2015 Chablis Vaulorent 1er Cru

The plateau of Préhy was at the epicenter of the savage late-May hailstorm in 2016 and subscribers may recall my photo of the blasted landscape around the winery taken two weeks later. Overall production at Domaine Brocard was down a whopping 60% from normal and the estate had to suspend its organic farming practices in order to save some fruit in badly affected vineyards. The harvest was shorter than usual, taking place between September 26 and October 6, with the fruit coming in at 11% potential alcohol and up and some parcels barely ripe. All of the wines were chaptalized, according to winemaker Odile Van der Moere, who noted that the estate made “correct” yields of about 50 hectoliters per hectare in vineyards that were unaffected by frost and hail. She considers the 2016 “very digestible” and predicts that they will be mid-term agers. “Neither 2016 nor 2015 is my favorite vintage but the ‘15s will be crowd-pleasers and they will offer early drinkability,” she added. “But neither of these years has the same acidity, minerality or structure as 2014 or 2012.”

Tasting at this large domaine in Préhy just two weeks after the savage hailstorm of May 27 was a bittersweet experience. The 2014s I tasted here are among the finest wines Domaine Brocard has bottled to date, but the normally spectacular view of the vines from Brocard’s tasting room was dismal on a gloomy Saturday morning. In early June, the room’s picture windows normally open on a sea of green stretching to the horizon but the scene this year looked like nuclear winter, with the vines as stripped bare of fruit and vegetation as they normally are in December. Jean-Marc Brocard told me that the estate has already suffered massive crop losses, especially in its village holdings, with 120 of its 200 hectares of vines more or less knocked out of action for 2016—and with effects lingering into 2017. “The ancient growers are already calling 2016 ‘a year of nothing’,” said Julien Brocard.

Production here was also reduced by hail in 2015, but in this case the storm took place just a few days before the harvest. As a result, said Julien Brocard, the family started picking five days earlier than they had anticipated, beginning with Les Clos, Montmain and Montée de Tonnerre. “The leaves were affected but not the fruit,” he told me, adding that the hail reduced potential alcohol levels in the fruit but did not have much impact on acidity. “We thought we were being forced to harvest the hailed-on vineyards too early, but we liked the balance of the wines after the fermentations. The vintage has a tendency to be too round, but the freshness of the wines from early-picked grapes came back after a few months of aging on the lees, and the wines are not at all heavy.” Acidity levels are in the range of 3.8 to 4.2 grams per liter, and yields were “correct,” according to Brocard, at 40 to 60 hectoliters per hectare. “The 2015s should be agreeable young but they also have the stuffing to age.”

Brocard describes 2014 as “a superb vintage for long aging: the wines are harmonious, concentrated and structured. All of the terroirs reveal themselves clearly.“ He went on: “The 2014s are more elegant than the more minerally 2012s and they should also last longer on their balance.” Potential alcohol levels in 2014 were in the 12% to 12.5% range, and acidity levels in the finished wines around 4.3 to 4.4 grams per liter.