2012 Chablis Les Preuses

A massive, powerful wine, the 2012 Chablis Les Preuses boasts serious depth and richness, yet remains incredibly tight and unexpressive. It clearly has great concentration of fruit allied to equally imposing structure. Today the Preuses is showing just the barest hint of its full potential. Bright, saline infused notes intermingled with floral scents, graphite and citrus leave a lasting impression that won't go away anytime soon.

Around one third of Servin’s 2012 Chablis Preuses spent time in old barrels, though for many years this wine – like its Blanchots counterpart – saw only tank, and in one recent vintage there was a higher percentage of barrel. The common denominator since 2010, though, stems from what cellarmaster Marc Cameron terms the “revelation” in that vintage of having delayed bottling until after the second winter. Ripe Rainier cherry and pear along with scallop make for a hauntingly lovely nose, and these flavors acquire electrically-charged animation and counterpoint on the silken palate thanks to piquancy of cherry pit and pear pip along with bright fresh lemon and lime. Assuming this long-finishing grand cru picks up more palate richness en route to bottling, my rating will seem – as I intended – conservative, and this ought in any case to perform impressively through at least 2020. The Domaine Servin continues going from strength-to-strength, fine-tuning their methodology (consult especially my account in Issue 186 for more on this) and adding to their range (with two new premier crus plus additional Montee des Tonnerre and generic acreage having come on line with 2012). Australian-born, long-time cellarmaster Marc Cameron expresses a decided preference for 2012 over 2011, considering the former more complex and with better-developed phenolics, though he readily credits the 2011s with greater early harmony. Cameron tends to settle his musts thoroughly and often fines them with bentonite (supplemented by enzymes), a precaution he says was especially useful in 2012 to mitigate the influence of any “mushy” berries. “This approach,” he adds, “also gives us the chance to work more freely and extensively with the lees,” a factor notable for its positive influence in recent Servin wines, “and I don’t have to rack-off after malo because those lees are so clean.” For the most part, premier crus here – and also the Blanchots – are raised in tank while the other grand crus and the Vieilles Vignes Selection Massale spend some time in older barrel. With the exception of the two wines then already in bottle, none of the 2012s I tasted were expected to be bottled before next spring – later bottling having become not just a trend but something of a mantra at this estate – so my numerical ratings allow for this as explained in the general introduction to this report. Apropos the performance of Servin’s two wines from Pargues – which makes up more than half the estate’s acreage, situated on the long ridge that runs from Prehy to Chablis, none of which is classed as premier cru – I can’t resist sarcastically suggesting how happy consumers must feel knowing that French wine law protects them from seeing this name on a label of Chablis (except on one U.S. “back label”) not to mention from witnessing an official upgrade of the site. (Incidentally, Bernard Raveneau possesses a remarkable, color-coded, pre-A.O.C. vineyard map that belonged to his grandfather on which the superiority of Pargues to many of today’s premier crus is vividly alleged.) Imported by Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800

(done half in tank and half in barrels, none new): Pale green-tinged yellow. Sexy oak spices lift but do not overwhelm aromas of white flowers, pungent herbs, mint and pepper. Silky and rich but dry and quite closed today; much more backward than the Blanchots, with stone fruit flavors in the deep background. Nicely glyceral wine with a persistent, mounting, very dry finish.