2007 Chablis Domaine Sainte Claire

Reflecting soils around Courgis and Prehy, Brocard’s 2007 Chablis Domaine Sainte Claire offers black currant and grapefruit in the nose in a way that suggests Sauvignon, then comes to the palate a bit tart and brisk, with faint bitterness of black fruit skins and citrus zest but with a good underlying sense of stuffing, and carrying a satisfying juicy primary citrus fruit character and invigorating salinity into its penetrating finish. There are multiple lots of wine with this same name, of which the one I tasted was the last-bottled, in spring of 2009. Enologist Nadine Gublin (also of Domaine Jacques Prieur) is now heading the team here, although I can’t claim that any change in style was noticeable to me after only one vintage, a vintage that certainly inherently contributed to the less than forthcoming nature of many of these wines, as well as to greater irregularity in quality than those of 2006. I found myself less satisfied with this year’s grand cru bottlings as a group – after being puzzled by how several of the 2006s showed at a comparable stage, too – than I was with those of ostensibly lesser pedigree. A majority of the acreage controlled by Brocard is now being farmed biodynamically, and Julien Brocard suggests he may soon set some sort of record for surface area under such a regimen. Imported by: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400