2004 Chablis Saint Martin

My tasting here of Chablis finished with screwcaps was a fascinating exercise: what a treat to taste wines in which cork has been totally eliminated as a source of aromatic impurity. Indeed, these wines are highly perfumed and complex but extremely subtle, without any dulling influence of cork. And one can see oak notes for what they are, rather than confusing them with resiny, vanilla or caramel character from corks. With the exception of the village Chablis, all the wines I tasted at Laroche are estate bottlings. Incidentally, visitors to the sleepy town of Chablis now have another serious attraction in the wine bar/retail store complex (with hotel rooms to be added shortly) that Laroche has opened in a carefully renovated old building in the center of town along the Serein River.

.Michel Laroche waited to get full ripeness in 2004, even at the cost of a bit of rot, and carried out a long debourbage to ensure that the fermentations began with clear juice.Laroche describes the new vintage as "very classic in character, very fresh and elegant but not fat."He noted that2004 was the first year in which all the malolactic fermentations were done; in 2003 Laroche blocked most of the malos and also added acidity.Incidentally, after giving his customers the choice of corks or screwcaps in recent vintages, Michel Laroche has made the decision to bottle entirely with screwcaps, a decision that I applaud.As in the past, I focused my attention on this large firm's estate bottlings.