2007 Chablis Vaillons

The Dauvissat 2007 Chablis Vaillons leads with an aromatic combination of citrus oil, Mirabelle distillate, and honey that suggest a touch of noble botrytis. Honey-glazed, gingered lime, tangerine, pineapple, and yellow plum are lusciously allied on the palate with a sense of crushed stone and chalk I imagine straining through my teeth. Predictably, this is more adamant in its mineral character, more compact, and more overtly extract rich than the corresponding Sechet. But what it lacks in interplay or levity vis a vis that wine, it at least in part makes up for in layered density and sheer grip. Incidentally, this clearly blessed vineyard parcel lies between one of the two owned by Fevre and La Moutonne. Vincent Dauvissat (whose father Renee’s name has been removed from that of the domaine, a fact I neglected to reflect in my Issue 179 coverage) harvested between September 11 and 21 a crop entirely in keeping with his estate’s awesome track record. But things were not looking good, he says, until the north wind arrived to banish incipient botrytis and permit felicitous, healthy concentration. Hail trimmed some of his crop of generic Chablis and Vaillons, but left the foliage unscathed, he reports, so that fruit maturation was not retarded. The premier crus came in at not much over 12% natural alcohol and were lightly chaptalized, more to extend their fermentations, insists Dauvissat, than to boost body. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802 (Under the “Dauvissat-Camus” label, certain of these wines are also imported by Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; tel. (781) 352-1100.)