Tasted in Courgis with Thomas Pico, 07 January 2016.
Domaine Pattes Loups
Grande rue Nicolas Droin
89800 Courgis
Tel: +33 3 86 41 46 38
www.pattes-loup.com
The facility here is not quite finished, but it’s much closer than 1 year ago – certainly Thomas’s drum kit is now well hidden! The new installation here allows all the 2014s and 2015s to be moved only by gravity.
Thomas on the last 2 vintages:
“The 2015s we were hit by the hail, but I still made more wine with them than in 2014 – but I have some confidence in these 2014s. The lower yields in 2014 were about 35 hl/ha – it was more like 42-45 hl/ha in 2015. I think many of the differences in cellars between different 2014s, is the difference between acidity and ripe acidity.”
Thomas on pricing the new vintage:
“Our prices went up for the 2013s, so I won’t be increasing the prices of the 2014s.”
The wines…
These 2014s were mainly tasted in tank, just a couple are bottled. A boutique operation but lovely wines…
2014 Chablis
An assembly of multiple parcels. A little wood in the elevage. This from tank.
A deep yellow nose. Silky, round, fine texture, grows wider and beautifully bright, wide, lovely indeed
2014 Chablis
This from bottle – as there’s more than one bottling – but Thomas can’t/won’t say its 100% the same. Bottled 1 month.
Deep, fresh, pretty high and low tones. Wider quite intense and direct, even after some of the 1ers!
2014 Chablis 1er Côte de Jouan
A weighty but bright, complex nose. Big, round, meltingly complex in the mouth too – lovely wine!
The only purchased grapes.
A clean fresh nose – a small citrus base of fruit escaping the glass. Wide – really beautiful, lingering, washing over the palate, nothing aggressive just pure joy.
‘Sol magnifique’ – but needs harvesting late.
Lovely complexity, fine delicate but super, super. This is more structured but no hard edges, with a right burst of impressive flavour – have you noted how much im loving these wines?
2014 Chablis 1er Butteaux
A higher toned yet cushioned freshness. A similar discipline to the last wine, mouth-watering complexity again. Excellent.