2015 Chablis Les Preuses Grand Cru

Vincent Dauvissat started picking on September 26 with what he described as “good ripeness and not too much acidity.” Potential alcohol levels ranged from 12.5% to 13% and he did not chaptalize; the post-malo acidity levels in the grapes are under four grams per liter. When I asked Dauvissat if he had to rush to pick due to spreading botrytis, he replied that rot was not an issue and that he could harvest at his leisure in 2016. (He also noted that he did at least 15 vineyard treatments in 2016.)

But that was not at all the case in 2015. “It was crazy organizing the pickers after the hailstorm at 1:30 in the morning [on September 1].” In 2015, only his Vaillons and Preuses were spared from the hail, and he made just half of a normal crop overall.

Incidentally, the 2016s here are higher in alcohol than the 2015s, but the ‘15s have a bit more acidity—in fact, roughly equal to that of the ‘14s, according to Dauvissat, who told me he’d start drinking the ‘15s before the ‘16s. Still, he describes the '16s as fresh wines and the vintage as a classic year. “The only problem was the quantities,” he said. Overall, Dauvissat produced barely one-third of a normal crop in 2016.

Vincent Dauvissat told me that only his Vaillons and Preuses escaped the hail in 2015; he started picking on September 2. The wines all finished their alcoholic and malolactic fermentations by Christmas, "the earliest ever," he told me. He finds the 2015s very ripe, with higher-than-normal pHs. "But they also have plenty of minerality and they should age well," he added, "20 years without a problem for the grand crus."

Dauvissat's 2014s are actually a touch higher in alcohol (12.5% to 12.8%, with a bit of chaptalization) than his 2015s (around 12.5%, with no added sugar), but then, he added, "acid vintages can support more alcohol." These '14s boast uncanny density and penetration and should be long-lived. For his part, Dauvissat says '14 is "like a combination of the acidity of 2008 and the plenitude and maturity of 2002." That sounds to me like a recipe for greatness.