2004 Chablis Vaudésir Grand Cru

Bernard Billaud was not alone among his Chablis colleagues in describing 2005 as a vintage with "remarkable richness of fruit." The wines, he said, have a bigger structure, and more ripeness, than the 2004s. Potential alcohols were 12.5% and higher (the finished grand crus are between 12.8% and 13%), and the wines were not chaptalized. "This vintage is like 2002 but with more fruit," he summarized. Acidity levels were roughly equal to those of the 2004s, in the range of 3.8 to 4.2 grams per liter. Billaud describes the earlier set of wines as "classy and classic, with suprisingly enveloping fat." Several of the 2005s were on their finings and were scheduled to be bottled a few days after my mid-September visit.

.Always one of my favorite sources for pure, minerally, elegant Chablis made in stainless steel, Billaud-Simon has produced a very precise set of 2004s."We can compare this vintage to 1998," Samuel Billaud told me."It possesses good minerality; the wines are strict and incisive and will be very good with time in bottle.But they are not big and enveloping wines."Billaud was one of several producers who told me that because he carried out a longer-than-average debourbage in 2004, the sugar fermentations were more difficult, as many of the wild yeasts that came in on the fruit were left behind during the settling of the juice prior to fermentation.The 2004 grand crus here will not be bottled until next May.Billaud told me that he was tempted to bottle the 2003s earlier than normal, in November of last year, but ultimately waited; the last of the grand crus were only bottled a few weeks before my visit.The 2003s clarified well, noted Billaud, and the crus were not filtered.Several of these wines are surprisingly fresh and minerally for the year.(Langdon-Shiverick, Cleveland, OH)