Tasted in Poinchy with Adeline Tribut, 11 January 2019.
Domaine Laurent Tribut
15, rue de Poinchy
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 41 46 22
Laurent is, officially, retired – which means that he doesn’t need to see itinerant peddlars of wine reports – he can work in the vines instead. He didn’t warn Adeline about the photos either! 🙂
Adeline on 2018:
“2018 brought us a nice volume and the quality also looks very good. Perhaps a little less acidity but it’s a clean vintage. We’d already finished all our work in the vines at the end of June – we didn’t do more as we didn’t want to expose the grapes to the hot sun to avoid dried grapes. So we started our harvest 04 September with ripe grapes, some up to 14° in the crus…”
Laurent and Adeline on 2017:
“2017 was, of-course, frosted at the start but it was good. We harvested a little less than in 2016 – we had 40 hl/ha in 2016 but still managed 35 hl/ha in 2017. It was only the frost in 2017 – some vines didn’t look frosted but in the end there was only 0-2 clusters of grapes in some places. But that’s Nature and we work with it. It was so much easier work in 2017 than in 2016 – we had everything in that 2016 vintage; hail, frost and other maladies – but only the frost in 2017. They were small grapes so we worried if there would be enough juice but in the end it was fine. ”
The wines…
Whilst there’s not the undertow of austerity in 2017 that the Chablis minerality usually brings – also at this address in 2017 – the wines are some of the most classic I’ve met in the 2017 vintage – with minerality and salinity in spades – really super-classic wines this year – bravo!
All tasted from barrel:
2017 Chablis
There’s usually a small bottling in September but the most part is bottled in late Spring.
A modest nose but with a width of fine citrus aroma – a fine invitation. A little richness but this is a most mineral wine with fine energy and depth of flavour – lovely and quite forward salinity. Easy but absolutely delicious finishing. At least excellent!
2017 Chablis 1er Les Beauroy
‘Similar terroir to Côte de Léchets, but a bit more argilles blanches. Otherwise its the same exposure, 400 metres as the crow flies.’
Like the Chablis a tight nose – it’s cold! A little more direction here, a little more drive and more melting flavour. Hmm, not a massive jump from the villages but there is still some difference, mainly in the width of the finish – excellent wine!
A wider nose – more mineral and saline too. A little more reductive vibration to this minerality – and what a minerality! This is really a super wine – classic and almost painfully so – actually there is no pain in 2017 – but it is stricter than most in the vintage – and I like that! Bravo!
‘Actually its Forêts but I didn’t want confusion with the similar label of Vincent Dauvissat,’ says Laurent.
Like the Léchets, a more forward, mineral vibration to the aromatic. Hmm starts softer, rounder, but extra complex, still saline, hardly sweet, a small touch of oak from this barrel – some flavour and also roundness from that. This is super finishing and has a good line too.