Tasted with Margaux Laroche, 06 May 2024.
Le Domaine d’Henri
Route d’Auxerre
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 40 65 17
ledomainedhenri.fr
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Margaux on 2024 – so far…
“It seems that we have lost about 2 hectares to frost. Then 6 hectares have been lost to hail – and that’s from 21 hectares. We are normally buying the produce of another 6 hectares – so we think we have lost – already – 40% of the vintage…”
Margaux on 2022:
“We are happy with the vintage – only the Petit Chablis and the Chablis are commercial right now – none of the rest are bottled. We are planning July for the bottling of the 1ers. It’s a vintage that we thought was frosted much more seriously than we eventually found – we were sure we’d lost 30% but in the end, it was the areas that were frosted which seemed to deliver the best maturity. The vines not limited by the frost, with higher volumes of fruit, were only borderline ripe because of the dryness – so it was the lower yield areas that had no problem to ripen. I think it’s a great vintage – with the balance between fruit intensity and some delicate minerality – it needs some time I think, though. We suffered some hydric stress in the summer so for a time the vines stopped producing sugar – so when we harvested we found some thick skins, difficult to press, so we needed a different program for every press!”
The wines…
There’s that word again – gorgeous. It typifies the wines of this domaine in 2022 – which also typifies the vintage.
For the bottling there are some wines with screw-cap, the rest are DIAM5 – some DIAM10 and even some DIAM30 – ‘though maybe the latter is a little too ‘tight’’ says Margaux:
2022 Petillant Naturel
From vines in Chablis and Auxerre – 4g of residual sugar – ‘it was hard to vinify in 2022…’
A nicely vibrant nose, mirabelles, almonds. There’s a beautiful mouth-perfume to this. Easy bubbles and long – gorgeous.
Energy and scale to this nose. Lovely scale to the flavour too – a blend of different areas – it really widens over the palate – a cushion of fruity ripeness – but so edeliciously exuberant already. Bravo !!
2022 Chablis
Broad but becoming more direct aromatic – ripe citrus again. Fluid, juicy, mineral – some youthful austerity – faintly saline at the finish. That’s another beautiful wine…
2022 Domaine Chablis St.Pierre
Parcels near Montee de Tonnerre and facing Blanchots – 3 terroirs. 40% amphora, 40% tank and the rest in barrels.
A more direct, high-toned fruit with pretty floral aromatics. More lush and supple – larger in scale – a very pretty, cushioned, finishing fruit and not the first with a little white peach flesh too. Delicious.
All the following sampled from tank:
2022 Chablis 1er Troesmes
In Beauroy, not easy to sell under this name. ‘Lots of court noué here so a lot of small grapes and therefore concentration – of sugar too – so a challenge to harvest with maturity but still acidity.’ South-facing on SO4 which is always early harvesting – this is normally ready a week before many other vines. The two fermentations were in tank then the elevage was in wood and amphora – equal quantities…
Vibrant, open, yellow fruit – slightly supple. Extra scale in the mouth – a shimmering frame of flavour with fine intensity. Great finishing – there’s power here. What a delicious wine !!
2022 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
5.5 hectares! In 6 parcels aged between 80 and 30 years old. From Homme Mort, Fourchaume and Vaupulent
A more elegant, almost finer, width of yellow fruit – almost tending to golden. This is a wonderful open but airily concentrated – beautifully elegant wine. For me it’s a wonderful Fourechaume.
2022 Chablis 1er Homme Mort
We don’t make this single parcel wine every year – they have 6 parcels in Fourchaume, this planted in 1970 on a steep section – there’s 2 hectares here, another – the next wine – 150 meteres away planted in 1937. Again demi-muids and amphora for elevage.
The off-warm Mirabelle of these unfinished wines – but it won’t be comercialised for 3 years – 2020 is the commercial vintage now. Mouth-filling again, faintly chalky finishing again. This will be beautiful – It would be great to retry when it becomes commercial…
2022 Chablis 1er ‘Heritage’
1937 planting
Direct, supple, there’s concentration, small cushion, but growing mineral and almost a little mandarin fruit in the middle and finishing flavours. Gorgeous…