Tasted in Chablis with Camille Besson, 17 January 2023.

Domaine Besson
8 chemin de Valvan
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 40 88
www.domaine-besson.com
More reports with Domaine Besson

Camille on 2022:
“I can’t compare it to 2021 – you could only be happy with that vintage; clean grapes, nice maturity. A sunny year of course – the wines are full of fruit right now.”

Camille on 2021:
“Half a harvest – it was 70% less in Petit Chablis, 30% less in Vaillons. Clearly worse volumes than 2016 for us, as we missed most of the hail that year. 2021 was very hard in the vines but I worried for the vinifications too – I don’t have 20 years of experience, so I’m almost a novice, and have usually always had good grapes to work with – I only started after the harvest in 2013. Some plots were near 11° but we had plenty at 12°. A couple of cuvées are different to what I expected but in general I’m happy – I bubbled the must with nitrogen which helped separate the bourbe very quickly – which was good as the two weren’t in contact for very long. My father thinks the frost was similar to 1991.”

The wines…

Always a great address – Camille is always quite self-critical about her wines – but this is a super range – the Montmains clearly worth a special search!

Camille’s Petit Chablis and Chablis were bottled but the rest were tank samples. The 1ers do have a bit more oak – as the volume was low – but all old oak:

2021 Petit Chablis
A modest volume of aroma but it’s fine, faintly saline and attractive. Bright, vibrantly energetic – never too much. That’s a beauty – simply excellent wine!

2021 Chablis
Deeper, riper but also with a nice floral accent. Ooh – even more incisive and energetic – saline too. A little more strict today – wait 1-2 years.

The following tasted from tank samples:

2021 Chablis 1er Vaillons
Mainly Beugnons but also Chatains and Sechets, 2.45 hectares. not particularly high, more mid-slope – the vines don’t suffer so much here as there’s a ‘source.’ Have another 0.3 ha of Chatains. The aim is for 18 months of elevage.
Hmm, that’s got a subtle, noble reduction. Big in the mouth – super energy – vibrant, fine citrus, juicy finishing, a hint of floral perfume too – simply excellent wine again!

2021 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
0.99 ha – but never with much of a harvest as there’s some court-noué virus in the vines – mid-slope, plain south orientation, close to the forest at the top and next to Montée de Tonnerre – always very small grapes here and it’s difficult to vinify.
More direct and a different style of riper citrus fruit. Super width – floral-infused, riper yellow citrus – always beautifully fresh. Broad, yellow fruit and minerality almost a little confit fruit in the finish – super shape and drinkability!

2021 Chablis Vaudèsir
1.4 hectares, in the domaine over 25 years. Both exposures, looking towards La Moutonne. Have about 10 vines in this parcel that are actually in Grenouilles – just the way the borders were drawn – producing less than 20 litres of juice so included in this cuvée – but here’s a rare holding!
Beautifully wide and floral – clarity of almost jellied citrus in support. Hmm – a fluid but full mouthful. Some complex agrume – slightly green shaded moreish – more approachable than some of the 1ers today.

2021 Chablis Les Clos
0.15 ha – ‘5 rows and we’ve never make the rendement, since 2008! Quite high on the hill about 50m below the viewing table. Roughly 40-year-old vines – same as the Vaudesir. Every year it’s a small harvest – 600l – but it was only 300 in 2021 – so this year 100% oak…
Here’s a slightly exotic note – perhaps from a touch of botrytis. Direct, mineral, a wine with some power but direct. A small peak of salinity then long – at the very end a bit less pure, perhaps from the barrel, in which case it may fade. It’s a very good wine, potentially excellent if the finish cleans up.