2014 Chablis Fourchaume Héritage 1er Cru

As this estate’s vineyards were out of the hail zone in 2015, the harvest did not begin until September 7. According to export manager Margaux Laroche, the estate then stopped for several days and then finished up on the 17th. Nothing was chaptalized in 2015 and the wines will be bottled with alcohol around 13.5%, according to winemaker Thibaud Baudin, who noted that the alcoholic fermentations were very slow in 2015 due to the high sugar levels in the grapes. The malos, on the other hand, were very early but all of the wines were still on their lees at the time of my visit in early June. The estate plans to bottle its top wines in December.

According to Margaux Laroche, “2014 is a beautiful vintage for Chablis lovers and is Michel’s favorite due to its high level of acidity and real concentration of flavor. “ Alcohol levels range between 12.2% and 13.1%, without chaptalization. The pressing was very gentle in 2014 in order to avoid getting any grassy or vegetal notes, but stronger in 2015.

Incidentally, Laroche has her work cut out for her as export manager, as production here is rising sharply as Michel Laroche’s vineyards revert back to him following his sale of Domaine Laroche to the Languedoc-based négociant Jean in late 2009. Production in vintage 2013 was just 30,000 bottles but will rise to 120,000 in 2015, and by 2019 this estate will have control of 22 hectares of vines.

Still far too vigorous to retire, Michel Laroche undertook this new operation (2012 was the first vintage) with his family as soon as he got back vineyards following the sale of Domaine Laroche to the Languedoc-based négociant Jeanjean in late 2009. He began with 8 hectares and now has 18.5, the youngest of which is 30 years old. Laroche made four wines in 2012, including three levels of quality in Fourchaume, the top one, called "Heritage," coming from "pre-clones" planted between 75 and 80 years ago. There was also a Vieilles Vignes bottling from two hectares of vines planted in 1970, with the rest of the fruit going into a regular Fourchaume. His aim at his new operation, based in a new winery on the outskirts of Chablis, is to make his two top wines "with energy and tension: not wines for drinking tomorrow."

In 2013, he picked his "regular" Fourchaume vines before the damaging early-October rains, "but the rest rotted totally within two days," and he decided not to bottle either the Vieilles Vignes or the Heritage. A few of the 2014s had not yet finished their malolactic fermentations at the time of my visit at the begininning of June, but Laroche was quite high on this vintage, as he believes the grapes offered a unique combination of acidity, sugar and flavor intensity. Laroche vinifies with native yeasts, using a pied de cuve to start the fermentations.

Incidentally, Laroche was downright heroic to make our appointment. He had just returned from Peru the previous day after spending a week in the hospital. Visiting Lake Titicaca, he flew off his motorcycle and did a face-plant on a stone road. While his helmet probably saved his life, it did not quite protect the middle of his face and he suffered a broken nose and some lost teeth.