2006 Chablis Les Blanchots Grand Cru

Winemaker Denis de la Bourdonnaye told me that Laroche began harvesting its domain vines in 2007 on September 12, bringing in fruit with potential alcohol between 11.6% and 12% at the premier cru level (or about a degree lower than in 2006). "But the grapes were completely mature, and we did not chaptalize," he explained. "It was necessary to do a long settling of the must, a full 48 hours. After the first day, the must was clear but in the mouth there was still a phenolic dryness; the must was not dirty but it wasn't elegant either. We needed to add nutrients to help the yeasts do their work. We then kept the fine lees and did a lot of batonnage. The wines today are very clean but not especially rich." De la Bourdonnaye describes the 2006s as fresh and tender wines from a warm year. "But these wines are much easier to drink than the 2005s," he added, "and the 2007s will probably have more aging potential." He was reluctant to show a couple of his young 2007s, as the crus had not yet been blended and some wines were about to get a passage in oak. "We use a bit of barrel at the end to enlarge the wines' aromatic palate," he explained. "We age our wines on their fine lees, and we're now giving them more oxygen before they're bottled, because we use screwcaps and we want to avoid reduction."