Every year when I taste the Chablis at Domaine Jean Collet, I also buy a little cremant, and usually in magnum. There’s a, non-size-related, advantage to buying in magnum too – at least this year:

Their base wine for the latest available cuvée is from 2018 – all Petit Chablis with 5g dosage, malo done, 1.5 hectares worth, harvested 3 weeks before the Petit Chablis. But if you are buying in magnum, these bottles are still based on the 2015 vintage, and like any NV Champagne, the do get better and better with a little cellar time. That is definitely the case here. This (large) bottle was absolutely delicious – much more-so than the slightly more angular wine (today) from 2018. I recommend it very highly…

This is why I buy a little each year 🙂

2017 Jean-Claude Boisset, Meursault Limozin
Almost a textured depth of aroma – certainly cushioned – modestly oaked and of ripe but not exotic fruit. In the mouth, this is nicely fresh starting, even a little mineral. There’s structure but also softness – probably because there’s still some visible oak in the finish. But the finish is wide, interesting and persistent – nicely structural and mineral here. This started a bit anonymously but finished with plenty of character. Give it a couple more years in the cellar if you’re confident with cork, but it’s a very good, almost excellent wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2009 Pavillon, Volnay 1er Santenots
This nose starts deep and fruity – seemingly still with some vanilla too – but very little air is needed and the vanilla is gone – wider, complex, inviting, starting to fill with secondary aromas – tobacco for instance – that’s great! Concentrated wine, with a saline-accented line of flavour, but wide and complex and delicious too. Still quite a baby and also still finishing with some lip-smacking oaky bitters. A tremendous wine though, almost bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

Of-course, due to my laziness, there have been others in the last weeks – just a few words about each as I didn’t record anything:

2018 Dampt Frères, Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
Easy, decently concentrated, very tasty wine – only the merest impression of ‘Chablis’ – but considering the cost of ‘Bourgogne Blanc’ this remains a very worthy option.

2014 des Chézeaux / Berthaut-Gerbet, Gevrey-Chambertin
Amélie Berthaut’s second vintage – already here is both aromatic class and a lovely, balanced, flavour. Young, delicious wine. I’m very happy to have a few more of these – and her 1er cru Gevreys too.

2018 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Fourchaume
Round, rich, some fat, but decently balanced, very tasty wine. I wouldn’t have guessed Chablis though…

2011 Camille Giroud, Volnay 1er Caillerets
Modestly coloured. The nose while complex, disappoints me – so much vanilla is still visible here. Beautifully balanced, medium-bodied wine of proper Caillerets clarity – yet – the palate still suffused with vanilla notes. I’ve one or two more – given my lack of empathy with vanilla, I’ll be waiting another 5 years, I think…

2016 Jean-Claude & Romain Bessin, Chablis Valmur
I don’t have many more of these, but this is a grand vin and one of my wines of the 2016 vintage. It beautifully blends power and a direct flavour with a suave texture and an undoubted structure – with zero hard edges. There’s a real Chablis feel to the wine despite its obvious concentration and the finish is simply put, special. Proper great Chablis – still a baby – but bravo
Rebuy – Oh Yes

2006 Comte Liger-Belair, Echézeaux
Louis-Michel’s first vintage. I think that this is probably my last bottle – I hope to be proven wrong one day with a cellar find…
That’s a lovely nose but it starts out rather timid – aerating works some magic with a really inviting floral perfume over a plummy spice. Medium impact but of beautifully silky texture – just a few millimetres of cushioning. The oak that I remember is now gone, largely the tannin too, but not the minerality of the finish. This was always a wine of modest impact but ultra-sophistication and I’d say still lacking any real expressions of maturity – but who cares – gorgeous and bravo!
Rebuy – Yes – at the old price…