Tasted in Beines with Florent Dauvissat, 10 January 2018.

Domaine Agnes et Didier Dauvissat
Chemin de Beauroy
89800 Beines
Tel: + 33 3 86 42 46 40
www.domainedauvissat.fr

Florent on 2017:
“2017 started well, then came the Spring frost which principally touched our Petit Chablis on the plateau of Beines and Vau Lignau – and it was on multiple days too – we lost about 25% of that. Chablis in Fye was okay, but we were quite lucky in our other 1er parcels – we prune at the end of March, beginning of April – quite late – so perhaps our growth was behind some of our neighbours who were more affected. One neighbor used aspersion in 2017 but it wasn’t as effective as usual for whatever reason – they lost a lot whereas we lost maybe 20%. But then we had a good summer ending with a nice maturity. Harvesting was at the start of September but we could have done with some rain as there was relatively little juice in the grapes – a quite thick skin. So another poor year for volume losing between 15-20% but much better than 2016 where we lost 1/3rd.”

Florent on 2016:
“In general, the first hail didn’t have much effect, we had frost in Fye but it’s not the biggest surface. The second hail hit a Parcel in Courgis, here almost 60% was lost. Then came the mildew, which was quite bad in the Petit Chablis. In the end we lost more from the mildew – and some grilled grapes – than the frost and hail. In the end our losses were about 1/3. But the result of the harvest is good, fortunately. We will start to commercialise in the spring as we like to have a little bottle age.”

The wines…

There are some DIAM equivalents at the base of the range here, ‘natural’ cork for the rest, but it seems that ‘DIAM’ use is expanding here.

Aromatically these wines were a little tough at this stage for the 2015s, but the 2016s were singing. Really a great range in 2016 – high-class very tasty wines – bravo!

2016 Petit Chablis
An assembly of parcels, in plateau of Beines, near Vauligneau and above the grand crus.
Pretty and pure notes of fresh lime. Lots of mouth-filling flavour – really bright and energetic, lots of flavour action. Really a very fine wine for the label. No austerity and packed with flavour. Excellent.

2016 Chablis Les Petits Vignerons
This from Courgis near Côte de Jouan and half was lost in 2016 – hand harvested, half elevage in wood. Bottled in November
Width, really a wide intensity of fruit, slowly adding some floral aspects. Plenty of rounder mouth-filling flavour here – the oak making a slightly spicier character – a little 2015 in style – but lithe and fine. Very good!

2016 Chablis 1er Beauroy
2 hectares of vines in a single parcel.
Directly more mineral, suggesting a little salinity – the depth is faintly citrus. More weight of flavour, riper fruit flavour, slowly growing in intensity – not a hint of anything jarring – this is really super wine, offering layers of finishing flavour. Really a great range so far this vintage.

2016 Chablis 1er Beauroy Eléve en Fût de Chêne
This cuvee produced with barrel elevage. Some 500 litre barrels here. There’s only 1 parcel in the premier cru so it’s divided, not a particular parcel selection. The press wine is divided and the fermentation and elevage is in barrel, with a couple of rackings but no batonnage. About 10 months in barrel before being assembled in tank where it waits a couple of months.
Extra width, ripe fruit, spiced with some oak. More supple, actually the minerality is easier to grasp here, the oak is deftly, modestly, done compared to many. Intense slightly cushioned fruit that’s very long. Excellent.