Tasted in Fleys with Eve Grossot, 27 January 2023.
Corinne et Jean-Pierre Grossot
4 route de Mont de Milieu
89800 Fleys
Tel: +33 3 86 42 44 64
www.chablis-grossot.com
More reports with Domaine Corine et Jean-Pierre Grossot
Eve on 2022:
“Yes, in the end, we were very happy – but the frost came again – all the normal buds were frosted but all the opposing buds were fertile and we recovered just about everything. Not the volume to have VCI but happy.”
Eve on 2021:
“2021 – it’s about 20 hl/ha here – we had 15 hl/ha in 2016 so it’s better than that, but… We’ve done just two bottlings so far, I’m waiting for March for the rest. It’s about 60% losses here so there are not more than about 2k bottles for each 1er – except the Fourchaume – but I’ve done no allocations yet – that will be interesting! We worried at the start but in the end, the 2021s are very elegant yet very Chablis.”
The wines…
Possibly the best range I ever tasted here – two great wines to start and the Fourchaume was also hinting at greatness – the other wines were more inscrutable on this day…
Usually from 13 hectares of vines. Bottled for nearly 1 week.
A faintly spiced but pure-lemon freshness. Hmm, there’s concentration here, a flavour that spreads out over the palate, almost a little creamy, modestly generous too – but what flavour! A great villages!
A parcel selection – always the same when made – opposite the domaine right next to the 1er cru. Not bottled.
This nose is not quite ready with a more savoury reductive aspect. But very silky and growing in flavour complexity – again with plenty of concentration. Super, slightly creamy again – middle and finishing flavours – it needs work but I expect that this is also going to be a great one!
2021 Chablis 1er Troëmes
The only other bottled wine- also done last week.
Hmm – that’s not so aromatically large but it has a lovely finesse. In the mouth, although modestly cushioned, we have a much more direct and structural style – noting hard – just a more architectural shape. Then a vibrant middle to finish – I sense it’s a little tight but the flavour is top. I think this could be excellent.
2021 Chablis 1er Vaucoupin
‘For us, we find that this place always puts the terroir before the vintage.’
A more open and airy aromatic – a little extra depth to this agrume fruit. More incisive in the mouth, still silky but there’s less of the previous generosity. Still cushioned and delicious – this is really a super range here in 21.
2021 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
Currently being cold stabilized in preparation for bottling.
Less open – it’s cold! – but the aromas are fresher and of more clarity – very lovely. The gas is still present but it doesn’t hide the extra minerality, then the achingly good mouth-watering citrus – yellow citrus. Becoming ever-more direct but still supple finishing – all these wines with a fine 2021 texture – like the rest of Burgundy. As a minimum, I think this excellent.
2021 Chablis 1er Les Fourneaux
Some oak elevage partly in demi-muids.
The first wine that you see oak – quite obviously. But this is cool and crystalline in the flavours, rounder and still silky too. The flavours are all framed by the creaminess of the barrel. It’s got fine shape and flavour but I’d suggest waiting 2-3 years for the barrels to fade – the finish is a beauty!
2021 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
A slightly savoury reduction once more – but in this case if fades quite quickly with aeration. Concentrated and supple. Silky, layered flavour. The barrel is visible but on a lower level. The finish with some obvious minerality. Always with this lovely texture and generosity. You see less of the finished wine today than the Fourchaume but I this it has the chance to be very fine – the finish is brilliantly sustained.