Tasted in Milly with Leslie Vanderdonk, 12 January 2016.
Domaine Jean Dauvissat Père & Fils
11 et 13 rue de Léchet
89800 Milly
Tel: +33 3 86 42 12 23
www.chablis-dauvissat.com
Fabien was around, somewhere, but with Leslie Vanderdonk on hand, he decided that his time was probably better spent in the vines – and who am I to argue 😉
Unlike last year, when it wasn’t possible to taste from tank, Leslie had pre-arranged to make the wines available to taste. As you can see, at this stage, very few are bottled.
I mentioned to Leslie that these wines were being served by the glass in the swishest of hotels in Switzerland, the Palace Hotel Gstaad. They knew that ‘somewhere good in Switzerland’ had them, but the importer hadn’t given all the details!
These 2014s, tasted below, are already largely sold-out. I am not a bit surprised…
The wines…
The first two were in bottle – a 12 month elevage for both Chablis and Petit Chablis, the rest were in tank – except the Homme Mort which has some barrel elevage – and that was still in barrel. These latter wines will have 18 months elevage.
2014 Petit Chablis
Bottled in August after 12 months – same as Chablis.
Bright, pretty complex, a little discreet but lovely. Lovely, supple, flowing flavour – an attractive and slightly bitter note towards the finish. Pretty and wide in the finish too.
Wider, a little more vibration from this nose and fine clarity of depth. Bright, complex, energetic, layered flavour. Simply excellent!
Whilst this is an old vine selection, that is purely by chance, as this was a by-barrel selection – it seems this old vines always win out…
A hint more floral, with a wider aromatic panorama. An extra freshness and also, like the nose, florality. Wide, not the deepest but with a fine presence – extra lovely! Super finishing – really!
From 3 parcels which amount to 2 hectares – ‘one in the centre and the others closer to the western end.’
Very much a modest width but there’s a fine and attractive agrume reduction that goes nicely deep. Also a discreet reduction in the mouth too, but this has really excellent complexity, purity and finesse – Bravo! Excellent wine. The finish is redolent of the ‘Heritage’ with a little more floral dimension.
One 0.83 hecatre parcel in Chatains.
Also a faint reductive quality here – it seems – together with a little minerality, to bring a certain vibrancy to the nose. More intensity, width, layers of flavour, again the purity of flavour of the Léchets with just a higher intensity. Very lovely. Very much personal but I like the Léchet more for drinking today – but no question – bravo!
One 0.75 hecatre parcel.
Also floral – but different flower. A certain more lime-fruit impression to the aromatic too. Really a wine of impressive minerality – and that’s not to say that it’s not tasty! Complex, maybe a discreet reduction, but really this is something of a beauty, agrume too but modest – bravo! This I love!
A lovely blend of citrus and flowers, again with a certain discretion but very, very inviting. An extra sucrosity here, mineral for sure, intense but bubblingly intense – so never any aggression. A composed and super complex wine – yum! Very slowly fading into the finish here with a hint of agrume.
The only wine with a percentage of barrel elevage. Today with some fining. The domaine’s smallest cuvée – there was none in 2013. Almost all sold to Au Fils du Zinc in Chablis.
Ooh! The first impression is a little oak but it’s immediately super-imposed by a bright, vibrantly pure citrus note in the core of the nose. An extra richness versus the other wines, an extra dimension of oak flavour too – vanilla-crème style not toast. But a very fine, beautifully detailed line into the finish too. Really the most persistently finishing wine, still accented by oak today. I’d wait at least a couple of years before opening a bottle – maybe closer to 5 but this is totally excellent wine!