2016 Chablis Terroir de Corgis

Patrick Piuze harvested relatively early in 2016, beginning on September 21 because he was afraid of losing acidity, explaining that the potassium levels in the vines had gone up during the substantial rainfall that month. He picked between 11.2% and 12.5% and chaptalized most of his '16s by 0.3 to 1 degree but told me he did not acidify his wines (acidity levels range from 3.2 grams per liter to 4.2). Most of his wines initially stopped fermenting with about seven grams per liter of residual sugar, then finished after going through malolactic fermentation.

As Piuze was able to find some new suppliers of fruit in 2016, his volume from the vintage is only down about 30% from normal. But he cautioned that there’s a rather wide range of styles in 2016, with picking dates making for drastic differences between producers. Still, he believes that his 2016s will age longer than his 2015s, which he describes as “a restaurant vintage” and which reminds him a bit of the 2009s. Nearly all of the 2016s were racked the week before my visit and were on their finings but not yet sulfured. A few wines, such as Les Roncières, Bougros Côte de Bouqueyreaux and Les Clos, had not yet finished their malolactic fermentations.