2013 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru

Dauvissat described 2014 as a vintage with excellent acidity and no blockage of maturity during the warm, dry September weather leading up to the harvest. He chaptalized barely 0.2%, he told me, and that was mostly to balance the wine's strong acidity.

The 2013s here, which I liked very much a year ago from the barrel, have turned out well, showing good ripeness and healthy levels of acidity. "The surprise is the elegance of aromas despite the problems we had with the harvest," Dauvissat noted. His 2013 Clos may be the wine of the vintage.

According to Vincent Dauvissat, 2013 is all about timing. Pick a day early and the fruit was under ripe, wait a day too long and the fruit was overripe. Today, the 2013s are quite open relative to the norm here. Whereas in 2012 some of the 1er Crus are stunning, in 2013s it is the Grand Crus where one really sees a significant step up in quality within the range. Dauvissat fans will note the addition of a new wine from Montée de Tonnerre, a significant change, to say the least. The 2012s in bottle are every bit as exciting as they were from barrel. In short, readers who can find these wines should not hesitate, as they are truly magnificent. As is often the case, my most recent visit ended with a few wines served blind. The last wine of the day was utterly spellbinding. It was also a poignant reminder of why we cellar Chablis in the first place. The wine: Dauvissat's 1996 Petit Chablis. No, that is not a misprint. How was it? Still fresh, vivid and exceptional to a degree only those in the cellar who tasted it with me would ever believe.

Not surprisingly, Vincent Dauvissat has crafted some of the finest wines of the 2013 vintage, with his grand crus in particular spectacular for the year. He picked from September 28 until October 6, he told me, bringing in fruit with potential alcohol of 13% and up. The post-malo wines have healthy acid levels in the 4 to 4.5 grams per liter range. Dauvissat's finished 2012s are also splendid. "It's a classic vintage that shows terroir clearly, and the fruit was cleaner than that of 2013," he said, adding that alcohol and acidity levels were "not huge" in 2012 and that yields were low: down 40% on average for his crus. He also finds the wines rather open today (he does a gentle bottling by gravity) and describes the young 2013s as "more minerally."