2011 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru

This is a beautiful set of wines from Christian and Fabien Moreau. Vintage 2012 presented its share of challenges at this small family run domaine. The spring and early summer were marked by quite a bit of rain, which created significant disease pressure. The flowering was protracted by rain and took an entire month, as opposed to a more normal time of about six days. August brought significant heat, but rain in September, specifically on the 14th and 20th was a help. The harvest started on the 26th. Yields are down dramatically, ranging from -35% in Vaillons to -45% in Valmur and -50% in Vaudesir.

Following an extremely dry period lasting from August 8 to mid-September of 2012, the 20 millimeters of rain that fell on September 17 were critical to adding juice to the small grapes, noted Christian Moreau.The Moreaus started harvesting on September 26, after another 40 millimeters of rain fell on the 23rd and 24th."It was the first year since 2002 that we decided we had to wait, as the flavors were still green," added winemaker Fabien Moreau."After the second rainy period, we had similar grape sugars, a bit less acidity, but sharper flavors," he added.Moreau did a very gentle pressing to avoid releasing the potassium in the grape skins, which would have raised pHs.Acidity levels in the wines following the malolactic fermentations are in the healthy 3.9 to 4.4 range.Crop levels in 2012 were off between 30% and 40% in the family's grand cru holdings.

There are a handful of famous producers in Chablis, and a larger number of emerging estates, but the few wineries are as overlooked as Christian Moreau. This is one of the few domaines where I preferred the 2011s to the 2010s. The 2011s have notable freshness and energy, while the 2010s are at times a bit on the heavy side. Perhaps it is a question of harvest dates or the conversion to biodynamic farming that was in its second year in 2011, or a combination of other factors, but it is pretty clear the 2011s have the upper hand when tasted next to the 2010s. The 2011 harvest started on September 2, a good two weeks earlier than 2010. Some of the wines were chaptalized by half a percent. Total acidities were in the 4.5-5% range, which Moreau reports as being similar to 2010. The 2011 Chablis was bottled the first week of June. I tasted the rest of the 2011s from tank or barrel. The 2010s were harvested beginning on September 16th. These are decidedly rich, large-scaled wines endowed with considerable concentration. Yields were down 30-50% because of hail and poor flowering, and that has marked the wines to a significant degree. Wines will appeal to drinkers that like richer wines. Overall, I have a slight preference for the 2011s, which are less bombastic than the 2010s.

Fabien Moreau, who was hobbling around on crutches after injuring his ankle in a tennis tournament just a few days before my visit, told me that some Chablis growers rushed to pick during the first days of September '11, as the weather forecast called for a lot of rain between the 4th and the 6th.But in the end there was only precipitation on the 6th.The Moreaus began on September 2 and didn't finish until the 13th, bringing in fruit with lowish sugars (generally between 11.8% and 12.5%) and no more acidity than in 2010.Interestingly, Moreau compared the young 2011s to the 2008s and 2002s.In comparison, the 2010s are "getting more powerful.They're less strict than the 2008s but have more concentration and structure," he went on."With yields down by 30% to 50% from the flowering, we had a real concentration, and that gave the wines a better natural balance.In 2008, the concentration was from the wind."Thanks to their sorting table and long pressing, the Moreaus begin with little in the way of heavy lees, and keep only the finest lees following the end of the alcoholic fermentations.