2015 Chablis Les Vaudevey 1er Cru

Technical Director Grégory Viennois is high on the 2016 vintage, describing it as a “classic, pure, well-balanced vintage with pure fruit—not at all like 2013. It’s in the line of 2014 and 2012 and even 1996: dry, strict and vertical.” He was initially worried about the health of the lees but finds the wines a pleasant surprise today. In terms of harvest dates, 2016 can be compared to 2014, he told me. The estate began picking on September 26 and finished on October 4, speeding up the harvest due to botrytis, the seeds of which had been planted, he noted, during the very humid spring. (He removed the lees on the north side of the vines in early July to get better aeration.) “The late season made the vintage, as in 2014,” he summarized, adding that the hot, dry August led to very dry soils in September.

Potential alcohol levels in the village holdings were 11.5% to 12% in ‘16, but more like 12% to 12.2% for the premier and grand crus. Not everything was chaptalized, “and then only lightly,” he noted, adding that the vintage has a good natural balance. Acidity levels are now in the range of 4 to 4.2 grams per liter, a touch higher than in 2015.

Incidentally, this estate is using the “white lees” as a natural fining agent, “like the oldtimers did,” noted Viennois, and will be moving in the direction of lighter filtration when it comes time to bottle the ‘16s.

Viennois noted that the 2015s are “more strict and closed than we expected—it's not an overripe vintage.” The wines gained in precision toward the end of their élevage but Viennois considers them to be closed today—“and not currently joyful”—owing to the effect of nitrogen during the bottling. He compared the young 2015s to the 2005s in their skin influence and believes that the wines will need at least three years of cellaring. “If they age, it will be more on dry extract than on acidity,” he asserted. “The 2005s are beautiful today but it’s more a vintage of concentration than minerality.”

Domaine Laroche started harvesting on September 2, right after the hailstorm, but Technical Director Grégory Viennois noted that the grapes were ripe and that the estate had originally decided to begin on the 3rd. “It was a warm year but without stress thanks to well-timed rainfall,” he told me. “Yields were higher than in 2014 but not huge. We decided to pick _al dente _in 2015, to retain acidity. The skins were thick but not green and had a lot of tannins, phenolic material and dry extract. But the pulp was also very ripe and aromatic. “ The post-malo acidity levels range from 4. 0 to 4.3 without acidification (or any blocked malolactic fermentation) and Laroche did not chaptalize in 2015. The wines are generally around 12.5% alcohol, but more like 12.8% for the Clos.

Production levels in 2014 ranged from 29 to 35 hectoliters per hectare, but just 24 or 25 for the grand crus. “Two thousand fourteen is a very classic, aristocratic vintage,” said Viennois, “and likely to be as long-lived as 1996. Two thousand ten is better balanced but less ripe and precise. There is no perfection but 2014 was close.” He went on: “We took a full two weeks to harvest and we picked slowly.” He noted that the period of rain in the middle of the harvest helped the grape skins ripen and soften in Montmains, Homme Mort and Les Clos; before the precipitation, he added, “we had a lot of tannins and phenolics.”