Tasted in Chablis with Dominique Collet, 07 April 2022.

Domaine Jean Collet & Fils
15 avenue de la Liberté
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 11 93
www.domaine-collet.fr
More reports with Domaine Jean Collet & Fils

Romain was on a course – so today it’s mum – “I’m only retired in theory!” she laughs!

Dominique on 2022 and other low-yielding vintages:
“We are hoping to be less impacted than last year – we haven’t done the last of the pruning – so we keep our fingers crossed! 2016 and 2021 were half harvests – the other vintages, apart from 2018, we have only gotten around 40 hl/ha. It’s 14 hectares that are already certified organic and the volume is anyway lower here – the rest of the domaine is HVE. Our aim is 45-48 hl/ha today. ”

The wines…

The average quality is very high here and there are certainly 2 or 3 wines that are worth a special search to find…

All diam here except for the two grand crus, all new labels for the domaine since 2020 – ‘similar to grandfather’s labels – simple and clean.’ All the cuvées have now been bottled, the grand crus included:

2020 Chablis
15 hectares of vines represented here.
Nicely fresh – modest intensity today but with a hint of perfume too. Mouth-filling, open, nice energy, melting with flavour. Very good wine – mouth-watering and faintly saline finishing – I really like this finish!

2020 Chablis Vieilles-Vignes
A massale selection of vines planted in 1932, in Villy
Here is also a modest volume of aroma but with mineral clarity. More direct, juicier. Small finishing waves of flavour – I love the purity of flavour here. That’s simply an excellent wine maybe even better!

2020 Chablis La Truffière
Organic for many years – also from Villy on a south-facing slope.
Also a nice freshness, this time with a subtle green accent. The green is more to the fore in the flavours but overall this has a fine purity and minerally mouth-watering style – long too – it’s very good.

2020 Chablis 1er Montmains
Only stainless-steel elevage here. From 4 parcels of true Montmains amounting to 5 hectares. The only 1er cru with no wood in the elevage. This bottled after the harvest.
A nice airy quality – that’s nice. Bright, vibrant, more intense – a more structural wine but one with a cascade of delicious finishing flavour – be patient but this could be excellent.

2020 Chablis 1er Le Forêt
Bought in 2005, replanted in 2008, 0.92 hectares. Concrete tanks and a smaller amount of barrels for elevage.
A fine nose – but a compact nose. Vibrant – an extra depth – just a mm of cushion to the structure here. That’s developing well over the palate – the finish really enjoyable again – less overt structure – or better said, more cushioned structure vs the Montmains. Also will be a lovely wine.

2018 Chablis 1er Butteaux
0.72 ha one parcel, organic since 2008. Planted in 1972. Alcoholic fermentation in tank then moved to wood.
Also a small nose – maybe it’s the glass! Wide – a little more incisive in style – really mouth-watering and a little more intense too. This finish almost as delicious as the Montmains – very good again!

2020 Chablis 1er Vaillons
10 hectares here – lucky it’s mum’s favourite – ‘I can’t understand that anyone wouldn’t like it’ she says! From Epinottes, Minot, Encieres, Chatains and en Vaillons. 5% in barrel the rest in tank – after malo one part goes into older barrels.
Fresh, pure, a little more citrus ripeness. Ooh – that’s beautifully mouth-watering, mineral – super focus. That’s simply an excellent wine – well done!

2020 Chablis Le Montée de Tonnerre
2 parcels – one of 0.25 plus another of 1.80 in Les Chapots. ‘The smaller brings a richness, the other a colder area brings that brings tension and vivacity.’ Vinified separately and then blended before bottling. All barrel elevage for this one.
A fine, almost textured width of aroma but still a shy nose. More mouth-filling – more concentrated but not making the wine too generous. Slowly fading in the finish with small waves of extra complexity – nicely clean and attractive here. Not fully in place – wait 2 years but this is certainly better than ‘very good!’

2020 Chablis Les Clos
One parcel of 0.16 hectares. First vintage 2013 now on fermage.
A little whiff of barrel and good depth of aroma. Quite a bit more barrel in the mouth but the clarity and concentration – matched by great balance – are very impressive. I wouldn’t touch one for 5 years as the barrel is much too forward for me but the shape and purity really impress. Super-impressive length!

2020 Chablis Valmur
A more vibrant nose and certainly with less oak showing. More direct, lithe muscle, extra mouth-watering and with a growing crescendo of flavour. This is easily the most attractive of these two wines today – I expect them much closer together in a few years. But concentrated, wide, and delicious – hardly showing oak – at least not following the last. That’s a very excellent grand cru.

And now for something(s) completely different:

2020 Saint-Bris
Third vintage with the same parcel. Grapes bought from a friend who is stopping his bottling. Hand-harvested by the team from here. All stainless vinifications then some time in barrels.
Harvest and buy the grapes here.
Slightly exotic, lots of mint – the latter perhaps (successfully) hiding a little green – but this is very attractive. Mouth-filling, juicy, a flavour profile with a little bitters and fine intensity. Keep it a year or two before drinking but this is a big mouthful of joy and it finishes very well.