Special Offer Price - $39.95 per bottle with code LECHETVV
Le Vrai Chablis, or ‘true Chablis,’ is our evergreen pleasure. Chardonnay, cold Chablisien chalk, and long élévage in barrel yields for us the single most fascinating expression in the wine world. But Vrai Chablis needs qualifying.
Here is what it’s not: lean. If it’s 'crisp,' throw it out! No generic acid-driven, might-as-well-be-Menetou-Salon nonsense allowed.
What it absolutely is: flavory, intensely umami’d, texturally intricate. Long decanting or extended bottle age is critical: maximum maritime richness and the unique supple-yet-starched texture really, really requires time.
Didier Defaix owns the largest portion of the ‘Côte de Léchet’ and he makes the most of the opportunity with a terrific ‘regular’ bottling of the vineyard. Rarer is this old vine ‘reserve’ bottling issuing from a single block of 60 year-old vines in the choicest slice of the hillside. This bottling sees extended aging in barrel and regularly counts among the region’s most singular expressions.
In ’21 we’re treated to the strongest rendition since ’14, a marvel of subtlety and detail. As usual it’s very much a ‘left bank’ wine in its delicate floral and saline aromas alongside lime and white tea-like suggestions. Discreetly mineral and saline at the outset, these features grow enormously with long decanting. Three hours in the maritime intensity could double for a richly reduced shellfish stock. A last word for the texture. Time does its usual work in fleshing out the mid-palate impressively. And yet the edges of the wine remain firm and starchy, a sophisticated architectural touch. Only Chablis seems to do this: soft in spots, sharply lined in others.
The strongest value in our little shop right now.
Cheers,
Jason
