2005 Chablis Beauroy 1er Cru

This superb producer had just begun harvesting its grand cru Les Preuses on September 13, the day before my visit here, or five days before Maison Bouchard was set to begin its white wine harvest on the Cote de Beaune. While we tasted, the large team of pickers was attacking the Valmur (under the Henriot ownership, there are as many as 200 pickers, and many of them were scheduled to be trucked to Beaune to start harvesting on the 18th). Winemaker Didier Seguier, by all accounts making some of the most brilliant wines in Chablis in recent years, picked early and quickly in 2005, and was able mostly to avoid getting grapes with golden skins and rot problems. Rain at the end of August brought botrytis in some spots, reported Seguier, especially on vines that had been affected by hail in July. The result was some surmaturite, which raised grape sugars to 14% or even higher in some spots. Seguier describes 2005 as a vin de garde, with good acidity and no dilution. But the 2004s will have excellent ageability too, he added: "Due to the age of our vines, we didn't get a huge crop." Fevre's 2005 premier crus had been bottled at the time of my visit, but the house was just starting on its grand crus, and a few were not slated for bottling until November.