2009 Francis Boulard Les Rachais Brut Nature

From mass selected Chardonnay vines the spontaneously oak-fermented pale golden 2009 Les Rachais Brut Nature Millésimé initially seems a paradigm for a Blanc de Blancs that is more fruit-driven than characterized by its long lees contact. In case you are, besides me, the other person on planet wine who gives Champagne the chance to develop in the opened bottle for two days, you will get a completely other impression, so I have to describe two wines from only one bottle. The first one was opened and tasted straight afterwards: Fully ripe and truly aromatic (unfined and unfiltered) Chardonnay flavors dominate the nose which is enriched by some spicy vanilla flavors from the vinification in oak. However, this does not lead to an expectable rich and creamy textured wine but a very pure and bone dry Champagne of great elegance, finesse and mineral persistency. This is not the art of making wine like a perfume but of handcrafting a vintner's wine with the finest fizz. It is very different to all those big names and maybe lacks the charm and finesse of so many Champagnes, especially in context with those. On the other hand this is truly fascinating wine not from Chablis but from Champagne, and the natural connection of both areas has seldom shone through so significantly. Is this a hipster Champagne? I would not say so because it is not that exclusive. It is a Champagne for open-minded freaks. Very long in the finish and, now, after so many minutes in the glass, lovely and creamy. |I came back to the same bottle two days later and the wine was still very pure (but not austere) and had evolved a salty-chalky, Sherry (Manzanilla)-like flavor which was now married with subtle and bright grape aromas and a noble minerality. The palate was pure, light and very mineral but also aromatic in a very subtle way whereas the iodine finish reminded me of the Jura wines from JF Ganevat as well as of Sherries again. There is just one obstacle the wine has to overcome and that's the patience it currently demands. This is a very pure, highly individual and refined terroir-Champagne that is still on its way and has a great chance to deserve a even better score in two or three years. Disgorged on April 18, 2014 with no dosage. Anticipated aging potential: 2015 until 2023. eRobertParker.com.November, 2014