Tasted with Thomas Ventoura in Fontenay-près-Chablis, 13 January 2022.
Domaine Ventoura
3 Rue des Puits
89800 Fontenay-près-Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 19 39
www.chablis-ventoura.com
More reports with Domaine Ventoura
Thomas on 2021:
“2021 brought a bit more volume than in 2016 – that’s a positive I suppose! We have about 28 hl/ha”
Thomas on 2020:
“Our Petit Chablis is already sold out but I know where to find a bottle to taste! The season was very easy, no maladies and hardly any weeds, and a little rain on the 14 August helped a lot as the grapes were shrinking – that changed everything. It’s also the first year ever that we started our harvest in August – even 2003 was the 2nd or 3rd of September. The volume was a bit more than 50 hl/ha on average – that’s good. 2020 was the first year of the certification process for ‘organic’ here, so 2022 will be the last of the three.”
The wines…
The entry wines showed a little pyrazine green-ness but the rest were fine – in particular, the potentially great Fourchaume.
All are sealed with DIAM; DIAM3 for the Petit Chablis and DIAM5 “I never had a problem so I’ve no reason to change and I can also reduce the amount of sulfur I use at bottling time.”
2020 Petit Chablis
Two parcels in Fontenay.
Aha – here’s a little pyrazine. But in the mouth, this is supple and attractive. A little saline and has good concentration – it’s hard to reconcile the green of the pyrazine with the obviously well-ripe fruit… Still, a very good PC finishing nicely saline and long!
2020 Chablis
All tank elevage, same as the PC
A little green to the colour. The nose is tighter but fewer greens here. That’s calm, concentrated but never fat – the merest pyrazine accent – but positive at this level. Layered, calm, concentrated but never heavy. That’s a lovely, finely mineral wine…
A single parcel of 1 ha in Vaupulins. From tank, probably for bottling in Spring – ‘It can take its time, the 2019 is still the commercial vintage for this…’ This has fermentation in tank and half the elevage in 228-litre barrels
This nose slowly opens, gaining volume, the fruit is pure and a little golden citrus in style. I love the shape of this and there’s a bit more apparent energy too vs the bottled wines – though also a hint of gas here – it’s very nicely open and structured, framed with a faint tannin, growing more mouth-watering. This I love! This could be a really great Fourchaume – wait 2 years then attack! A super finish too, a little citrus-skin bitters here.
And two contract wines:
2020 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
All tank fermentation and then barrel elevage – 500-litre barrels. This bottled at the start of September.
A deep nose of concentrated riper fruit – today a little tighter above. Layered, finely textured, becoming more mouth-watering – the slight warmth of some barrel flavour – though quite delicious. I’d wait a year or two before approaching this but all is in place – it’s a very good MdM – the finish is very large and perfumed!
2020 Chablis Les Preuses
Bottled just after Christmas, here the fermentation was also in barrel – 228-litres
A narrower nose but with fine top notes – faintly barrel-spiced. Hmm, that’s a wine that melts beautifully over the palate – finely textured – the oak starting to show in the middle and finishing flavours. The energy is more mineral than acid – but mouthwatering contemplatively. This will be a very fine Preuses but I’d be looking at drinking from about 5-years-old to minimize any oak – but this is super long – DIAM so no problem to keep…
For the road:
2019 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
A more concentrated nose – wide and ripe fruit – almost a hint exotic today. Mouth-filling actually a good airy style – shaped like the 2020 but with less obvious structure. The best part here is the finish – there’s still the ripeness of fruit but also a vibrancy to the flavour that makes the wine so engaging – yum!