Jean-Marc Brocard – 2014

Update 2.3.2016(1.3.2016)billn

DSC09197Tasted with Julian Brocard and Odile van der Moere (Cellar Chief) in Préhy, 26 January 2016.

Jean-Marc Brocard
3, route de Chablis
89800 Préhy
Tel: +33 3 86 41 49 00
www.brocard.fr

Juilian on 2015:
“It was an early vintage, partly because of the hail, by an extra 4-5 days. I suppose that in the end it was not a bad result as we had a little extra acidity in the grapes – still less than 2014 but a good harmony and finesse. The grapes were very clean – though unlike many domaines, here we had a little less yield than in 2014. The fermentations were easy, including the malos. In style I’m thinking the wines could be little like 2011, but certainly with more concentration.”

Juilian on 2014:
“After 2015, 2014 certainly has lots more minerality and acidity. It was a mid September start for harvesting, finishing almost at the end of the month. I think that, for us, this is a really good vintage that reflects both Chablis and the different parcels – a really a nice distinction between the parcels. Excellent balance too.”

The wines…

May/June bottlings for the first wines. Grand crus have 14-15 months elevage, mainly 100% in foudres, just the Blanchots with 10% barrel elevage. Clos and Bougros bottled one week before, the others about to be bottled.

2014 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis
Mainly Courgis and Préhy. The best part of 100 hectares worth so a number of bottlings. All stainless-steel elevage, one racking at the end of fermentation but retaining all the lees – no batonnage.
A nice, welcoming depth of lemon fruit and very faint phenolics – nice. Finely textured, silky but with good intensity, layered delivery of flavour. Simply excellent Chablis – lovely!

2014 Chablis Sainte Claire
Only from Préhy, all bio. A smaller cuvée, but not – 20 hectares.
A wider, faintly limed, more complex nose – but less open. Richness of texture and flavour but with very fine intensity and a super mouth-watering acidity – really a good line into the finish but a broad line too. Weight of flavour here – lovely wine, really. Less energetic but delivering more.
2014 Chablis Vieilles Vignes de Sainte Claire
All from Préhy, 65-80 year-old vines. 35-40 hl/ha. Bottled July.
There’s a deeper yellow fruit here, which is impressive given how relatively tight the wine is. Ouf – less fat than the last but multiple layers of flavour, saline, intense – super wine – really excellent – superp finish!

2014 Chablis 1er Montmains
Just Montmains. A small part of elevage in foudres the rest in stainless steel. Just 10 days in bottle.
Wide, airy, rather tighter below, a precise note of yellow fruit above. Lovely, flowing, wide, waves of fresh but not aggressive flavour. They fade quicker than some of the following wines, maybe even the preceding VV, but taste absolutely great. Yum!

2014 Chablis 1er Vau de Vey
An obviously greener fruit complexion, wide with a hint of attractive phenolics. More direct than the Montmains, a slow growth of direct intensity, only slowly do the layers of flavour open out across the palate, really a nice, herby, more mineral impression after swallowing – clearly a more obvious minerality here, more length too – but today, at least, less delicious than Montmains – wait, this is much longer!

2014 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
14 months, one part foudres, 2 parts stainless-steel. Always one of the first to be harvested.
Forward, complex, green herbs and lime, faintly saline – attractive nose. Good intensity, a little less cushioning to the acidity here – almost a sour accent – but really a big growth of flavour after you swallow, it holds long too. Great quality but really to wait a little time for so that it rounds out.

2014 Chablis 1er Vaulaurent
100% foudres, 14 months of elevage.
A rounder nose – there’s creamy oak showing here. Mineral, sweetness of fruit, really wide panorama of flavour, super, mouth-watering flavour. There’s oak here too and on too high a level for drinking today, but the base wine is really a beauty – slowly saline in the mid-palate too. The finish leaves the oak behind offer a pliable and pretty minerality. Yum!

2014 Chablis Bougros
A ripe yellow citrus core, sweeter coated, finally suggesting salinity on the outer core of this round but never oaky nose. Good silky texture a little richness too, but never for a moment any fat – this is complex, energetic, layered, super tasty wine – not obviously grand cru, but who cares – bravo! Simply a super-tasty bottle.

2014 Chablis Blanchots
Here is a not so faint reductive edge, suggesting agrume fruit. Great in the mouth – lots of energy, almost distracting from the waves of flavour – to start. Fresh fruit, sweetness of fruit but finely balanced, mouth-watering flavour. Excellent! The finish has almost a lime marmalade impression, and super-long too…
2014 Chablis Les Clos
Here also a little reduction, but on a lower level. There’s weight of flavour below, a suggestion – but nothing more – of oak, too. Hmm – indeed wow – this is really insinuating, complex and energetic, but also the acidity is covered so that there’s nothing aggressive – lovely, lovely concentrated complexity in the mid-palate – the finish betraying a little of that reduction, but only there. Wow, complex wine. Super impressive.
2014 Chablis Les Preuses
Deep but also floral, the most obviously mineral nose from this group – not super-precise today but super-engaging. Wow. Wide, mineral, flowing, massively flavoured wine – just a tour de force. Long too. Really brilliant. The finish is more subdued but no less long – each wine more interesting than the last – bravo!

A little biodynamic selection. Burnt orange labels and wax-topped to match. Everything done by hand here. Elevage mixes foudre and stainless steel. This range eventually will be 6 cuvées. Not all distributors get this range but it’s also available from the shop at the domaine.

2013 Julien Brocard Petit Chablis Les Plantes
A good colour, almost a little fume and sweet the nose. Sweet in the mouth too – wow – this has great line and beautifully cushioned acidity – it’s following Les Preuses remember! Really fine in the finish, marmalade style finishing flavour and good minerality. You would never guess a Petit Chablis!

2014 Domaine de la Boissonneuse, Chablis (Julien Brocard)
Boissonneuse is the name of a parcel.
Here is a little gunsmoke reduction. Big, complex – more sparkling complexity than waves – not richly textured but smooth. Really wide panorama of finishing flavour. Particular in style yet totally delicious. Today I’d drink the Petit Chablis – but you won’t be disappointed with this.

2014 Julien Brocard, Chablis 1er Côte de Lechets
These latter two wines are still in tank waiting for bottling. A part from these vines is now donated to the Hospices de Beaune though the team do all the work here.
A very attractive nose, almost a little fresh apricot. A hint of gas but it quickly melts, here is a really wide panorama, the flavour is delivered in a width too – so whilst intense it’s not aggressive – lovely packaged acidity. This is lovely again.

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