Tasted in Chablis with Vincent Dauvissat, 13 January 2022.
Domaine Vincent Dauvissat
8 rue Emile Zola
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 46 11 58
More reports with Domaine Vincent Dauvissat
Vincent on 2021:
“We managed 10-15 hl/ha in our Petit Chablis – more than I could have hoped for in the first days of the frosts – it was 25 hl/ha overall for the domaine in 2021…”
Vincent on 2020:
“The 2020 vintage was both early and dry, Some frost to start the year – we lit candles twice though had no obvious losses – we were often very early out of bed though! No blocking of maturity that I could discern, and not too high degrees. All the wines are 12.5-13° – some small areas were a bit more than 13 but none of the blends were. We made a good volume of wine and there was plenty of maturity at harvest – not so high acidities the malic had been degraded but I think it’s still quite a classic year. Not like 14 or anything like that, you find 2020 in the glass – it’s a different balance – but the maturity is similar.”
The wines…
Top class – buy what you are able to…
The Petit Chablis was already bottled, the rest were done by end of the year, except for the grand crus and a part of Forets which will be done in the Springtime:
2020 Petit Chablis
Like all the wines, all barrel elevage but for just a little shorter time than the more important crus. Bottled before Harvest,
Nicely broad and fresh. Cool fruit but of density – there’s concentration here but with a lovely width and mouthwatering moreish style.
That’s a nicely vibrant nose with more overt freshness. Ooh yes – direct, cool fruit but there’s a width of generous flavour here too. Lots of salinity and again with some energy in the finish, vibrant and almost juicy. With wide waves in the finish to remember it by… Bravo!
2020 Chablis 1er Sechets
Also a vibrancy of freshness – very similar to the villages. Less rich more incisive, a suggestion of oak today but the shape of this is very beautiful – again a vibrancy of mineral, chalky finishing flavour. Simply excellent.
2020 Chablis 1er Vaillons
‘Obtained these vines in 1979, it was a fatter wine and not really in the style of the house at that time – I didn’t think that it was a wine for ageing at the start – but I was wrong!’ The vines are in Chatains & Beugnons, ‘They never been separated to compare the two as the component parts are a little too small.’
Brightness, purity – an incisive nose too. There’s an extra depth to the minerality here – almost an accent of reduction – that’s really a beauty. I’d keep this a little longer as the structure has more rigour but only a little…
2020 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
The 8th vintage – ‘a very small plot.’
Wider with an extra mineral vibrancy. Fuller, more density but very open – again a suggestion of the barrel but rather saline too. That’s a super finish – really a clarity to this flavour – not necessarily longer than the Vaillons but with extra all the same…
More width again – certainly a more airy style to this nose of finely divided complexity and a little salinity. Super clarity – there’s extra, more dynamic, energy here too. Much as I loved the previous too this is peak 1er cru for me – so delicious – so open – easier finishing than the MdT but what a wine. Bravo!
A wider, more voluminous nose – an extra accent of sweetness. In the mouth too – but oh – is this so good! A wine that slowly melts and ingrains into the palate – one of the best I ever tasted here – and that’s saying something! Soooo long… Grand Vin
From 7 different parcels ‘makes the chance to bring a nice synthesis of the vineyard.’
More vertical and fresh nose – more overtly mineral too – but less encompassing than the Preuses. Gorgeous over the palate though – extra width and all the clarity and fluidity that you could wish for. An academic wow today vs the emotional wow of the previous! ‘You taste the quantity of the marne here’
And for the road:
Blind: Really a freshness to this aromatic but there’s quite some ripeness of fruit too. Easing in the glass and becoming more perfumed with the fruit slowly heading into the background. Very faintly with some aromatic maturity. A little more overt maturity in the flavours. Maybe a fine 2009. With this energy and such a finely divided complexity – Forets? ‘Yes it’s a warm vintage,‘ says Vincent ‘And today I think I might have guessed 2009 too but it’s actually a 2006 and it’s Les Clos.‘