Chablis tasting notes

[Michael Malinoski]

I was happy to join my friend Ed’s regular tasting group as a fill-in a little while back for a fun evening of Chablis tasting. As always with this group, all of the wines were served blind in one single flight with dinner.

2000 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. The first wine is the darkest-colored wine in the tasting, presenting moderately-aged aromas of butterscotch, honey-roasted nuts, graham cracker, browned apples and light caramel. In the mouth, it’s not quite so advanced as on the nose, but it’s still rather gingery, with flavors of baked apple, spiced pear and honeycomb. It’s fleshy, plump and sweetly nutty at times, but it has a fine easy flow and a lasting ginger-laden finish. It’s not among my favorites, but it’s an interesting start.

2009 Domaine Séguinot-Bordet Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume. This wine is showing lots of minerality on the nose to go with scents of herbs, pea tendrils, green apple, chalk and juniper berry that are almost Sauvignon-like. On the palate, it’s more mouth-filling and expansive than one might imagine based on the aromatic profile, but with good lift, bright zesty tang, fine control and juicy balance. It’s quite likeable.

2002 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros. This seems a bit on the old side to me on the nose, with aromas of poached pear, bruised apple, ginger ale and allspice. In the mouth, it’s a bit oxidized in style, with nuts, ginger, baked apple and baking spice flavors in a richly-styled, luxuriantly dark and nutty package. A duplicate bottle tasted later on showed much better, I thought.

2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume. There’s a bright and immediate nose to this wine, rocking the senses right from the start with aromas of struck flint, sulfur, black smoke, charred wood, grilled herb, graphite, lemon, grapefruit and sea air. It’s extremely giving on the palate, too, where it’s bright and bold, very smoky and graphite-laden. It’s dry, with a squinchy slippery texture and sneaky density. It shows nice controlled power, fine acidity and a penetrating, bracing finish. It’s a very youthful and overt wine, and quite enjoyable to my tastes.

2010 Domaine Billaud-Simon Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot Vieilles Vignes. This is the lightest, palest color of any wine in the line-up. The nose is light and airy, with ethereal aromas of white flowers, chalk, green apple, fennel and seashell that are quite classic in profile. In the mouth, it has very good bottom-note stuffing to go with tingly spices and bright fruit. It’s quite long and lasting with its tasty flavors of apple, pear, chalk, and nutmeg. This is very nicely done and my second-favorite wine of the tasting.

2002 Dauvissat-Camus Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. This is very pretty indeed on the nose, with perfumed aromas of mountain flowers, lemon rind, yellow pixie stick powder, orange peel and cold butter. It’s oily-textured and rather significant-feeling in the mouth, with excellent presence and impressive complexity to go with a lot of elegant edgings. It delivers tasty flavors of lemon and lime, apple and chalk that show excellent staying power and refined layerings. It’s excellent all around, and is my wine of the night.

2002 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros. Yes, this was a duplicate with wine #3, but it showed considerably better and rather different, I thought. This is actually rather tart on the nose—displaying aromas of chalk, sea salt, lemon, lime, crabapple and quartz-like minerality. It’s fun and outgoing on the palate, showing a lot of life and personality all the way through. It delivers a big mouthful of pear, Delicious apple, chalk and sea foam flavors that lead to a tingly, taut and tasty finish.

2003 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. This feels a bit more richly-styled on the nose than any other wine on the table, featuring aromas of creamy lemon meringue, exotic spices, barrel char and grilled herbs. It’s rich and creamy in the mouth, with a bit of an extravagant feel to the lush, sticky texture and ripe fruit. It has a sexy personality and really wins you over with its outgoing and welcoming character.

2004 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. This wine possesses the most precise, crunchy and chiseled bouquet of the evening, with lots of granite, crushed shell, herb, chalk, green apple and sulfur types of aromas. Similarly, it is rather classic Chablis on the palate, with a precise and crunchy feel to the finely-balanced flavors of green apple, sea foam, herbs, smoky minerals and chalk. For all that, there are no hard edges here and the wine flows beautifully through to an easy finish. This is quite nice and one of my top wines of the evening.


-Michael

[Nicklasss]

Thanks Michael.

Chablis is among my favorite white wine, with Alsace riesling (the very dry ones). I'm liking more and more good Muscadet too.

Of course, Montrachet is my all time favorite dry white, but let say that I drink more bottles of the 3 above!

Nic

[DavidG]

I'm another fan of Chablis, and white Burgs in general. But I've stopped buying because of premox. Looks like it got one of your 2002 Fevres.