2015 Chablis Vieilles Vignes
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2018 - 2023
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I tasted this year with Didier Picq’s brother Pascal, who is responsible for the vineyards at this family domain. The 2016 harvest here took place from September 26 through October 1. Overall production was down a sharp 70% as their home base of Chichée was hit both by the frost on April 27 and the hailstorm exactly one month later. (Their tiny amount of fruit from Dessus La Carrière went into their village cuvée.)
As is often the case at this address, the 2016s show some exotic fruit character and a couple of them were a bit aggressive and edgy on the finish, but Pascal Picq nonetheless described this vintage as more typical of Chablis than 2015. The earlier year produced a very rich set of wines—in some cases almost too opulent and buttery—that fermented for almost two months. They are lower in acidity than the ‘16s and probably best suited for enjoying relatively early.
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Didier Picq told me that 12 of his 14 hectares of vines were touched by hail or frost this spring, with about half of his vineyards unlikely to yield a crop in 2016. He noted that 1964 witnessed the last terrible frost in Chichée, "even damaging the masonry on our houses."
In 2015, in contrast, Picq's vineyards were untouched by hail and he harvested very ripe fruit quickly, between September 9 and 15. He noted that Vaucoupin and Vosgros were picked at the same time, even though Vosgros normally comes in a week later. Potential alcohol levels ranged from 12.5% to 13.8% and even the richest cuvées finished their alcoholic and malolactic fermentations by December, but the first racking was not done until February. Picq considers 2015 to be a unique vintage and believes that the wines will be easy to drink virtually upon release and will never really shut down. He told me he likes the zesty finishing bitterness of these wines, which he believes is produced by the vintage's combination of alcohol and minerality.
The 2014s, says Picq, possess "an extreme minerality." Chaptalization was necessary and acidity levels are brisk. Picq told me he has never made as many magnums as he did in 2014: between 250 and 600 of each cuvée, with many of them destined for his own cellar. That's the ultimate proof of his enthusiasm for the 2014 vintage.