Tasted in Courgis with Thomas Pico, 9th January 2015.

Domaine Pattes Loups
Grande rue Nicolas Droin
89800 Courgis
Tel: +33 3 86 41 46 38
www.pattes-loup.com

Thomas speaks very fast – I have to admit I have problems to understand – but I found it easy to ignore him a little – as the wines were just so good!

Thomas on 2013:
“2013 didn’t produce lots of wine due to the poor flowering in June – which was down to the weather. We harvested the first week in lovely sun, then it rained a lot. We continued afterwards but really had to go fast, because the porriture was growing incredibly fast.

“Everything was hand harvested and triaged; 2013 doesn’t have a massive maturity and the acidity is a little lower than other vintages, but the wines are balanced. Only 27 hl/ha in 2013, and 34 in 2014. 2012 was 40 hl/ha but that’s about the highest (I was content) – but never 50-60 hl/ha….”

The wines…

A very good address in 2013.

Thomas said that the 2013s in tank had too much gas and were too cold, so we should taste the following from bottle:

2013 Chablis
An assembly of multiple parcels. A little wood in the elevage – bottled in December.
Fresh and bright with a core of ripeness, deep and inviting perhaps with sweet apple. Quite full and round with a nice intensity. A narrowing in the finish, but with quite some intensity really tasty wine.

2012 Chablis 1er Côte de Jouan
Less wide but lots of aromatic depth, and just a faint extra florality. In the mouth, another wine of energy, and minerality, less fat and plenty of tension. The finish grows and grows. Another super wine!

2012 Chablis 1er Beauregard
‘Sol magnifique’ – but needs harvesting late.
More intensity on the nose – it’s ripe but rather narrow – bigger in the mouth, but interestingly without much extra padding. Slightly more diffuse flavor than some, but with a fine complexity. Really super intensity.

2012 Chablis 1er Butteaux
Strict aroma with a ripe fruit aspect and a depth that hints at tarte-tatin – or maybe I’m just thinking of my lunch! More oak here, but it’s not obvious. Very round, very silky and with excellent concentration. The finish is long and gives an extra burst of flavour. Delicate in the end. Très tasty.

So we then, anyway we tasted the 13s in tank! 😉

2013 Chablis 1er Côte de Jouan
Fresh wide and pretty. Wide in the mouth too – I really like the freshness here.

2013 Chablis 1er Vaillons
A more intense nose with some riper notes. Less energy to start but with a little more, compensatory, weight.

2013 Chablis 1er Beauregard
A fresh nose. Wide, lithe, good energy, tension and plenty of weight. Very, very good, and more direct finishing than Vaillons