Tasted in Chablis with Vincent Dauvissat, 25 January 2019.
Domaine Vincent Dauvissat
8 rue Emile Zola
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 46 11 58
Vincent is stressed – there’s a lorry with the wrong customs papers, he’s trying to rack something, and we are all waiting to taste 😊
Vincent on 2018:
“We harvested more than we had the rights for – 85 hl/ha average – it was a hyper-generous vintage – sometimes it happens when everything falls into place for the vines. It’s all vinified too – I’m not sure what to do with it right now, but the grapes were all magnificent – there was nothing to triage, so nothing I could reject to ‘lose’ something. For us, it’s not like 1990 – we only had 65 hl/ha here in 1990.”
Vincent on 2017:
“Practically double the volume of 2016, but that’s still only a third of a vintage here. Never seen a frost like that, a dry wind from the north-west. So we lost 80% in some places, not just because we had -6°C but because 7 nights in a row of frost – we could protect 3 or 4 times. That’s mother nature for you – but she really came back in 2018! Since 2011 and up to the 2018s we didn’t have a decent volume. Hyper-clean grapes, nice ripeness, good acidity and a concentration of sugar – we harvested in great conditions too, starting 6 September vs 3rd September in 2018. The sugars were practically the same for every wine at harvesting – you are tasting the terroirs.”
The wines…
Resplendent wines in 2017 – yet still with such precision!
The bottling of all the cuvées is already done – it was finished just last week.
A modest volume of aroma, but with an attractive depth – faintly cushioned citrus. Nice shape, transparency, modestly layered with a delicious focus – lovely length here almost a twist of apple in the fruit – Bravo PC
A little extra freshness and brightness – quite expressive but not a large aromatic volume. Wide, almost a petrol, intense, layered, nice salinity, great length – not a massive wine, nor a rich wine – but a classic, bravo wine!
2017 Chablis 1er Sechets
Quite a modest volume of aroma again. Ooh – super-silky, depth, mineral, but lots of layers, very-much a saline aspect to this wine. Serious but at the same time seriously fine!
2017 Chablis 1er Vaillons
Obtained these vines in 1979, it was a fatter wine and not really in the style of the house at that time – I didn’t think that it was a wine for aging at the start – but I was wrong!
A little more open width of aroma. More direction and drive – the last was wide – this is about drive and length – very saline, very mineral, slowly mouth-watering – almost an extract here in the finish.
2017 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
The 5th vintage – a very small plot and lots of frost here.
More open, more overt complexity – with some vibration of minerality below. A wine that takes a middle route – there is width, but not too much, there is drive, but not too much – there is tasty complexity and tension – here is plenty! Ooh that’s good and there’s more weight of finishing flavour too!
A little mineral reduction, a vibration, working the glass brings more volume but more of the same. Oh energy and complexity and clarity and salinity – I won’t bore you, but here is a vibrant, incisive, fresh great wine – finishing that way too – bravo!
Deep and saline – ripe fruit at the depths of the aromas. Ooh – great. Depth again, layers, a little fresh-edged richness to the flavour. Über-complex, great wine that I feel I can eat!
Much more open, more perfumed aroma. Ouch – incisive, depth of concentration, but of mineral too – I didn’t think it would better the Preuses and in a way it doesn’t because it’s so different – but in the end it probably does. Great wine of great volume and complexity – great texture – a more serious finish than Preuses today. Great, great!
One for the road – ‘how about something that resembled 2017 when young:’
Hmm – wide, complex, some age, some patina – some dried earth, ooh but really a fine drive and acidity – it’s not too old (haha – I hope) a little noisette. Wide still a touch of tannin many finishing dimensions. “2008 Preuses – I haven’t tasted it since the bottling” says Vincent, “normally I wait 10 or 15 years before returning.” I didn’t spot my usual marker for 2008 – a pure lime fruit – so I had guessed a 2010 grand cru, the latter for the simply great dimensions of finishing flavour.
We had a little laugh about the birth year of someone being 1984, Vincent commented “It’s the worst of years, but it still tastes like something! The grapes weren’t ripe and still managed to have porriture – but it’s still not dead yet! We were lucky to have 10° – 2° came from sugar!“