Tasted in Chablis with Thibault Roch, 06 January 2017.
Domaine du Chardonnay
Moulin du Pâtis
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 48 03
www.domaine-du-chardonnay.fr
Thibault on 2016:
“Frost was more of an issue on the left bank. Here we lost about 30% – it’s a big loss for the domaine, but when compared to the losses of many of our neighhbours we can’t complain. But we had good grapes at the end, helped by the long period of dry weather after the 14th July hail.”
Thibault on 2015:
“In 2015 we had a really good year. It’s certainly a vintage of sunshine, perhaps more Côte de Beaune in style than usual. It was really just our vines in Montée de Tonnerre that was badly hit by the hail that arrived just before the vintage, but our wines still have a good base of minerality. Like all vintages, the wines saw mainly tank elevage. We will be selling this vintage more slowly than usual to ease ourselves into the lower volume 2016 vintage…”
The wines…
These wines are really some of the most delicious that I’ve ever tasted here.
Vines in Beines, Prehy and the plateau behind the Grand Crus…
Wide, fresh, some herb in the mix, and a very faint and attractive phenolic quality. Supple, fresh, good weight and texture. Really a lot of finishing flavour – completely delicious wine!
2015 Chablis
The largest part of this cuvée comes from the Vaillons valley plus 2 sectors within Chiché – 18.5 hectares. Some very old vines which are sometimes a little rich, other vines at Chichée with a great balance. Another sector above Vaugiraut.
A wider palate of aroma – fresh, just a little more ripe fruit. Again supple, finding all the corners of your mouth, nicely textured and with a good incisive intensity. Lots of mouth-watering citrus-led flavour. Really lovely line – indeed super tasty wine.
From Epinottes and Roncières.
More floral – this is a very pretty nose. Round, but with growing energy and intensity – really grows well in the mouth. Long persistent and super tasty – bravo. Smooth-edged but delicious.
3 sectors, but all Montmains, roughly 3.5 hectares.
Less flowers, more green citrus. Mouth-filling, precise, more mineral than the other wines, with very fine clarity and complexity. The best yet. Really super!
2015 Chablis 1er Vosgros
2 parcels, one steep and south-facing, plus another small parcel in Vaugiraut. Vine ages between 5-30. Like a Roman amphitheatre.
Fresh, clean, wide nose with a base of mineral notes. Supple comes to mind again, wide, mouth-watering, delicious wine, citrus finishing, and long with just a suggestion of of sLinity.
Very nice – fresh with a hint of salinity – a really inviting, almost seashore wine. Bright, nicely wide, insinuating flavour, almost waves of fresh flavour with plenty of citrus behind. Really tasty wine with just a little minerality behind it.
2015 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
3 ‘tiny’ parcels all next to each other. Small parcels so one of the smallest cuvées here. 20% oak elevage, none new, to add just a touch of elegance.
Here, depth of aroma, some ripe fruit and a little oak in this case too. Large in the mouth – great volume, super tasty too but a little too much of that flavour is oak today – tasty as the effect is. Really a wine to wait for, but the quality is very high – super persistence!
2015 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnère
About 20% old wood used here, same as Mont de Milieu. 2.1 ha in the true Montée de Tonnerre.
A nose of more volume and freahness, still a hint of oak, but much less visible. Lovely texture and fine width, really a lovely ingraining complexity with plenty of salinity too. The oak is very modest, if present. This requires less patience than the last, but it should come around quite quickly and very well. Excellent wine.