Tasted with Guillaume Vrignaud in Fontenay-près-Chablis, 21 January 2020.

Domaine Guillaume Vrignaud
10 Rue de Beauvoir
89800 Fontenay-près-Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 15 69
www.domaine-vrignaud.com

More reports for Domaine Guillaume Vrignaud

Guillaume on 2019:
“In 2019 the domaine was about 10-15% down in volume; there was a little frost but mainly it was the dryness that was the cause. They weren’t the easiest of fermentations – and they are not all done – but none have stopped!”

Guillaume on 2018:
“I worried about frost, but in the end there was none – but the growth started very fast after as the spring had been very wet. Right up to June we had to worry about mildew, but then it was dry – by 14 July practically all the work was completed in the vines. I started harvesting about the 4 September with up to 13.2° for villages Chablis! Practically all was ready at the same time – in more normal vintages it’s the 1ers that are usually ready first. it’s a dream year, particularly after 2016 and 2017. I’ve never seen such abundance and in the old vines too. Not the easiest fermentations again but all went through.”

The wines…

Good wines in 2018 – the finishes are simply super.

Guillaume explains “I use DIAM, it’s allowed me to reduce the amount of SO₂ that I use, and of-course I don’t have problems with corked wine. I’m testing some DIAM Origine too.”

2018 Petit Chablis
Bottled in April 2018 – all the bottling dates are engraved on the bottles. On the Portlandian Plateau des Clos – 4.7 hectares
A wide and quite sweet nose – a silky impression. That’s got a good acidity – a shimmering almost mouth-puckering style – but with a good density and minerality. That’s a very good finish too!

2018 Chablis
9 different parcels – all around Fontenay – all separate elevage. Many of types of soil. Plenty of massale selections too, representing 12 ha
Deep, almost toasty, but also with a nice accent of salinity and flowers. Lovely line, the acidity flows from the start to the finish. Long, a wide wave of finishing flavour, very mineral and very excellent!

2018 Chablis Les Champreaux
A single parcel of 2.68 hectares – though not all is bottled under this label. 70% tank elevage, bottled after the harvest.
A sweetness of oak but also a fine and silky mineral impression edged with citrus. In the mouth more open, good clarity, practically a little structured, the oak is present but only an accent – and it will soon fade further. I like, the length is just so ingraining.

2018 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
0.28 hectares worth, here only tank elevage. It’s an exchange for Fourchaume grapes – in this case not an organic vineyard. All tank elevage
Hmm, that’s a nice nose, perhaps a spiced pear but with a saline freshness too. Extra-wide, an intensity but a width of intensity. Great, a beautiful shape – floral, delicious, the saline finishing. This is excellent!

2018 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
All tank elevage. Old vines never the rendement – totally surprised what they delivered in 2018 with 12.7-12.8° at harvest. Bottled just after the harvest in 2019 – October – same as Mont de Milieu
A narrower, more vertical, nose – nicely mineral at the base, faintly floral above. A little more structural after the MdM, super intensity – this needs a little more time than the already accessible Milieu. Intense and long finishing this blend of ripe citrus and minerality – excellent – but patience!

2018 Chablis 1er Les Vaupulant
Also an October bottling after elevage in 500-litre barrels and (70%) tank. I like a little reduction but the wood brings the balancing oxygenation that I look for.
That’s a nicely complex, faintly spicy, nose – no real emphasis from wood. Beautiful shape in the mouth – mouth-filling, silky, an accent of oak, but really a wine that is beautifully Chablis, faintly saline, agrumed and (again) saline finishing

A couple of 2017s with long elevage:

2017 Chablis 1er Fourchaume Côte de Fontenay
Old vines from 1955 – the oldest of the domaine – all tank elevage.
That’s lovely, fresh, almost a waxy note – really inviting. Fresher, cooler fruit – but the same domaine style as the 2018s – direct, agrume, almost a little spiced, zesty – and with a vibrant finish – that’s excellent!