Tasted in Chablis with Cyril Testut, 26 January 2022.
Domaine Testut
38, rue des Moulins
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 41 45 00
www.domaine-testut.fr
More reports with Domaine Testut
Cyril on 2020:
“We managed 28 hl/ha but the manual harvest saved us – too much is lost with the machine if there’s a little rot – but we’ve known rot here forever and there’s okay and not okay rot – the machine doesn’t distinguish – we had no mildew though, I’m very happy with that – the wines are looking very classic with a nice acidity.”
Cyril on 2020:
“30-35 hl/ha so also a very small harvest. The problem was the hillsides and that’s what we mainly have here – they don’t retain the water very well – so it’s the dryness that’s the main reason – we didn’t lose much through roasted grapes. I’m starting to replant in a few places too – very old vines but they need new life. I’m very happy with the vintage – properly constructed and with nice balance.”
The wines…
In 2020 Cyril has fashioned beautifully textured, sleek, direct wines with plenty of structure – all will benefit from as much cellar-patience as you can afford. A really fine selection!
All DIAM today – nice long 54mm DIAM10 for the higher wines. The last bottlings of the Chablis are not yet completed but all the rest is done:
2020 Chablis Rive Droit
A silky nose, wide and yellow-citrus dominated. Bright, fresh – growing wide over the palate. Properly structured but nothing hard. That’s worth having a year or two of patience – it’s very, very good.
2020 Chablis 1er Vaillons
Some of the oldest vines, planted in the late 50s/early 60s. From Beugnons.
More airy and floral – fine focus too. Super in the mouth – incisive – open, super mouth-watering with great acidity. That’s a really excellent wine! Long, long with a super minerality…
2020 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
Wide, a little more density and a waft of more saline accents. Mouth-filling, like the nose it’s extra saline, structural but slowly easing over the palate. Another impressively constructed wine that will repay your patience – it is certainly excellent but you have to wait for it – say 3+ years…
0.20 ha of 80-year-old vines, the same age as Beugnons. Only replaced with massale selections.
The most perfumed and broad and inviting of all these. Incisive again – more direct, super silky, growing in mouth-watering intensity – great texture. Almost juicy in the finish. This is absolute class – practically GC standard – bravo!
2020 Château de Grenouilles
0.32 hectares – the high part with the other producers – Chablisienne has all the lower part. Father planted in the 60s. 2002 was the first vintage here for Cyril and that was a bigger vintage in terms of volume than he wanted, so worked since then on the soil – and there’s not a lot up there, and in recent years he’s had it ploughed by horse. ‘Today I’m happy with the balance in the plants. But whilst there’s magic in certain parcels, you have to work to unlock that magic!’
A little less volume but there’s an extra depth of aromatic clarity – that’s really lovely. Sleek, beautifully direct, gorgeously mouth-watering. A sleek and very fine wine – of mobile energy and finesse rather than overt concentration. An extra level of flavour complexity in the finish – that’s really super here. Excellent grand cru.