2014 Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru

Despite the hailstorm and significant rainfall in the early morning hours of September 1, the grapes were very healthy and ripe in 2015--12% potential alcohol for the village wines and 12.2% to 12.5% for the crus--said Sébastien Dauvissat, who started picking on the 3rd and finished on the 9th. "Twelve percent potential alcohol in our grapes is exceptional," he told me, adding that he did not chaptalize or acidify the '15s and that the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations were all finished by the end of December.

Two thousand fourteen was a superb year at this estate, with modest crop levels by Chablis standards. In fact, Dauvissat described his average yield of 45 hectoliters per hectare as "more like the Côte d'Or." Dauvissat's 2014 crus had not yet been bottled in early June but I have broken my rule and published updated notes on these wines.

Sébastien Dauvissat harvested between September 15 and 20 in 2014, bringing in his fruit with potential alcohol between 12% and 12.5%. Following tumultuous alcoholic fermentations (he did not chaptalize), he had to heat the cellar in December to encourage the malolactic fermentations to take place and he racked the wines in March. He told me that he did not keep as much of the lees in 2014 because "the wines were already so fresh." Dauvissat plans to bottle all of the 2014s before the 2015 harvest as he's out of 2013s. He described the young 14s as less fruity and more minerally than the '12s, but added that "the fruity years like 2012 are more likely to shut down in the bottle."

Dauvissat picked in 2013 during what he called "the best window" (from September 29 through October 3), noting that his vines were more touched by oidium than by rot, and that the oidium "concentrated the grapes without adding off-tastes. Also, having oidium forestalls rot." Dauvissat noted that the '13s show a petrolly mineral component.