2010 Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru

Sebastien Dauvissat is never in a rush to bottle or release his wines, so the finished wines he showed me in early June were mostly his 2010s, which he bottled as late as December of 2012.As to vintage 2012, Dauvissat waited until September 29 to start harvesting, then picked in five days."There was a lot of mildew pressure in 2012, but we were saved by a hot, dry August," he told me.He benefited by harvesting in cool weather and said that the grapes maintained good freshness.Dauvissat compared the young 2012s, which finished their malos and were racked in February, to his 2002s in their combination of fruit, flowers and minerality."The wines will be expressive and enjoyable early but will last," he predicted.By the way, Dauvissat noted that 2005 was the first year in which he did not chaptalize; for him, that's when climate change became obvious.

Sebastien Dauvissat describes 2010 as a lighter vintage, along the lines of 2000, that yielded less structured wines than 2011, reflecting an unusual, contrarian opinion in how these two vintages are viewed by the producers. But then again, that is what keeps things interesting. In 2011 Dauvissat began harvesting on September 3, As is his custom, Dauvissat warmed the cellar in December to encourage a quick start and finish to the malolactic fermentations. By comparison, the 2010s were brought in quite a bit later, beginning on September 20. Dauvissat is among the last to bottle some of his wines. I tasted a handful of 2010s that were to be bottled in October and November of this year.

Sebastien Dauvissat is among the growers who prefer steel over oak for the vast majority of his wines. He also ages the wines for two years before bottling, which means he had not yet bottled most of his 2009s at the time of my visit in June, 2011. The 2010 harvest began on September 25th, a bit on the early side relative to the rest of the village. The approach to oak and aging on the lees varies with respect to the year. For example, in 2009, Dauvissat kept the fine lees, but in 2010 he did not. This is one estate I visited where the 2009s appear to have better overall balance than the 2010s, many of which come across as quite round for the vintage. Those wines still have time to come together, and it will be interesting to see how they mature over the next year.

Sebastien Dauvissat started harvesting on the early side in 2010 (September 20), as coulure cut the crop 20% to 30%, with yields in Vaillons and Les Preuses most affected. "I was ready with the sugar but really didn''t need much," he told me. Potential alcohol levels ranged from 12.2% to 13.2%, and the Preuses was not chaptalized at all. Dauvissat described the young 2010s as "minerally but not hard." He compared the vintage to the 2004s. "The wines have a similar green color, but they're a bit richer than the ''04s. In comparison, the 2008s are riper and more supple. And the 2009s are like the 2002s: balanced to drink early or to cellar." The 2010 malos finished on the late side, in February, and Dauvissat did not expect to begin bottling the wines until January of 2012.