2006 Chablis Les Vaillons 1er Cru

Agronomist Matthieu Mangenot, who took over as regisseur here last July, told me he started harvesting on September 6 but waited a bit longer before bringing in the grand crus on September 12 and 13 (all of vines here are harvested by hand except for part of the village holdings, he noted). He did a very long pressing followed by a settling of the must lasting as long as 24 hours in order to keep the cleanest juice possible, making extensive use of a blend of carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas in place of much of the sulfur dioxide. About 10% to 15% of the premier crus are aged in barrels, and up to 25% for the grand crus, but very little new oak is used, and the wines, except for the monopole La Moutonne, were in stainless steel by the time I tasted them at the end of May. Mangenot told me he was still doing some lees stirring in the tanks-more than this estate has done in recent years. On this occasion at least, I found the 2007s here to be both more dense and more focused than the '06s, which, with a couple of exceptions, have not delivered on their early promise.

After sharply upgrading the Chablis offerings of this large estate in three short vintages ('04, '05 and '06), winemaker Jean Didier-Basch left the wine business earlier this year after coming into an inheritance. It remains to be seen how Long-Depaquit, owned by the Bichot family, will cope, but for the moment they have replaced Didier-Basch with the team of vineyard manager Olivier Deboudt, chief winemaker Alain Serveau and new regisseur Matthieu Mangenot, who was scheduled to come on board in July. Bichot cellarmaster Philippe Seguin, who consults here, described the 2006s as "fine and delicate wines with less structure than '05, a bit higher in acidity but also higher in pH." The crop level in 2006 was actually lower than that of 2005-about 40 hectoliters per hectare in the grand crus-due in part to some coulure during flowering. As a rule, 15% to 25% of the grand crus are done in barrel, but just 2% to 4% new oak is used. Incidentally, Long-Depaquit pulled out its virused vines in Montee de Tonnerre after the 2004 vintage and replanted them earlier this year. (Numerous importers, including Atherton Wine Imports, Atherton, CA) Previously recommended: 2005 Chablis (88).