2008 Chablis Saint Pierre

It's as if Sebastien Dauvissat exists in his own microclimate, as his wines rarely seem to track their vintages. Dauvissat describes his 2009s as very minerally vins de garde that will require patience; he likened them to his 1999. In comparison, he went on, the 2008s are fruity and agreeable, "a bit like the 1998s." Dauvissat is never in a rush to commercialize, or to drink, his wines. At any given time, he's offering magnums of eight- or nine-year-old wines to his private clients, and he told me he won't start opening his 2002s for a few years. When I mentioned to him the issue of premature oxidation of some 2002 white Burgundies he assured me that his wines were still fresh. By the way, Dauvissat has stopped doing a first, earlier bottling for his premier crus.

I asked Sebastien Dauvissat why he now calls his operation "Caves" rather than "Domaine," wondering whether he had started to supplement his production with purchased fruit. It turns out that he felt everyone uses "Domaine" and he just wanted to be different. Dauvissat also had his own take on the 2008 vintage in Chablis, describing the wines as very perfumed. "We haven't had floral aromas like this since 2003," he told me, adding that "our acidity is softened by the buffering extract provided by our older vines." Although he finds the 2008s "more agreeable today" than the 2007s, he considers the earlier set of wines to be more refreshing. Dauvissat did a more serious debourbage in 2008 due to a bit of rot, then had to warm the cellars to get the malos to finish in March due to the very cold winter. Dauvissat bottles at his own pace: with a couple of exceptions, the 2007s won't be finished until this July. And I noticed that he's currently offering '99 magnums to visitors to the estate-a good indication that he believes his wines evolve in bottle at a leisurely pace. I asked Dauvissat which vintages he's currently drinking at home and he mentioned the 1989 Preuses. "I don't drink young wines except in my work," he told me, before showing me two penetrating and stunningly fresh examples of his 1996 Vaillons, first from a regular bottle and then from a jeroboam.