2012 Chablis Les Vaillons 1er Cru

Like a number of his colleagues in Chablis, estate manager Matthieu Mangenot noted the very narrow window for harvesting ripe, reasonably healthy fruit in 2013."We picked during the first ten days of October," he told me, "as the maturity came very late, and the grapes quickly changed color following the rains on October 5 and 6."Potential alcohol levels were sound (typically between 12.2% and 13%, although the Moutonne was 13.8%), and Mangenot described the young '13s as "in the category of 2012 and 2010, with a good combination of acidity and richness."July and August were hot but a cooling-down at the end of August protected the acidity, unlike in 2009, when acidity levels plunged during the same period.Grape sugars were actually slightly lower here in 2012 than in '13--in the 12% to 12.5% range--and the wines were lightly chaptalized.But Mangenot reported that the earlier vintage brought "the best fruit I've vinified to date, with no sorting needed."His first harvest here was 2007. Also recommended:2013 Chablis (85-86).

Estate manager Matthieu Mangenot describes the 2012s as "opulent and charming wines."In comparison, he told me, the 2011s are "more austere and less open, with perhaps more class."Two thousand eleven, he added, was an early-harvest vintage with the characteristics of a later year."It was necessary to pick quickly at the beginning of September [he started on September 1] because the vegetative cycle was over and acidity levels were starting to fall."Yields here averaged a low 35 hectoliters per hectare in 2012 owing to a bit of frost damage on April 17 and considerable millerandage and coulure during the flowering.In fact, noted Mangenot, the flowering was very uneven and long, lasting from June 8 through 25.Then a month of hot, dry weather beginning in early August even resulted in a blockage of maturity in some sites."We had Clos and some of our Vaucoupin at 13.5% potential alcohol, while our Blanchots was still at 10.5% on the same day.It was a nightmare harvest that required us to pick one morsel at a time."Acidity levels in the post-malo '12s are in the 4.1 to 4.3 grams-per-liter range, compared to 3.85 to 4.0 in the 2011s.Mangenot told me he did less work with the lees than usual in 2012 as the wines did not need more richness.All the wines I tasted at Long-Depaquit in early June were domain bottlings. (Numerous importers, including Albert Bichot USA BNP Distributing Company, www.bnpdist.com; Maddalena Vineyard Brands, Los Angeles, CA)