Tasted in Chablis with Camille Besson, 27 January 2022.

Domaine Besson
8 chemin de Valvan
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 40 88
www.domaine-besson.com
More reports with Domaine Besson

Camille on 2021:
“2020 is sold-out and we have 18 months of elevage so I’ve not yet offered any 2021s… We had 33 hl/ha. I think versus the average we can’t be disappointed – not so in Les Clos but Valmur brought us over 30 hl/ha – my father thinks the frost similar to 1991.”

Camille on 2020:
“We were confined in warm temperatures. It was the first time for me, harvesting in August. I would say correct yields – an early vintage but a vintage that’s not over-ripe – the alcohols/sugars a little lower than in 2019. Some of the Petit Chablis was lost due to the roasting of the grapes. I consider it an early vintage rather than a hot vintage – of course, we have rounder fruit but so much more than that!”

The wines…

A very good range from Camille. The Petit Chablis is a little riper but the others are finely textured and offer good concentration and flavour complexity.

2020 Petit Chablis
This bottled in October – 12-month-elevage – but not everything is done
An airy nose but not lacking in attractive complexity. Round, rather silky, a little honied but also supported by a good minerality. There’s a ripe fruit accent that’s rarer in 2020 but tasty and long – actually quite strong finishing.

2020 Chablis
Wider, less intense but still a nice clarity of aroma. A little grain of tannin and wide, easy almost layered fresh flavour – a little floral perfumed in the middle. That’s really excellent in a package of finesse.

The following tasted from tank samples:

2020 Chablis 1er Vaillons
Mainly Beugnons but also Chatains and Sechets, 2.45 hectares. not particularly high, more mid-slope – the vines don’t suffer so much here as there’s a ‘source.’ Have another 0.3 ha of Chatains. From tank
A good freshness of airy yellow citrus notes. Bright, pure, beautifully mineral – a vibrancy to this wine. Still with a lovely texture but you sense a little more the structure behind. This is excellent! – A super extra volume of finishing flavour here.

2020 Chablis 1er Montmains
Mainly from Butteaux plus a little Forêt, about 5.25 hectares worth. ‘For us it the more mineral and typical Chablis style.’ One 600l new barrel included in the vinification here – there’s still no more than 8% wood in the total.
A more forceful nose – larger-scaled with plenty of mineral and herbed complexity – but not green. Supple, mineral, extra salinity. Again a super and silky texture, delicious and finely balanced. Mouth-watering and long – wait a little for this – but you could drink it already! Long and faintly tannic on the tip of the tongue.

2020 Chablis Vaudèsir
1.4 hectares, in the domaine over 25 years. Both exposures, looking towards La Moutonne. Have about 10 vines in this parcel that are actually in Grenouilles – just the way the borders were drawn – producing less than 20 litres of juice so included in this cuvée – but here’s a rare holding!
Narrower but deeper nose – an implied if not fully delivered richness of fruit I find a little apricot style – but it’s only accents at this stage. Larger scale, also in structure – but melting with flavour, never hard. I like the layers of middle and finishing flavour then bursting forward and wider with a super finish. A typical ‘guarded’ Vaudésir but there is much to find here.

2020 Chablis Les Clos
0.15 ha – ‘5 rows and we’ve never make the rendement, since 2008! Quite high on the hill about 50m below the viewing table. Roughly 40-year-old vines – same as the Vaudesir. All tank elevage.
More mineral and structured – open and attractive slightly floral. Direct – extra mineral, layered mobile flavour. The energy is super here – more mineral than acidic – really an extra Chablis style vs the Vaudésir. It’s a little muscle here and it’s super – another that burst with extra life in the finish…