2003 Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru 'Les Clos'

*This bottle has a wrinkled front label.

Dauvissat has always aged their wines in barrel, believing that this allows the wine to breathe during the élévage. As René Dauvissat said in 2002, “Oak is very important to Chablis. The synergy of air and wood adds character and also helps soften the wine. Without oak, Chablis is too hard, too austere.” Malolactic fermentation occurs spontaneously and only the winter cold is used to precipitate tartrates.

"Bright yellow. Aromas of pineapple, rosemary and nutmeg, with some fresh veggie nuances. Large-scaled, plush and densely packed; a very concentrated, tactile, bone-dry wine with terrific breadth and seamless texture, but much more about powdered and wet-stone minerality than fruit in the mouth. Finishes saline and bone-dry. I would have guessed this wine was higher in alcohol but it's not at all tired, despite possessing barely three grams per liter of acidity. No one will ever describe this powerful wine as classic Clos and yet there's plenty of minerality here, (VM, 93 points)".