La Chablisienne – 2015

1.2.2017billn

Tasted in Chablis with Hervé Tucki and Vincent Bartement, 10 January 2017.

La Chablisienne
8, Boulevard Pasteur
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 89 89
www.chablisienne.fr

Given the massive volume of wine produced by La Chablisienne – about 25% of all Chablis in a normal year – then they are perfectly placed to give an average view as to the losses in 2016:

Hervé on 2016:
“2016 is minus 55% in volume in Petit Chablis and Chablis, minus 35% in the 1er crus, and between 10-15% down in the better protected grand crus. It was a long harvest, 1 month between the first and last-picked grapes. There was a big difference in maturities because of the frost, a little porriture too, but the wines are nice things. It definitely wasn’t a catastrophe in terms of quality, the summer was very good, and the harvest conditions were also good. There was some hydric stress and sunburn in August – I note all that happens in each year, and it’s certainly a longer list in 2016 than in most vintages!”

Hervé on 2015:
“A little hail problem, though more of an emotional, than a practical problem. Certainly the quantities were reduced and provoked a few days earlier picking – but not the catastrophe it would have been if it had happened 10 days earlier”

The wines…

The wines of La Chablisienne are a little cooler in style, not hard, but with a suggestion of austerity. Perhaps because of this they are somewhat penalised in cold years, but in a warmer year like 2015, they have really excelled!

2015 Petit Chablis Pa Si Petit
Bright, fresh, faint herbs and phenolics. Hmm. Lovely texture, intense, I would say joyous – this tastes super. A pretty but correct minerality. A super wine to start with.

2015 Petit Chablis Damme Nature
Smoother, sweeter, a hint less classic aroma, if no less inviting, slowly starts to grow a fresher salinity – yes! Big in the mouth, more muscle, but lithe and living. Really excellent – super, bright, with mouth-watering citrus fruit in the finish – bravo!
2015 Chablis Damme Nature
No wood on these bio wines.
A deeper nose, vibrant, suggesting a reductive minerality, only suggesting, it’s nicely subtle. A similar volume and texture to the last, more saline more growing intensity and it holds longer, hmm this is a beauty.

The next three from tank, starting to prepare these for bottling. Some wood ‘contact’ here:

2015 Chablis Le Pearle
A wide, fresh, classic nose, full of green herb and salinity – very good. Bright, really a round, but intense at the core, impression, a
little more rigour in the mid-palate and finishing minerality – a different finishing flavour, but long. Good stuff!

2015 Chablis La Sereine
More old vines here.
Also a wine that hints to the last, but here a little more yellow citrus and general fineness. Some gas, wider more open, finer textured and super mouth-watering. Excellent – just super wine. Really more citrus finishing. Almost flamboyant!
2015 Chablis Les Venerables
Hmm, a vibrant, clean, mineral nose – lovely. Here the difference is below, it has a weight of fine agrumes at the base, beautiful detail, a wine to wait a little longer for, but this is top wine.

2015 Chablis 1er Beauroy
This in bottle. Grapes from all three parts of the vineyard.
A deep nose, a coating of sweetness, an accent from oak. Supple, faint fat, but joyous, wide flavour. Super-easy to appreciate today with lovely sweet, citrus complexity – it will get better as the oak fades too! Super.

2015 Chablis 1er Côte de Lechets
Ooh, this a bright, open, indeed overt nose of fresh agrumes. Wide, a little saline depth, actually quite a bit. Some oak, but you can hardly taste it, it is completely buffered by the material. Super! I would easily drink this ahead of the last. Today…

2015 Chablis 1er Vaillons
‘A big assembly of areas, i think its one of the wines that has most advanced here in the last years.’
Smooth, wide, clean and fresh – attractive nose. Quite large – there’s some volume here – the oak is just about visible, but it’s a melting blend of flavour and texture, despite its youth it is completely delicious.

2015 Chablis 1er Les Lys
Also a part of Vaillons – of-course – a tank sample.
A wider palate of aroma, clean, fresh citrus of depth, padded with herbs. Hmm, depth a texture, faintly fat, but beautifully intense and changing flavour. Very fine energy. Wide and with waves of finishing flavour. Bravo. I love this…

2015 Chablis 1er Montmains
Bottled. 95% Butteaux – ‘Here is more clay, here comes more volume, it’s about the roots not the sun!’
Wide, very fresh and mineral, less deep and high-toned. Big, open, lots of fresh volume that grows in intensity – more energy trying to escape your mouth. Hmm, the best part is really the finish, long, long, long…

Three Fourchaumes:

2015 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
Hmm, deep, fresh, vibrant – an excellent nose – just a suggestion oak maybe. Big volume again, hyper-silky, more obvious oak bringing some complexity and a little fat. Gorgeous finishing fruit too – I would wait for the oak to fade, but this is a beauty – wait 5 years.

2015 Chablis 1er l’Homme Mort
Bright, pretty augmented by oak – elevage is all oak, as it’s a small cuvée. Really beautiful fruit, but more oak than I would like for sure today, but gorgeous fruit and long slow waves of brilliant finishing flavour. Another wine really to wait for..

2015 Chablis 1er Vaulorent
A pretty, wide and vibrant nose – really lovely. A hint of gas, but wide and fresh and mouth-watering with fine flavour. Just a great finish of fresh citrus and modest minerality. Gorgeous!

2015 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
Also a deep and vibrant nose, here with a suggestion of oak, faintly saline too. Good volume, less focus but more complexity, really a great and impressive length…

2015 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
Probably the most 2014 in style with its vibrant agrume depth. A little gas, but fresh, complex, energetic, a little saline, not the same weight of finishing flavour as the Tonnerre, but beautiful. The start of this and the finish of the last – now what a wine that would be!

2015 Chablis Bougros
Deep, concentrated agrume fruit, more citrus, some oak. Good scale, really tons of mouth-watering and interesting flavour. There’s a hint too much oak today, but for all that, it is still delicious today – I await more though – the finish offers great promise.

2015 Chablis Les Clos
‘Only’ 0.5 hectares of vines.
Big and mineral lots of faintly reductive energy. Bigger in the mouth, clean, fresh, despite some oak. Lovely intensity and slowly fading waves of flavour. Just a little modest overall, yet with all the length that you would wish for.

2015 Chablis Les Preuses
More mineral, more depth, just a little less energy – but it’s a very fine nose. Less volume, more weight, very fine, melting, intense flavour – I love this finish, mineral with some sweet complexity. Bravo!
2015 Chablis Château Grenouilles
I respect the importance of this cuvée to the producer, but, usually, not so much their positioning in a tasting. Really, if not timid, I usually find this the most discreet of their grand crus – but not in 2015!
A fine, deep, vibrant nose. Hmm, this is alive, mineral, but with a little cushioning, mouth-watering excellence – this is the best vintage I’ve tasted of this. A very fine and mineral finish too!

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

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