Tasted with Paul Espitalié in Chablis, 10 January 2023.

Simonnet-Febvre
9 Avenue Oberwesel
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 18 95 69
www.simonnet-febvre.com
More reports with Maison Simonnet-Febvre

Paul on 2022:
“We’re very happy with 2022 – 57 hl/ha – no VCI. There’s lots of fruit and roundness just here and there there are places where the acidity is a bit low – it’s heterogeneous! We did light some candles in the grand crus and had no problems but we also had no problems in areas where we had no candles!”

Paul on 2021:
“It’s about half a harvest here – nearly 30 hl/ha. Irancy with 10-12 hl/ha was the lowest. About 80% of the cuvées have been bottled – up to and including the 1er crus but the GCs remain in elevage. Orgainic wines were a bit of a catastrophe in 2021. The reds needed a lot of triage – removing the unripe and some rot – unlike 2022 where bad grapes were hard to find!”

The wines…

One of the best tastings I’ve had here.

DIAM style seals for the Petit Chablis and the Chablis – the rest are normal cork:

2021 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
90% Côtes d’Auxerre in here.
Medium colour. That’s a very pretty and open, easy red fruit. Mouth-filling – plenty of acidity balanced with some creamy oak today. Just a little austerity – keep this at least 12 months before opening – the finish is long with plenty of finishing bitters.

2021 Bourgogne Epineuil
Deeper colour. A little smoky, plenty of pyrazine complexity too. Extra sucrosity and extra energy too. I like the texture then there’s a small tannin – no grain – which adds a frame of modest astringency, Too green for me but this is broad and interesting in the finish – long too.

2021 Irancy
This not yet bottled. It won’t be on the market for two years – currently, they are still selling 2019s.
More direct red fruit. ‘11.5-12° natural in Irancy.’ Again a little deeper colour. More floral aromas. Full, energetic – more incisive fresh red fruit. More mineral and direct finishing This is very good.

2021 Irancy Paradis
Oak elevage here – and it’s directly visible on the, still perfumed, nose. More incisive, more mineral – but of course, more oaked – even a little salinity – perhaps from the barrel. Keep 5 years…

Les Whites:

2021 Saint-Bris
‘It’s a less ripe vintage – more Nordic!’
Broad and fresh aromas – actually quite floral too. Direct and mineral – this is a wine with a modest mineral austerity – gooseberry fruit – and good acidity – I like the shape and style of it – it’s very good.

2021 Petit Chablis
All contracts, principally from Lignorelles. 30% of a normal harvest.
Not as broad a nose as the SB but with a good airy freshness. Intense – acid forward – a bit of austerity for sure – let’s see how this wine grows before commercialization – it’s rather frank today.

2021 Chablis
Grapes from Courgis, Prehy, Lignorelles – multiple locations.
Extra width and a bit more depth to this nose. Extra energy too – broad – mouth-filling wine – that’s a morning tonic! (It’s 09h25!) Lots of minerality and an agrume style fruit. This also needs to calm a little but I think this much more balanced than the PC today. Very good – keep it 2-3 years before attacking!

2021 Chablis D1840
Bottom of Chapelots under Montée de Tonnerre. – separate bottling for this since 2018. 25% elevage in barrel – 380-litre barrels
A more direct nose but one of fine purity and minerality. Calmer but still energetic – a burst of flavour in the middle and shrinking quickly in the finish but then holding with lots of interest. This will be super.

‘The left bank wines are all tank elevage, the right bank ‘worked’ with a little barrel:’

2021 Chablis 1er Côte de Lechets
The first nose where I say ‘yes!’ Crystal clean with a suggestion of sucrosity in the citrus energy. A slightly rustic first wave of flavour – but tons of energy like a ragged young puppy – and the middle and finishing flavours are super, even a little chalky. Great character and a super wine too.

2021 Chablis 1er Vaillons
A modest extra width to this nose – a little salinity too. Mouth-filling – super volume here – the texture is good and the intensity of this wine growing – but in volume rather than direct. A creamy side to this wine – despite no barrel. I think this super again.

Discussing the non-oak creaminess: ‘There was a lot of malic acidity so with the malo there’s still plenty of lactic.‘

2021 Chablis 1er Montmains
‘The area that was one of the worst hit by the frost and snow… We can be happy with our 12 hl/ha’
Width and just a little extra depth to this very good nose. Fuller, more concentrated, broad – hmm – this is fine in the mouth – well-textured wine with both width and a good intensity. The finish, so far, with the most interest and depth. A complex agrume flavour. An excellent wine!

2021 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
From here the elevage has about 20% barrel elevage but usually with 3-5 year-old barrels.
Here’s a little smoky salinity. Mouth-filling – there’s a lot of volume here – the texture is fine. The flavour has a suggestion of austerity but no rigour – some tension too. It’s very well put together. The finish is lovely with a bit more floral action – give this time – it’s more than ‘very good.’

2021 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
I sense the barrel a little more but it’s far from overt – mainly a more saline width of aroma. Incisive – there’s plenty of minerality in this leading wave of flavour too – tons of flavour energy in the middle and (the long) finishing flavours too – this has the potential to be excellent.

2021 Chablis Blanchots
Half barrel elevage but never with new ones.
There’s a hint of barrel but what a fine nose – tons of floral perfume very open – lovely! Fuller, rounder but no less structure and clarity. Not quite the fluidity of the last wine but there’s more of everything else here – the barrel is present in the finish too – wait 5-6 years before dipping your toe into the water but this is a lovely grand cru.

2021 Chablis Les Clos
The oak not visible in the aromas but there’s a fine mineral and agrume width for sure. Mouth-filling – here is tons of volume and citrus complexity – even a little citrus skin which is rarer in this vintage – passion fruit? Super wine.

2021 Chablis Preuses
A little narrower nose but much more vertical with mineral depth slightly floral higher tones. Mouth-filling – hmm such a vibrancy to this flavour – the most dynamic of energies for this one – a wine of managed power and a finishing, almost sparkly complexity. That’s a super wine – but be patient.