note. If 1998 was both a curious and concerning vintage this wine lays those worries to rest. The fretting may have swayed feelings and been difficult to glide fingers across but the harmonics extend with ease. Finishes with staccato calm, a palpable exhale of breath and silence. Five more years will be like this and five more without threat. Drink 2016-2026. Tasted October 2016 #dominus@rogcowines#ChristianMoueix
Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 2013, Santa Cruz Mountains, California (405332, $191.95, WineAlign)
From a serious drought vintage, dry, warm and demanding, the 2013 Montebello’s Draper perfume is as heady as ever, to such effect that after one whiff this is where daydreaming takes over consciousness. Montebello gets inside the head, with allegory, radio frequency waves and platonic thought, as if inside a cave. An 80 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot (8), Cabernet Franc (7) and Merlot (5) classic, lithe and restrained blend of sheer, utter exceptionality. The balance in 2013 is impeccable but dont be fooled into thinking this is not a big wine. The acidity is dramatic, the tannins fine and demanding and the amount of pure extract whorled and revelling. All in dark red fruit and a coolness through the mid-palate that threads like silk through fine stainless steel fibre. “This goes beyond me, beyond you.” Drink 2018-2030. Tasted May 2016 @RidgeVineyards@rogcowines@CalifWines_CA
Fino, Don P.X. ’86 and ’62 w: @sorgatoBTA @toroalbala @LeSommelierWine Magical, impossible, unchanging. Bucket list to revisit in 150 years #pedroximenez #bodegastoroalbala #montillamoriles #spain
Bodegas Toro Albalá Don P.X. Selección 1967, Do Montilla Moriles, Spain (491647, $199.95, WineAlign)
You know it’s a good month when you are afforded the opportunity to taste two Montilla-Moriles Pedro Ximenez oldies, first the Alvear Solera 1927 in Paris and now this Selección 1967 bottled in November of 2016. The vintage-dated PX are produced from sun-dried grapes fermented for two months to eight or nine per cent alcohol, at which point a distillate made from the same PX pressings is added to bring the wine up to 17 per cent. First in concrete vats and then a transfer into 50-150 year old American oak barrels. Only 630 bottles were filled in a PX of awakening and hope that finished at an indiscernible 17 per cent alcohol. Some dessert wines can be cloying Popskull but Bodegas Toro Albalá delivers yet another impossible and crazy dessert wine of heavy fuel, impeccable balance in the face of Lugduname breaching sweetness and aromas sin fronteras. The gamut glides through roasted nuts and dried fruits, from almonds and Van Gogh Museum memories of their abundant flowers plus pomegranate, apricot, peach, nectarine, damson plum and pistachio. So much pistachio!! In between there is orange marmalade, quince jelly and prune preserve. Plenty of acidity extends and narrows into a sharp, pointed tang. No matter how many times you try to empty the glass there is always more wine. Always another sip. Is it viscosity, a truco del ojo or trampantojo? Is there some kind of wizardry at play? Then finally, well, actually never, a finish with no end, or a pause in a never-ending 49 year-old (and counting) story. So where is the beginning? 1967. Drink 2016-2040. Tasted November 2016 @toroalbala@sorgatoBTA@MontillaMoriles@LeSommelierWine
Schramsberg Sparkling J. Schram 50th Anniversary Late disgorged 1999, Napa Valley, California (Winery $175 US, WineAlign)
In celebration of Schramsberg’s golden anniversary, 50 years after Jack and Jamie Davies revived the historic Schramsberg estate for the purpose of making the nation’s first chardonnay and pinot noir based, bottle-fermented sparkling wines. A North Coast (57 per cent Napa, 25 Mendocino, 15 Monterey and 13 Sonoma) blend of 74 per cent chardonnay and 26 pinot noir. Seventeen years have come to ginger, cumin, coriander and galangal in laminous, oxidative ingenuity, wholly arid in kicking up the aromatic dust. Flavours of pressed lemon, bitter brioche and then tannin, yes tannin. From a protracted year, picked as late as October 19th, disgorged in August of 2014 at a dosage of (very necessary) 11.5 g/L RS. Blessed with high natural acidity of 9.8 tA. How can I not concur with Hugh Davies. “What we’re really showing here is Napa Valley Chardonnay.” Drink 2016-2031. Tasted February 2016 @Schramsberg@TheVine_RobGroh
Down by the river with #raveneau #grandcru #blanchot #chablis @lafolieauxerre #2009 #francoisraveneau #thankful
Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2009, Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
It would be misleading to address Raveneau’s Blanchot as chardonnay even as we know it as such because Raveneau produces wines as unique as door keys. They are so inimitable and each will only open the gate to its own unique perception. Blanchot is the southernmost of the seven Chablis Grand Cru climats and blankets the southeastern side of Les Clos. The Raveneau narration does not convey the notion of manifest feeling but instead splits the axiomatic atom of the climat. A sip and you are inside the Blanchot, gliding and passing through rock as if you are the ethereal and the wine is the solid foundation of thought, pathos and avowal. There are aromas that combine citrus and umami with a sweetness that can’t be denied or defined. The wine is just a child, complex, shy and yet unable to express both its meaning and power. But you try to get inside its head, stumbling over kimmeridgian rock replete with the smithereen-crushed shells of ancient fossils. This is a calm young Blanchot and you melt away while under its spell. Three more years should render its hidden meaning. Drink 2019-2034. Tasted July 2016
A great pleasure and exercize in humility to taste with #vincentdauvissat in his cellar @BIVBChablis #humanity #chablis
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2001, Burgundy, France (WineAlign)
Tasted from a bottle opened five days prior which is nothing really for a wine that can age easily for 30 years. It resides in a perfect state. Vincent concedes “over 20 there is nothing to be gained” and yet the still terrifically raging acidity would suggest this 15 year-old specimen is only halfway there. The texture is nothing if not persuasive. In 1931 Vincent’s father began this journey. Here 70 years later is a wine so perfectly intact, the lemon-waxy aspect almost on the edge of the hive. But not quite because of the taut bracing and tight embracing. There is a chew to this and Dauvissat shrugs. “What’s to say?” Nothing but a great piece of his history and his father’s legacy. If this wine is a sentimental tribute to a childhood village, it is never uncomplicated. Drink 2016-2031. Tasted July 2016
Catena Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae Malbec 2011, Mendoza, Argentina (Agent, $325.00, WineAlign)
In this extremely specific malbec from a diagnosed block of the Adrianna Vineyard we are graced with the micro-science of wine. And if you feel that using the name of an aerobic bacteria in the nomenclature is an odd choice, consider the mind of Dr. Laura Catena and her biological approach to viticulture. If we can understand and differentiate the microbes in the soil we can make better wine. It’s as simple as that. When wine is broken down to the biological level it becomes something entirely different and this is the road travelled by the Mundus Bacillus. Catena’s usage of 70 parcel pits per hectare has unearthed this single parcel within the vineyard, again completely different and the pinpointed microbial discussion initiates right here. The soil stakes a claim for this malbec only, certainly not in any way that tends to funk but surely as an impresario of soil. Talk about eugenics in the MBT because that science is compelling and can be related to in this wine. It can offer keys towards improving genetic quality of the vinous population. Here we are faced with rich and dusty, a mean streak of malbec intensity made elegant by earthly microbes. This section draws parallels to the (chardonnay) White Bones soil from which there transfers an excess of dry extract and tannin. Patience please for a malbec that will be long lived. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted November 2016
Mysteries of #climat soil and orientation in #chablis and les #grandcru before the wood
There is little about Chablis that is not drawn up in contrasts. It begins with Left Bank versus Right Bank, the Serein River and the village of Chablis acting as the interface between. Petit Chablis giving way to the more important Chablis and then Premier Cru the varied and always impressive interloper separating the villages wines from the Grand Cru. Chablis as a varietal concept, as opposed to and unlike anywhere else in the world, seemingly unrelated to chardonnay.
Antithetical wrangling does not end there. The sequential order of a substantial Chablis tasting is a going concern. The winemaker’s eyes will roll with Bachelderism consternation and concentration into the recesses of his or her head before deciding which Premier Cru should be assessed before the next. The geological contexts of Kimmeridgian and Portlandian soils have to be taken into account, as do slope and exposition of the particular cru. The permutations are endless for a place with one grape variety and four kinds of white wine.
Thon, cocombre and crème d’anchois at Au Fil du Zinc in the Hôtel du Vieux Moulin in Chablis
Even the tenets of modern cuisine in Chablis and Auxerre are riddled with mysteries and a clash of cultures. Both Restaurant L’aspérule in Auxerre and Au Fil du Zinc in the Hôtel du Vieux Moulin in Chablis fuse Japanese cuisine with Burgundian gastronomy. As if the average inhabitant did not already enjoy a health advantage over the rest of the world’s population, such a paradigm shift only improves the probability of extolling the virtues of the French paradox.
The contraposition of Chablis is most often discussed in terms of fermentation. Oak or stainless steel? Chablis is repeatedly referenced as steely, invariably flinty and almost without fail in bone of contention annoyance as mineral cliché. The younger Petit Chablis and Chablis fermentations will never see the inside of a barrel (well, maybe a really, really old one) and wood is only employed as they move into Premier Cru, Grand Cru and increasingly, climats of highly regarded lieu-dits. The percentage of barrel ferments these days rarely exceed 25-35 per cent though in some cases 50 per cent is seen. In Chablis the words “new” and “oak” are never uttered together, or aloud.
The greatest paradox of all is written in stone along a few ridges and across the most important set of hills above the river. Deep-rooted, inveterate purlieu of geology in eight names; Les Preuses, Bougros, Vaudésir, Grenouille, Valmur, Les Clos, Blanchot and unofficially (depending on political affiliations), La Moutonne. Les Grand Crus of Chablis are singled out not only for their exceptional terroir and climat but also for the impossibility of what happens when fruit is pulled from their chardonnay vines. The Grand Cru are oracles in complex riddles, transcendent mysteries and the most enigmatic of all Chablis. I suppose it’s because the rich fruit versus exigent stone is the epitome of Chablis paradox. You will read this later on in a tasting note, but it begs repeating.
Domaine Billaud-Simon
I sit down to taste with winemaker Olivier Bailly and he apologizes that he will be pouring from half-bottles. I tell Olivier there is nothing for which to apologize. I wish more producers would pour from half-bottles. Their young wines show better, breath quicker and after they have emptied half of a half into my glass, one more tasting from that bottle and voilà, the bottle is finished. As we begin, Olivier shares a deep, innermost thought. “I have a secret. Inox barrels.” The Chablis paradox. Not only the paradox, but the enigma and the Catch-22. When you taste with 20 producers in just under a week you often see a pattern forming, of reasons how the Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru and Grand Cru are considered and in what order. Bailly’s method of linear madness is not revealed until the tasting is completed. Only then is a second paradox considered.
Between a rock and @Billaud_Simon #kimmeridgian #chablis #chablispremiercru #chablisgrandcru #fourchaume #montdemilieu #montedetonnerre #vaillons #vaudesir #lesclos #lespreuses #lesblanchots
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Taken specifically from a block in the Vaupulent lieu-dit at the southern end of the larger Fourchaume. The style is rich but with mineral in the air, ethereal and intoxicating. Fourchaume does not always get to such precise and hovering heights. This is typically 2014 and elevated by citrus with extreme prejudicial clarity. Right in the linear wheelhouse. Long floral, waxy citrus finish. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016 @Billaud_Simon
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Premier Cru Les Vaillons 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (330175, $39.95, WineAlign)
Composed from several lieu-dit in the Cru; Les Minots, Roncieres and two parcels each of high solar-powered Chatains and Sécher. A rounder, softer, fuller expression by sun and out of the open-mindedness provided by exposure. Here the house accentuation from stainless steel helps to preserve freshness and keep it at the maximum. A committal success in 2014 for a vintage that demands acidity and freshness, here buoyed by decisions and understanding. Exemplary Vaillons of lemon with a shot of lime injection. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Premier Cru Mont de Milieu 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (373548, $44.95, WineAlign)
Billaud-Simon’s vines are up the hill in front of the forest, with four plots that work their way south and west and of parcels 40-70 years of age. This has such air and pomp in its deep breaths with the most maleficent acidity and tension in its grip. As stirring a Mont de Milieu as you will find built on 40 hL/H yields of solid citrus meets yellow apple fruit. Terrific attraction and length. Superb. Classic unoaked Chablis. Can envision it unchanging for seven years followed by a slow walk into and through the preserved citrus museum. With fruit this clean it will petrify before it spoils. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Premier Cru Montée De Tonnerre 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (325241, $52.00, WineAlign)
Tasted at the domaine, from three parcels, Montée de Tonnerre, Pied d’aloup and Côte de Chapelot, climats up on the hill on the right bank close to the town of Chablis. Rounder (with 10 per cent old oak) than Mont de Milieu but still of terrific 2014 acidity, though noticeable with more orchard fruit to mingle with the stones. The tension increases with some time spent with the M de T and like well-structured Premier Cru Chablis will want to do, it lingers with a combination of tension and amenability. Part gentille Alouette and part Kimmeridgian flinty, this is a terrific example of the co-habitable duality of great Chablis. It is also indicative of the transformative restoration and direction of Billaud-Simon under the auspices of winemaker Olivier Bailly. I will let this bird rest for a couple more years and then a promise. “Je te plumerai.” Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
Restaurant L’aspérule #foiegras
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 11482703, $77.00, WineAlign)
For some producers Vaudésir is the pinnacle of their Chablis expression and yet here it seems the entry point as it leads in a tasting of four Grand Crus. From three parcels in the amphitheatre, one right at the top by the wood and two at the mid-way point on the hill. A direct, in your sight lines Vaudésir, so very lemon-lime push-pulled and densely tart. It’s taut but not sour, tight but not cringing from the tightening of the winch. The most masculine of Vaudésir perhaps with few equals though unwavering and unquestionable in its achievement of balance. The Inox secret is discarded (or complicated, depending on your vantage point) in favour of 100 per cent (15-16 years) old oak. This is Grand Cru after all. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (360834, $99.00, WineAlign)
What separates Chablis from chardonnay begins with these 65 year-old vines, with healthy yields (50 hL/H) that are perfect for the vintage from this stoic and iconic Cru. Here is the essentiality of Les Preuses, “the juice of the stone,” saline, crustaceous, briny and simply, utterly trenchant. This is the vraiment Preuses impression, a fossil entrenched in the chardonnay and subsequently on the brain and the senses. A straight jacket Chablis with length up Les Preuses, back to the river and then straight back up and away into the woods. Inox barrel (sic) and old barrels used. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Here Les Clos is a magnified adaptive narrative of the Grand Cru, rich and full of ripe excess. Riper than most of the others, which is saying something. Magnetic, platinum mineral with very expressive fruit from Billaud-Simon’s take out of the grandaddy of all Chablis climats. The biggest bad boy of the flight and in the eyes of the world, textbook Grand Cru. Salinity, floral blossom airy and briny, though not quite expressive of the fossilized, ancient river trenchancy of Les Preuses. But again, Chablis at it old school, from very little shrouded or spice-driven wood, classic, cool-climate, mineral-driven Chablis. The summation confirms why it is poured after Vaudésir and Les Preuses but ahead of Blanchots. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (401984, $115.00, WineAlign)
From the top right (eastern) aspect of the white stones Grand Cru, just across the valley from Montée de Tonnerre. This is a fuller, slightly richer Blanchots but still so direct, piercing and impressed stone-dominant. Great lemon zest shaved into juice and an amplitude rendering dollop of curd. The lemon-curated and curative house continues to flex its citrus style. Once again, the enigma of Inox barrel and old barrels used. Why pour this last of the four Grand Crus? I suppose it’s because the rich fruit versus exigent stone is the epitome of Chablis paradox, in retrospect and with further addendum to what seemed obvious at the time. Blanchots is the gate-keeper of Grand Cru middle ground. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Petit Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Well of course the difference is felt immediately, in simpler terms, affordably easy, accountable, preferential to commercial success. Acidity is prepared with necessary balance in advance of letting fruit run wild. This is waxy and pleasantly sour. A bit chewy as well. Nicely done. Classic unbaked chardonnay in every correct way. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Nicely crisp Chablis for the vintage, a bit lean and direct but with ripe acidity and balance struck. Straight to the Chablis point, with more lime than lemon and a minor bitter middle, ending with easy leaning angles. Commendable from dependable for 2015. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Long-Depaquit
Imagine waking up every morning to work in this dreamy place where the cup of pure chablis essence runneth over. The soft-spoken winemaker is the youthful Matthieu Mangenot, a man who seems too young to manage the storied domain without the guidance of a father, grandfather and several generations of Mangenot men behind him. But make no mistake for this is his domain and the wines are in the hands of a traditionalist with a penchant for modern musical Chablis. Matthieu’s Chablis are alternative, ambient, precise rock and roll pop songs and totemic, epic poems. They could be from the early eighties or as current as a Spotify playlist today. The paradigm shift and the paradox of Chablis in 2016 are dutifully represented in Mangenot’s work at Long-Depaquit.
Matthieu Mangenot, Domaine Long-Depaquit
Domaine Albert Bichot Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (391805, $19.95, WineAlign)
Tasted with winemaker Matthieu Mangenot at the Long-Depaquit domain, this is Chablis raised 100 per cent in stainless steel. Gifts the immediacy of mineral and acidity, from Chichée to the south of Chablis and also the eastern areas of Beru and Viviers. Higher altitudes where snow and then frost at the end of April 2016 will mean a tiny harvest but for 2015 the acidity is top-notch, despite the fat and easy vintage, with more mineral driven into the palate (with some perceived though feigning sweetness) and a real gelid glide down the backside. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016 @Matth_Mangenot@Bichotwine@DionysusWines#LongDepaquit
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Premier Cru Les Lys 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 10278920, $40.00, WineAlign)
An achievement in the richer style of Vaillons Premier Cru, broad and expansive, not entering the cortex with overarching acidity but rather good host invitation. A Bichot Burgundian stylistic really shows in Les Lys, not so much a wood attack but the lees and fullness is certainly felt. Acidity is late and round, encompassing and caressing. A softer 2014 and a good foil to other, sharper, more piercing brethren. Kept in 100 per cent stainless steel to preserve the acidity and the freshness. Even in 2014 this was necessary, for freshness and elegance. Certainly showing the most lifted and modern of the three Premier Cru on this day. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted July 2016
The barrel cellar at Domaine Long-Depaquit
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Premier Cru Les Vaillons 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (19364, $34.95, WineAlign)
Immediacy from the specific stony soil of Vaillons, unmistakable, of tang in impression and such a broad mouthfeel. The presence of Vaillons is nearly always noble, sumptuous, modish and sensual. Extract and tannin are very much a part of the program. Ten per cent of the take saw time in oak, lending an ingrained smack of spice. I would not exactly call it lavish though it is certainly a Vaillons surfeited with fruit, sun and stone. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Premier Cru Les Vaucopins 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (SAQ 10845111, $41.25, WineAlign)
Vaucopins is drawn off of five hectares on really steep slopes on the Right Bank. It is neither Les Lys nor Vaillons but somehow an across the river genetic and amalgamated combination of the two. Though there is a wild side to Vaucopins it really streams the vintage. Natural and corporeal because the fruit is untethered but habitual in that it mimics the Grand Cru. Its south-facing cragges and outcrops bring warmth to the kimmeridgian and that is why Matthieu Mangenot treats its élevage like a Grand Cru. The result is a very concentrated Chablis from 15 per cent (older Bichot barrels) oak fermentation. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Long-Depaquit
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
The Long-Depaquit treatment for Blanchots is with 25 per cent barrel. A real preserved lemon and just a hint of paraffin is replete with such elegance and finesse on the nose. Les Blanchots is at once soft but also of a sexy smoulder, like flint that has been sparked, extinguished and left with a lingering wisp. So beautifully wound and full of demurred grace. But don’t be fooled, there is a punch of acidity and underlying spirit. The house accounts for a meaningful if ponderous part of the Blanchot riddle, its centrism wrapped in a mystery, in a fruit versus stone enigma. Recondite, interwoven Chablis. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (Agent, WineAlign)
Just because the richest of Grand Cru fruit can handle the added value, Les Clos receives a generous 35 per cent barrel fermentation. As per Les Clos the corpulence and amenability adds up to one grand and inviting Grand Cru Chablis. Always critically evident and full of joie de vivre, there is roundness on les Clos like no other Grand Cru and Long-Depaquit is front and centre to the end of that ideal. What separates this house’s style is the long and slowly evolving finish because and with thanks to the wood adding texture and cream to all aspects of its relationship with the largest Grand Cru. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Moutonne Monopole 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (46706, $89.95, WineAlign)
The greatest of paradoxical moments is shared in confessional confidence with Moutonne because not just anyone can make a wine with the name and of such a singular distillation from within a venn diagram of places. While some lieu-dit in Chablis share affinities, territorial geography and climats with larger Premier Cru, it is only Moutonne that stands alone in the schematic drawn up for the Grand Crus. Though the Moutonne can’t help but take on the atypical characteristics of the 2013 vintage it also can’t escape from itself. Les deux visages are always relegated into the dichotomous and interconnected realm, of Les Preuses (five per cent) controlled with manifest destiny by Les Blanchots. Les Preuses’ fruit is feisty and must be heard and this is so necessary in the tropical and spicy vintage. There is no lychee here but there breathes some very ripe stone fruit and the great white geology of the Grand Cru. In spite of the vintage this is a beautifully managed Moutonne (fermented in 25 per cent barrel) with trenchant piquancy on the finish. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
You never forget your first hunk of #kimmeridgian love @BIVBChablis @vinsdebourgogne #chablis #cotedelechet
Chablis. The great equalizer. A wine of gold and light, worth opening at every occasion, full of spirit, possessive of protracted acidity. With its capture of ancient geology, oceanic shells and Jurassic rocks, it’s alacrity flourishes with utmost consistency. The words Chablis and non-performer are disavowed of being uttered together. The history of customer satisfaction is written in stone.
In Ontario there are Petit Chablis and Chablis always available on the LCBO’s General List. At any given time there are more Chablis, Premier and Grand Cru floating about in various VINTAGES locations. Only one can be found on the VINTAGES Essentials list and yet it is arguably the most essential white wine. What’s up with that? Has anyone ever spent a moment of regret on a single Chablis purchase from an Ontario store?
Chablis is chardonnay for varietal purposes but only that links it to other chardonnay. Chablis is more than chardonnay, not existential as chardonnay and if you ask wiser men than me, is not chardonnay. And Chablis is getting inside people’s heads. I am not the only one who lives and breathes borne witness to the new Burgundy winds of change. It is of late that I have noticed (other) Bourgogne whites eerily coming closer and closer to smelling, tasting and acting like Chablis. Why would that be?
Part of the reason is certainly a response to the current rising trend of a global veering away from oak. But there has to be more to it than that. Who would refute the notion that producers in Beaune and the more southerly climes of Burgundy are looking north and thinking, dreaming, hoping to mimic Chablis. The idea is not so far-fetched. Wouldn’t it be fair to say that global warming has had an effect on Bourgogne and punches the stylistic meter towards Chablis? How many times have you recently read a tasting note in which a critic discussing a chardonnay style, an example say from Ontario, New Zealand or even Sonoma, as being comparable to Chablis? How many winemakers wouldn’t kill to have their chardonnay considered and reviewed with Chablis as the benchmark? Yes, it’s all Chablis to me.
The first week of July excavated a head first, personal hermeneutic, all in to nothing but Chablis. Out the door from Charles de Gaulle into a taxi to Auxerre and then straight up the Premier Cru Côte de Léchet up on the Left Bank of the Serein. This with Au Coeur du Vin’s Chablis guru Eric Szablowski. A bottle of Brocard at Bar Le Quai in Auxerre. Early next morning to Domaine William Fèvre with Director Didier Séguier, then La Chablisienne with Oenologist Vincent Bartement, at Domaine Gérard Tremblay with Vincent Tremblay and finally the Domaine of Edouard Vocoret and Eleni Theodoropoulos. Days end with a Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2009 at Auxerre’s Restaurant Le Folie.
Look into the #chablis pensieve and see that #escargot @lafolieauxerre
Breakfast on day two in Chablis was spent tasting with Patrick Piuze, followed by Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat, Lucie Thieblemont and Charly Nicolle and at Château de Béru with Athénaïs de Béru. And then, Auxerre’s Restaurant L’aspérule.
Filet de canette snaké, galette de maïs, échalote confite #lebourgogne #auxerre #ericgallet
I met with Julien Brocard in front of the Abbaye de Sainte Claire at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, Benjamin Laroche at La Manufacture, Sébastien Dampt and Domaine Barat. In Auxerre I tasted with BIVB Chablis’ Jean-François Bordet of Domaine Séguinot-Bordet at Eric Gallet’s Le Bourgogne.
A final day began with winemaker Matthieu Mangenot at Domaine Long-Depaquit, then Romain Collet at Domaine Jean Collet et Fils, Cyril Testut of Domaine Testut, with Elodie Saudemont at Domaine Laroche and then Domaine Louis Moreau. Et finalement, a Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Premier Cru Montée de Tonnerre 2009 at Au Fil du Zinc in Chablis.
This may or may not have happened #raveneau #memory #monteedetonnerre
It was not until I ventured down the QEW two weeks later to attend my fourth consecutive International Cool Climate Chardonnay Conference that I put on my retrospective spectacles to see that what I had been tasting that entire week in France was in fact chardonnay. I mean I knew I was but never really stopped to think about it in such terms. It was simply at the time, in the moment, just Chablis. Even at i4c there were moments when my brain was churning in Chablis motives, machinations and emojis. Did you feel it too?
It helped that some friendships forged in Burgundy were furthered in Niagara because these folks came to spread the Pure Chablis gospel. Scripture that includes the sine qua non of gentle pressing, cold settling, Kimmeridgian, Portlandian and Calcaire soils, aging on fine lees and sometimes, but not always kissing a natural malolactic fermentation with a whisper of French oak. Sandrine Audegond of Domaine Laroche, Jean-François Bordet and Françoise Roure, Marketing and communication manager du Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (Burgundy Wine Board) were on hand to help turn a chardonnay clambake into a quarry quorum. The word mineral was heard to be uttered on several occasions and no injuries were reported.
Wines that deliver a sense of place or, as we like to refer to it here in Ontario as “somewhereness,” always seem to stand out. The switchboard for the ideal is in Burgundy where the intrinsic reality is calculated in climats, that is, plots or blocks defined by the confluence of place, geology, slope, aspect and climate. Ancient somewhereness aside the current VINTAGES release includes some eerily Chablis-like “entry-level” white Burgundies, far from barrel-dominated and anything but entry-level. If to you climat, unadulterated chardonnay and respected producers mean anything at all, these wines are worth the price. We can’t all afford white Burgundy but here the quality far exceeds the cost.
The September and October releases are home to exemplary Premier Cru and looking back over the past several months I have found more Chablis, Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines that I had the opportunity to taste in Burgundy and remain available in VINTAGES. Looking for Chablis in Ontario? Look no further.
In VINTAGES September 3rd, 2016
La Chablisienne Bourgogne Chardonnay 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (455147, $15.95, WineAlign)
This entry-level chardonnay is La Chablisienne’s away from Chablis foray into Bourgogne, or perhaps a combing and combining of the two. The nose is steely, flinty and smoky, the palate full of lemon zest, limoncello and lemon meringue pie. Touching in its tartness and nearly very impressive from its depth and for its length. Goes to show you can take the Chablisienne out of Chablis but you can’t take the Chablis out of Chablisienne. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted August 2016 #LaChablisienne@Vinexxperts
J. Moreau & Fils Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (466144, $21.95, WineAlign)
Typically flinty and stony Chablis from Moreau of Portlandian influence and typically easy to get to know, as per the forward vintage. All good berries and the ease of ripening is here on display. Chablis never had it so good, easy and lazy. Drink up. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted August 2016
Bouchard Père & Fils Réserve Bourgogne Chardonnay 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (445221, $23.95, WineAlign)
I rarely comment of a white Burgundy’s hue but this pours as pale as a Beaune ghost with villages transparency. Almost Chablis-like in its quiet sincerity, the calcaire is everything here. The vintage is a good one and the acidity works the wine with natural ease. Very fine example of “reserve” style entry-level Bourgogne. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted August 2016 @BouchardPere@WoodmanWS
Olivier Leflaive Bourgogne Chardonnay 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (942482, $29.95, WineAlign)
The O. Leflaive basic Bourgogne has yet to cease its twitching and circulating with the mouth-watering cascades of its acidity. The freshness is alive and well, the vitality striking for and from the vintage. Ancient geology aside this chardonnay is also Chablis-like, far from wooden and so very struck rock tart. Acting as a scintillant of the lightning order, fruit is not an afterthought but it is relayed with metallurgy as its conduit. Easily worth the extra five bucks in comparison to most entry-level white Burgundies. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted August 2016 @OlivierLeflaive
Domaine Hamelin Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (391805, $32.95, WineAlign)
While all the Chablis climats enjoyed an ideal growing season in 2014 I have to say that the Premier Cru Beauroy made full use of its gifts. The parcel lacks the striking mineral underfoot of close neighbours Côte de Léchet and Vaillons but what it does have is roundness and depth of fruit. In 2014 those aspects converge with the Chablis mineral ethos to paint a picture who’s whole is both the sum and the accumulation of its parts. Hamelin makes full advantage of fruit, rock and vintage. The triumvirate is saddled with ideal and ripe acidity and the extract is second to none. A prime example and just about as good as it gets in the beautiful king’s climat. Drink 2016-2023. Tasted August 2016 #domainehamelin@oenophilia1
In VINTAGES September 17th, 2016
Louis Jadot Chablis 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (468751, $28.95, WineAlign)
Straight ahead and 2014 focused Chablis from Jadot, tight and stony at first but then shimmies up to reveal richer fruit than some and equanimity in acidity-mineral undertones. A wide and all-encompassing no doubter of a wine that succeeds no matter the breadth of its fruit sourcing. Classy all the way. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted September 2016 @ljadot@HalpernWine
Simonnet Febvre & Fils Côte De Lechet Chablis 1er Cru 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (462549, $42.95, WineAlign)
This is a striking Chablis, drawn out of an atypical vintage and from the venerable Côte de Lechet Premier Cru, an angled Left Bank climat of necessitous Kimmerridgian soil. The rocks there may be my most favourite, craggy, ash blond chunks replete with ancient sea creatures embedded in the golden stratum. This teases with the gaseous and aerified aspects of the oxidative-evolved vintage but the picking and the treatment here are spot on and just in time, because just a day or two later and too stark would have been the result. Terrific weight, pitch perfect acidity and a grazing, elongated finish. Top, top quality ’13 not to be missed. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted September 2016 @SimonnetFebvre@ImportWineMAFWM
Always available on the LCBO General List
Domaine Albert Bichot Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (391805, $19.95, WineAlign)
Tasted with winemaker Matthieu Mangenot at the Long-Depaquit domaine, this is Chablis raised 100 per cent in stainless steel. Gifts the immediacy of mineral and acidity, from Chichée to the south of Chablis and also the eastern areas of Beru and Viviers. Higher altitudes where snow and then frost at the end of April 2016 will mean a tiny harvest but for 2015 the acidity is top notch, despite the fat and easy vintage, with more mineral driven into the palate (with some perceived though feigning sweetness) and a real gelid glide down the backside. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016 @Matth_Mangenot#LongDepaquit
Domaine Long-Depaquit
Domaine Louis Moreau Domaine De Biéville Chablis 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (106161, $21.95, WineAlign)
On the far opposite side of Chablis’ right bank, at the village of Viviers where it is a colder, morning sun terroir. An estate created by Louis’ father in 1965. A cooler and slightly herbal Chablis with a leaner profile. A good comparative to the Beines Chablis, where the shadows are not as long and the terroir does not make as many demands on your palate. Tasted July 2016.
A flint foot forward and step back balm of a Chablis with a settled raft of lees knick-knack and some willy-nilly resonance. Gains stature with citrus and spice as it fleshes in glass and mouth. Perhaps a stave or two of wood is making the play. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted January 2016
Domaine Laroche Chablis Saint Martin 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (289124, $23.20, WineAlign)
An all plots combed, 60 hectare extrapolative, best choices made cuvée in ode to the generous and convivial Roman officer and the monks who took his name and brought his relics to Chablis. Structure is at the heart and soul of the Saint Martin so it is a bit of hard to get at but highly recommended for slow, meditative assessment. Great compressed tart, all in terroir, soil and climate multi-interfaced chardonnay. Few ‘Chablis’ not specific of Premier or Grand Cru terroir can match its poise and precision. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted July 2016 @DomaineLaroche@SelectWinePros@Select_Wines
From #chablis to #i4c16 see you in #niagara @coolchardonnay @DomaineLaroche
Domaine Laroche Chablis Saint Martin 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (289124, $23.20, WineAlign)
The vintage is a ripe, accessible and easy to love one so this marks a 90 degree turn for the Saint Martin. This is Laroche’s most important cuvée, sold in 80 countries and collected from select plots across 60 hectares of vines. Structure will always direct this cuvée and so long as Sandrine Audegond is winemaker you can be sure that a taut entry will be joined by some subtle oak richness (in 2015, eight per cent in large, 25 year-old, 55 hL foudres). It’s just an aromatic hint but look forward with eyes closed and inculcate the texture addendum. Acids are soft and caressing. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted July 2016
In VINTAGES October 15th, 2016
Domaine Louis Moreau Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (124305, $25.95, WineAlign)
The vineyards for Moreau’s Chablis gathering are located in the village of Beines on the Left Bank and interestingly enough are older than the Premier Cru. So here the fruit is pulled from vines 35-40 years of age. As much mineral layering as you are likely to find in a Chablis-designate cuvée and so well-rounded for 2015, with grace and style. The broadest of Chablis definition, reliable to tell the whole truth, for the copacetic vintage, the hills all around and the classic flinty, borne straight out of stone chardonnay. Some citrus of course and fine acidity if not the most striking of better than good Chablis vintages. Good terroir breeds good Chablis and with a touch of flint this brings it all together. Perfect, textbook, dictionary Chablis in a ripe and forthright style. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted twice, July and September 2016
Jean Marc Brocard Butteaux Chablis 1er Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (294165, $46.95, WineAlign)
Another side by side 2015 to 2014 comparison which is a brilliant play by Mr. Julien Brocard to offer up a sense of relativity which is essential for understanding not just his, but all Chablis. Great freshness and woven salinity, brine and umami, from the lieu-dit within the greater Montmains climat. Butteaux’s western Montmains locale is one of major importance and significance, stratified and magnified in the crazy good 2014 vintage. The fight concentration is quite remarkable and rendered into pure citrus honey in the hands of Brocard. Really fine and tactile Chablis, tapestry textured, dentil frieze entablature of feigning and palpability. Butteaux is a wine of sun, balance and elegance from which ancient geology is the catalyst to make it all happen. Essential Chablis right here. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted September 2016 @chablisbrocard@LiffordON
In VINTAGES October 29th, 2016
Domaine Séguinot Bordet Chablis 2015, Ac Burgundy, France (289371, $23.95, WineAlign)
As if handed off like a relay torch or baton from the Petit Chablis, the thread of elegance, purity and clarity continues in the Séguinot Bordet Chablis. Freshness floats in Chablis suspension, a liquid not so much viscous but one that acts as a cradling or a coddling. There is spice up on the aromatic front and it heads straight north to tease and tingle the olfactory senses. Deeper down it’s all inter-metallic compounds and alloys, a dimension that exists in a realm beyond chardonnay. Chablis. A circumambient capacity resistant to wood or nut but steals subtle aspects of both. Tasted with proprietor Jean-François Bordet in Auxerre he concludes, “my story is in memory.” Chablis by wrote. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted July and September 2016 @BordetJean@TheCaseForWine
Future VINTAGES releases
Domaine Laroche Vieilles Vignes Les Vaillons Chablis 1er Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (991893, $36.95, WineAlign)
In many ways a carbon copy of the superb 2012, herbal, sharp and as predicted, saline and piquant. Vaillons is a special parcel, a climat with such linear reality and basic, factual raison d’être. The Kimmeridgian, calcareous clay and limestone is presented, discussed and celebrated for good reason because it makes for perfect conditions in Vaillons.
The 40-45 year-old Laroche parcel sucks it all in and don’t let anyone evince you away from or de-program you otherwise. Be the mineral. Vaillons of old vines (yes, they too work magic) that is precise, trenchant and miles beyond merely dependable. Treated to some battonage and very minimal oak. Examines the layered intensity of Laroche and the exceptionality of Vaillons. Tasted twice, at Domaine Laroche and at #i4c16. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted July 2016
Pascal Bouchard Montmains Vieilles Vignes Chablis 1er Cru 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (374181, $36.95, WineAlign)
This was tasted at #14c16. As with 2011 but in contrast to 2012, the limestone stands chalky and flinty up front because Pascal Bouchard has allowed it to do so. The site is windy, not so steep and a cooler sort of red clay mixed in terroir. Quite typically energetic 2013 with the mineral sharing the stage with thick air whiffing gassy and atmospheric. It’s a tang that comes from cool metals and it pours or rather oozes with a squeeze of preserved lemon. The Montmains is an open-minded Premier Cru and this Bouchard works with the climat’s malleability to be transformed in a vintage like ’13. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016
Domaine William Fèvre Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (907733, $52.00, WineAlign)
Beauroy is a south facing Premier Cru harvested earliest than most and also done so to preserve freshness, acidity and the most that can be gained from its subtle terroir. Fevre treats it with 15 per cent oak and the remainder goes into tank. Beauroy’s deference here is acquiescence, its character preserved, like lemon compressed in a jar or a curd slowly concentrated to the point of pure, glossy, silken texture. I find this typical of Fevre for 2014, consistent with the rich house style and yet may be the most elastic and restorative Premier Cru of the eight tasted. Impressive all around. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_@WoodmanWS
Domaine Billaud-Simon Montée De Tonnerre Chablis 1er Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (325241, $52.00, WineAlign)
Tasted at the domaine, from three parcels, Montée de Tonnerre, Pied d’aloup and Côte de Chapelot, climats up on the hill on the right bank close to the town of Chablis. Rounder (with 10 per cent old oak) than Mont de Milieu but still of terrific 2014 acidity, though noticeable with more orchard fruit to mingle with the stones. The tension increases with some time spent with the M de T and like well-structured Premier Cru Chablis will want to do, it lingers with a combination of tension and amenability. Part gentille Alouette and part Kimmeridgian flinty, this is a terrific example of the co-habitable duality of great Chablis. It is also indicative of the transformative restoration and direction of Billaud-Simon under the auspices of winemaker Olivier Bailly. I will let this bird rest for a couple more years and then a promise. “Je te plumerai.” Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 @Billaud_Simon
VINTAGES Classics
La Chablisienne Château Grenouilles Chablis Grand Cru 2011, Ac Burgundy, France (82974, $99.00, WineAlign)
Tasted with Oenologist Vincent Bartement at the domaine. The Grand Cru Grenouilles sits just above the D965 and the Serein River, with Les Clos and Valmur to its left, Bougros and Preuses to its right and Vaudésir above. It may be the least understood, least discussed and oft forgotten Grand Cru, in part because La Chablisienne farms and bottles a near exclusive (seven of the 9.5 hectares) quantity on the smallest of the Chablis Grand Cru. In a small horizontal (that included ’12, ’10, ’09 and ’05) when you travel back a year ahead of that cracking 2012 there emerges a clear olfactive difference. The self-effaced “neologism with cloudy contours” whiffs into more herbology and perhaps some crustaceous notes. Certainly a raised funky beat. The gustative sensation salvos to more glycerin and although not as much texture, the age is offering a minor oxidative, liquid maize drip into perceived honey. As a consequence length is not as pronounced and if this ’11 is (at this stage) the most awkward of the three (consecutive vintages), it is also the most tactile and the most astute. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted July 2016 #lachablisienne@Vinexxperts
Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (641381, $130.00, WineAlign)
The Fèvre holdings are not so much a cornering of the market but more so, let’s say, are representative as existing out of the creator and chair of the exchange. The four hectares owned, farmed and produced of the largest of the (25 hectare) Grand Crus confirms Fèvre as the largest producer of Les Clos. Fifty per cent of the noble and lofty locale was planted by William’s father in the 1940’s, at the top of the hill. This 2014 is prodigious, ponderous and cracking, because it is a Fèvre, due to the house approach for this stand alone vintage and simply by virtue of that vintage. Here you have the richest Les Clos of them all, perhaps, but the puissance is dramatic. There is more pith and density here than any other. It is simply a wow Grand Cru expression, searing, intense, layered, compact, compressed and very, very long. This is the most gregarious, strutting peacock of Chablis. Tasted at the domaine with Director Didier Séguier. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted July 2016
A #kimmeridgian breakfast @williamfevre_ #chablis @BIVBChablis #woodmanwines
The new temple of #chablis Eleni & Edouard #vocoret #vignerons #vocoropoulos #offthecharts
He’s a seventh generation Chablis winemaker and she’s Greek-German. He has worked with Daniel Barraud (Pouilly Fuissé) and she with Vincent Dauvissat. They met during the 2010 harvest in New Zealand and currently farm five hectares in Chablis. Their tiny domain produces just a few wines, Chablis Bas de Chapelot (just beneath Montée de Tonnerre), Chablis Premier Cru Butteaux (next to La Forêt) and Chablis Les Pargues (bordered by La Forêt and Butteaux). Their karma, instinctive roots and beautiful impossibilities can only intrinsically and kinaesthetically be linked to family, tradition and to the work of Vincent Dauvissat. I have met and tasted the future of Chablis and its name is Edouard Vocoret and Eleni Theodoropoulos.
That undeniable truth might come to fruition were Edouard and Eleni looking to expand their empire. The current output (the catastrophe of 2016 notwithstanding) is somewhere in the vicinity of 15,000 with the vineyard capacity to produce up to 30,000 bottles. The future is bright but it’s also invisible. Good luck finding a single bottle of “Vocoropoulos” Chablis anywhere, not in Canada or even at the modest, cramped, rudimentary and perfectly tidy domain. The couple have no plans to get bigger.
The ferments are all spontaneous, the barrels old. They ignore sugar levels and always pick on acidity potential. “We are looking for minerality and tension,” explains Vocoret. Their Chablis achieves exactly that and with off the charts levels of dry extract and ulterior tannin. The wines are receptive to new sensations yet restrained by old sensibilities. The spiritual education being witnessed is writing the couple’s bildungsroman. Who would not be engrossed in reading through the chapters of their life?
So why would two reluctant rock stars want to limit themselves to such an insignificant quantity of output when the Chablis they craft is such a perfect amalgamation of traditional values and forward thinking, naturally approximated execution? “We wouldn’t be able to make the same wines,” evinces Theodoropoulos. I’m not sure I agree. These two could make wine from water. What’s 3,000 more bottles in the grand quality scheme of things?
Kickin’ back with the gentle #chablis renegade giants, Edouard Vocoret and Eleni Theodoropoulos #domaineelenietedouardvocoret #vocoropoulos
My visit with Eleni and Edouard happened at the end of a day filled with many Chablis pursuits and was followed by the most extreme of pivotal days. It began with a breakfast of champions visit and tasting in the cellar with Patrick Piuze. On Piuze’s wines I will examine later. Patrick then made the introduction with Vincent Dauvissat who had just come down from assessing climatic and mildew damage in his vineyards. His face said it all. The man, the ghost. No grapes. Vincent is not alone this summer in Chablis as a vigneron possessive of a complicated vintage that officially turned to one word. Catastrophe.
A great pleasure and exercize in humility to taste with #vincentdauvissat in his cellar @BIVBChablis #humanity #chablis
Vincent Dauvissat the professional and the gentleman shook aside the sudden realization of mother nature’s cataclysmic consequence and led the way down into his cellar. And then without a noise, magic simply happened. We tasted through barrels and older wines, opened a week earlier. The musicality of Vincent Dauvissat’s wines are self-conscious without being self-regarding. Their aromas, flavours and textures tend to themselves, to Chablis and to the world at large. In a good year Dauvissat produces approximately 75,000 bottles. Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru Séchets, Vaillons, Montmains, Forêts, Grand Crus Les Preuses and Les Clos. Oak is always used in the range of 10-15 per cent. Prices will be raised as a result of what has happened in 2016. One hundred per cent vineyard loss to hail, more hail, rain and mildew. Total, utter devastation. Disaster. Stock up on 2014 if you can and in the case of Dauvissat and Vocoret, ’15 as well.
Here are the wines tasted at the two domains, mostly from barrel.
Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret
Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis Les Pargues 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
The block (with duplicitous exposure) to the adjacent climats of Premier Cru La Forêt and Butteaux was destroyed by hail in 2016. All of it. Though 2015 was a solid, middle of the road, commercial hit vintage, Les Pargues by Vocoret is anything but. On a line somewhere between 12 and 12.5 per cent alcohol it exhibits such body and gorgeous texture made ethereally corporeal by its complex carbohydrate-mineral reality. In this sense we are graced with Chablis sometimes peculiarly histrionic and at others, stubbornly passive. The dichotomy is amazing. Will emerge as one of the great 2015s and live well into the end of the next decade. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted July 2016
Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis Bas de Chapelot 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
Another block with Premier Cru exposure and situation, just beneath the Montée de Tonnerre and what others might refer to as cuvée première, though Edouard and Eleni simply let the wine speak for itself. It hailed and rained just before picking but the washing away of impurities trumped what damage and/or dilution may have resulted. The élevage was the same as Les Pargues which means “do nothing.” Extract and concentration are extraordinary in a Chablis that is courteous in its acceptance of paradox and dialectical ministrations in which things that are old are inexplicably made new again. Raveneau enters the discussion here (along with Dauvissat), at least in terms of potential aging but Vocoret is not either of these two domains. Edouard and Eleni are the new gentle, renegade, go it alone Chablis giants. We’ll see just how far this goes. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted July 2016
In the cellar at Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Petite Chablis 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
Crisp, clean, pure and classic Chablis. If I were to buy only one Petite Chablis, this would be it. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
Repeats the virtues of the Petite Chablis with a wider open window of clarity and acidity a rung up the terroir ladder. Fully realized phenolic ripeness, naturally optimized and fully consumed, basic Chablis potential. A wine void of addition or adjustment. Pure Chablis. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted July 2016
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Premier Cru Séchets 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
Linear, focused, precise and of an acidity aquiver in ever so slight oscillation. Chablis that delves into the poor, calcareous soil and angles of its slope. Dauvissat uses Séchets as if to avoid being overly serious while allowing its vines to procure fruit able to walk an unwavering, straight line. An erudite experience in the absence of profundity. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
A heart and soul textured Chablis, round and yet demonstrative, in wonderful balance. Acidity and alcohol work in and out of one harmoniously smooth groove, leaving freshness to stand clear of the tension. The clarity of Vaillons and its southwestern position in relation to the village of Chablis are broadcast with utter clarity from out of a Dauvissat barrel. More approachable than the rest. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted July 2016
Bits of Dauvissat terroir
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Premier Cru Forêts 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
Only Forêts breathes like this, with the confidential creak of oak, in the Dauvissat way. The density here is deeper, the layering consummately plied and the citrus interwoven into atmosphere. The quite politesse of its consummation pumps air into intelligent texture, like mousse, of soft curd, creamy and also tart. The length is outstanding. Drink 2018-2030. Tasted July 2016
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
Vincent Dauvissat thieves a sample of Les Preuses before Les Clos, even though there are some who feel you can never follow Preuses. In Dauvissat’s world you can. His Preuses is a living, breathing incarnation of the Grand Cru, with kimmeridgian organza as a sheath to cover and protect the delicasse of fruit. The level of orchard phenolics is unprecedented, even for this Cru and the operative word is purity. Intoxicating clarity. Les Preuses by Vincent establishes my experience of his actual wines as opposed to others’ claims made on their behalf. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted July 2016
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)
I am quick to concede that a mere sample of Dauvissat’s Les Clos is the epitome of the class, calm and distinction that defines the most famous and largest Grand Cru. Purity here is drawn of a bigger picture, with lines that demarcate the perfect orchard within the gates of an untouched Eden. The magnitude of the Cru is impressed with just two sips and I’m left with a feeling of “my goodness.” I nod and there is understanding. But there is some wood there, felt in a way no previous sample has put forth. Following Les Preuses makes perfect sense in Dauvissat’s world. Though this is five years from readying itself, Les Clos winds down just enough so that it may be heard, surveyed and thus enjoyed. Drink 2021-2039. Tasted July 2016
Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2001, Burgundy, France
Tasted from a bottle opened five days prior which is nothing really for a wine that can age easily for 30 years. It resides in a perfect state. Vincent concedes “over 20 there is nothing to be gained” and yet the still terrifically raging acidity would suggest this 15 year-old specimen is only halfway there. The texture is nothing if not persuasive. In 1931 Vincent’s father began this journey. Here 70 years later is a wine so perfectly intact, the lemon-waxy aspect almost on the edge of the hive. But not quite because of the taut bracing and tight embracing. There is a chew to this and Dauvissat shrugs. “What’s to say?” Nothing but a great piece of his history and his father’s legacy. If this wine is a sentimental tribute to a childhood village, it is never uncomplicated. Drink 2016-2031. Tasted July 2016
Godello 