2004 Chablis

Sebastien Dauvissat describes 2005 as "a superb year, the first in a long time with no chaptalization." He believes the wines will be fresh and agreeable in their youth, but that the crus should really be laid down for seven or eight years. The vintage shows a lot of material, he added; in comparison, the 2004s are more fragile. Interestingly, he predicted that 2006 would share the same vintage profile as 2005. Only a portion of the 2005 village wine was in bottle by mid-September; the crus will be bottled in the spring of 2007.

.Sebastien Dauvissat described 2004 as a huge crop with a lot of oidium (he didn't even bother to pick the grapes in his most affected vines in Vaillons).He harvested at the beginning of October and believes he has made very well balanced wines with sound acidity, similar in style to the 2002s.Dauvissat bottled most of his 2003s in May of this year, but still had his old-vines Vaillons and Les Preuses in tank at the beginning of June.Dauvissat told me he did a bit of additional acidification after the malos in 2003 "by taste and by good conscience.The wines have strong material and can support it.I wanted to give them more of a chance to age."Dauvissat advised waiting at least five years before drinking his 2003 crus, and noted that the estate's 1947 Vaillons is still fresh.Indeed, most of Dauvissat's 2003s struck me as particularly impressive in the way they avoid exotic, overripe notes.Interestingly, Dauvissat maintained that the estate's practice of harvesting by machine worked to advantage in 2003.He could pick quickly without getting surmaturite, he told me, and the machine did not take many of the grilled, hard grapes.