2006 Chablis Vieilles Vignes

Tasting unfinished wines here can be a challenge, as Didier Picq makes a number of village cuvees and does not automatically assemble them the same way in each vintage. What was clear at the end of May, however, is that Picq has made some wonderfully complex and subtle 2006s-wines with impressive breadth and length. He told me he bottled a lot of wine in magnums, and regrets not having done this in past very strong years like 1992. The young 2007s, from a season in which Picq's vineyards were constantly in the path of hail storms (he told me that 18 of his 20 parcels were hit by hail at one point or another), were in a distinctly exotic style.

Although he's in the minority in Chablis, Didier Picq clearly prefers 2006 to 2005. "There was more material in 2006, even if the grape sugars and acidity levels were similar to those of 2005," he told me. "The wines are fatter and finer, both ripe and minerally." Picq used all wild yeasts for the first time in 2006. The fermentations lasted up to a full three months, which he believes provided a "natural batonnage" and gave the wines more finesse. All of the 2006s finished quite dry, at one gram or less per liter of residual sugar. As at a few other addresses, early tastings here are a bit complicated because there are multiple batches of village wine, and it's mix-and-match when it comes to bottling them. (Douglas Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY; SDG Selections, LLC, Durham, NC) Previously recommended: 2005 Chablis (87), 2005 Chablis Dessus La Carriere (89), 2005 Chablis Vieilles Vignes (90), 2005 Chablis Vosgros (89+?), 2005 Chablis Vaucoupin (91).