2006 Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru

Jean-Marie Guffens, always quotable, told me there were two ways to ruin the 2006 harvest in Chablis. "You could pick before the 17th, or you could start on the 18th," he said. He began on the 17th and picked quickly in good weather conditions. (Although Verget is a negociant operation with a huge number of bottlings from the Maconnais, Cote de Beaune and Chablis, Guffens purchases fruit rather than must and does most of the harvesting with his own team.) Alcohol levels in the Verget '06s typically range from 12.5% to 13.5%, but at 13.5% the wines are "almost undrinkable," says Guffens, owing to the low acidity of the vintage. In order to make vibrant wines with maximum Chablis character, Guffens sold off nearly 20% of his premier cru juice, most of it press wine with acidity levels that Guffens considered dangerously low. Incidentally, due to a complicated dispute with the local authorities, Guffens did not make Chablis in 2005. He sold his winery in the village to Latour in 2005 (he had bought out ex-partner Olivier Leflaive's share of this facility just a year earlier). Guffens pressed the 2006 fruit in Chablis, and then brought the juice down to the Verget winery in the Maconnais. (A Peter Vezan Selection; importers include The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; and Ideal Wines, Medford, MA)