Tasted in Fleys with Cyril Gautheron, 19 January 2024.
Domaine Alain et Cyril Gautheron
18 Rue des Pregirots
89800 Fleys
Tel: +33 3 86 42 44 34
www.chablis-gautheron.com
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More reports with Domaine Alain & Cyril Gautheron
Cyril on 2023:
“Right now I’m seeing a lot of similarity to 2018 – the wines still show quite fresh despite their lower acidities – I like their balance and I don’t ever plan to acidify anything. The malos are not quite finished yet.”
Cyril on 2022:
“Not all are finished bottling – we don’t usually finish until after April – though we’ve had a few had earlier bottlings. There are lots of wines that are full of fruit and I prefer more dynamic wines and with structure but I’m very satisfied with them.”
The wines…
One of the outstanding domaines of the vintage – bravo!
Principally the wines are sealed with DIAM5:
Contracts, since 2016 with some Mâconnais (actually, north of Beaujolais) blended into these more northerly grapes.
Hmm – that’s round but also a little zesty – a good invitation. Hmm, juicy but still supple – melting flavour over the palate – a bit more generous as you head into this finish. Fine finishing energy too. Bravo Bourgogne.
This the domaine wine but there’s some négoce too – this just 2 weeks in bottle.
Extra fresh breadth of aroma. Plenty of volume and plenty of structure too – almost a hint of lime in this complexity. Super finishing – really a super finish – too long for the label – bravo! There’s a zestiness here that’s rather rare in 2022.
Representing 21 hectares of vines; Fye, Chablis, Chichée vines – all right bank. This a bottling from the start of December.
More airy but there’s a fizzing yellow citrus impression. More direct and intense, ooh that’s good – so classic. Yes, painfully good finishing intensity for the label!! Bravo!
3 ha of vines between Fleys and Vaucoupin – 15 months on fine lees, made this since 2009 and worked organically here since 2009 too, without certification, ‘Sometimes I think the treatments are too much – I prefer a homoeopathic approach – of-course if something is needed. Of course, practically nothing was needed in the last 2 years. Some full-sun places the weeds died on their own.’ This had it’s first bottling 2 weeks ago.
A little less width in the top notes to start but bellow has an impressive zesty width. More silken texture but more depth and intensity – concentration. A little reduction at the base today. The finish with little fireworks in all directions – great wine again!
2022 Chablis Vieilles-Vignes
Vines older than 55 years, provenance of those grapes the same as for the last wine. A mix of tank and wood for the first part of elevage then assembled into stainless for the last part of elevage. Amount of wood depends on the vintage. Not yet bottled, maybe in 1-2 months though. ‘The first year, 2000, I bought the barrels when my parents were on holiday – my dad was anti-wood!’
A lovely width of deep minerals here – you’ll hardly note any aromatic oak today so probably none in another year. There’s a rounder style but still insistent – more overt salinity in this case – what an excellent wine – more generous than the Emeraude. Great, great finishing again – what an excellent wine!
2022 Chablis 1er Vaucoupin
Two parcels that average nearly 50 years of age. Particular – part that had tiny yields and another part really not bad – the assembly brought half a harvest! All tank elevage, this from a September bottling.
Extra breadth from this more open nose – pale yellow citrus energy too. Larger volume in the mouth with an almost fizzy, juicy energy. Super persistent and beautifully pure with a little fluidity too.
2022 Chablis 1er Fourneaux
Have almost 3 ha of this. A lot of white clay with some blue clay in the mix. All tank elevage. This a November bottling.
A deeper, more golden-yellow fruit at the base – ripe but not rich. Ooh – clean pure – larger scale too. Growing and growing in the mouth – that’s a fabulous wine. Yes!
About 75-year-old vines. Pres Girots and Fourneaux lieu-dits. This with 15% wood elevage – also bottled November.
A hint less overt energy, more concentration. More panoramic in style – a modest extra fat and more elegant texture – but with beautiful tension – that’s properly great.
2022 Chablis 1er Vaillons
This and the Montmains have 80-year-old vines. On the border of Sechets in Epinottes and Minots. 25% wood elevage.
Hmm – much more open in the higher tones and with the cliché florals of Vaillons – almost a sherbet style. In the mouth too – bubbling with energy – depth of delicious flavour. I love it!
2022 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
Vines of 50-60 years of age. 15-20% barrel elevage this year.
There’s a breadth of aroma here – but it’s the depth that’s more impressive today. More generous wine but still with tension and a melting style to the the flavours. The fruit is a little like that of the Emeraude. Super wine.
0.66 ha in Montmains but sitting on the border with Forêts. 80 year-old-vines. ‘Tronconic’ tank for 1 year and since the harvest in tank before bottling.
Open freshness, a complexity of saline notes – almost airy. Cooler, complex, growing in intensity – oh yes! Another year – another purchase!
2022 Chablis 1er L’Homme Mort
0.35 ha – the smallest of the premier cru surfaces here. High and south-facing look towards Fourchaume and Chablis, beyond. The same elevage as the previous – also bottled the same time. 25% barrel elevage.
Wide, saline – more mineral accented in the depth, more direct than wide. Hmm, there’s fresh depth and width and complexity – this is quite a wine – the actual structure has no hard edges. An it’s a lovely finish. Top.
The following wines not yet bottled:
Extra! What a nose – more dimensions here. Super volume in the mouth – pushed by some retained CO2 – but the energy and juiciness work beautifully in tandem – only in the middle flavours a fleeting hint barrel – that’s a great wine for sure!
All the following are contracts and are still in elevage. 500-litre barrels with no intervention then another 8-9 months with fine lees in stanless steel:
A faint oaky spice and a more generous width of aroma at the base. Ooh – but what tension!! Round and mouth-filling but ultra-Chablis in the same breath. That’s a great wine!
2022 Chablis Valmur
Old parcel, Grenouilles side. The same elevage as the last except 228-litre barrels instead of 500s.
An extra aromatic vibration – it’s even more attractive! CO2 again. Panoramic, super intense – the oak a little more creamy and obvious in the finish vs the Bougros – but wait 2 -3 years and you’ll not notice. What a range of wines in 2022!
Back to 500-litre barrels.
The most open and vibrant aromatic so far. More chiselled, more linear, more fabulously energetic in the finishing line of flavour. This is my new fabourite!
In the high part of Preuses and old vines too. Again 500-litre barrel elevage.
Almost as wide as the Vaudesir – but here with a more cushioned less overtly energetic impression. Really more mouth-filling – clean flavours, with growing in intensity – mineral, and a lovely texture too. Maybe the most complete wine? I think yes – but for a few years I’ll drink the Vaudesir while waiting!