Chablis

From the importer: Defaix’s “Côte de Lechet” is a master class in mineral precision. This remarkably steep site (a 45% gradient) with very poor soil produces a wine that Danny describes as embodying “the real, true mineral expression of Chablis.” Freshly blasted chalk dominates the nose, with notes of lemon, honey, and fresh herbs lurking underneath; still, this is a wine of minerality first and foremost. The family owns a 3.5-hectare parcel of 45-year-old vines in this distinctive cru, most of which are planted within a parcel known as the Clos des Moines.

From a parcelof less than an acre. This Montmains comes from the Butteaux part of the appellation, right in front of the village of Courgis. The vines are old, planted in the late 1950s.

96 Points! The 2023 Chablis 1er Cru La Forest is nothing short of superb in bottle and ranks among the year's most authoritative wines. A pure, marine-inflected opening—iodine, lemon peel and oyster liquor mingled with beeswax and dried apricot—precedes a concentrated yet tensile palate of taut muscularity. Bright acidity and abundant chalky extract lend the wine a bracing, kinetic edge, culminating in an intensely saline, persistent finish. Dauvissat here once again affirms its status as one of the site's greatest interpreters. - Kristaps Karklins, robertparker.com

92 Points! The 2023 Chablis—sourced chiefly from vineyard parcels that border La Forest—continues to distinguish itself as one of the finest examples in its category. Its bouquet weaves together citrus oils, pear and white peach. The medium- to full-bodied palate is ample and textural, displaying considerable depth and energy that persist through to a long, sapid finish. While it can—and undoubtedly will—be approached young, it possesses all the prerequisites for graceful evolution, bearing in mind that a wine’s longevity depends not on the vineyard-site name alone but on the way it is worked and made. - Kristaps Karklins, robertparker.com

97+ Points! An example of purity and stony tension, Vincent Dauvissat’s 2022 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses is the crowning achievement of an extraordinary portfolio. With an understated Chablisien character, it opens in the glass to reveal a marine bouquet of oyster shell and iodine mingling with lemon zest and white flowers. Refined and laden with incisive acids, an abundance of chalky structuring extract and with a persistent, searingly saline finish, it is more ethereal and elegant than Les Clos yet possesses all the prerequisites to age as gracefully. - Kristaps Karklins, robertparker.com

97 Points! A cuvée I would never bet against, Vincent Dauvissat’s 2022 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos is generously structured and leaps from the glass with a bouquet of kaleidoscopic complexity, featuring notes of white peach, beeswax and lemon oil blending with marine flavors. Multidimensional and concentrated, it is supported by racy acidity and concludes with a long, chalky finish. At present, it is more fruit-forward and muscular than Les Preuses but not at the expense of the tension and chalky extract one expects from it. Which will ultimately prevail is open to interpretation, so at this early stage, I'll refrain from premature coronation. - Kristaps Karklins, robertparker.com

With vintage 2022, the label name changed from L'Incontournable to Grande Chaume. This always comes from five acres in the lieu-dit of Grande Chaume bordering the 1er cru of Les Fourneaux, facing south-southwest. Roughly one-third of this is raised in one to three-year-old Burgundy barrels, the rest in steel.

98 Points! The 2020 les Clos from Monsieur Dauvissat is every bit as brilliant as the les Preuses. The nose soars from the glass in a blend of apple, pear, lime zest, a stunning base of flinty, chalky, wet stone minerality and oyster shell, vanillin oak and a topnote of fruit blossoms. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off a gorgeous core of fruit, but the real beauty here is in the stunningly complex base of minerality, coupled with vibrant acids, impeccable focus and grip and a very, very long, dancing and seamlessly balanced finish. - John Gilman, View From The Cellar

The wine ferments in stainless steel tanks. Native yeast. The wine is then matured on fine lees until bottling in the following June. No malolactic fermentation.

From Les Lys, Montmains and Vaudevey. The grapes are farmed organically. Juice purchased at the time of pressing, so fermentation, aging and all besides vineyard work is under their watch. Fermented in barrel with native yeast. Aged for 18 months on the lees using integral fermentation (in a sealed barrel with no fining or filtration).

The old Chardonnay vines that make up this delicious Chablis come from the family of Romain’s mother, Dominique. Located on a south-east facing hillside above the tiny town of Villy, Dominique’s family planted these vines in 1932, and has been making wine here for just on 90 years. It is a “chunky” vineyard composed of primarily Portlandian limestone with less clay than is found elsewhere in Chablis. The sun exposure of the vineyard is excellent, while the planting is dense with 6,000 vines per hectare that are maintained by massal selection and manual cultivation. Hand picked fruit, gentle pneumatic pressing, 100% native yeast and raised in INOX tanks with 12 months aging. The wine offers scents of pear and lemongrass, while the palate suggests delicate hazelnut and nutmeg with an iodized maritime quality and fresh mineral acidity that accompany its persistent finish.

92-94 Points! The 2021 Chablis Le Bas de Chapelot comes across quite closed on the nose, though Edouard Vocoret mentioned how this cuvée has closed down at the time of my visit. The palate is complex with touches of apricot and white peach, plenty of minerals and flint, focused with a long tail on the finish. This is apparently mercurial during its barrel maturation but this bodes well. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media