From purchased grapes grown in the portion of this site that abuts Les Clos, Brocard’s 2006 Chablis Valmur displays ripe pear aromas tinged with peat and wood smoke. Succulent pit and citrus fruit on the palate is shot through with chalky, saline, peaty suggestions, and a deep, long, rich, yet never weighty (and just faintly warm) finish continues to give equal and impressive billing to both the mineral and ripe, juicy fruit. This should be worth following for 6-8 years. Since my visit, Quebecois cellarmaster Patrick Piuze, who arrived here in 2005 from Verget, has been replaced by Nadine Gublin of Domaine Jacques Prieure. A significant portion of the vast Brocard estate is now being farmed biodynamically. Piuze, like many vintners this year, favored racking his young wines off their lees earlier than usual with the intention of avoiding any heaviness. I did not by any means taste all of the enormous range of wines crafted at this address, and including several different labels. Brocard bottled from 2006 the first commercial quantities of three premier cru cuvees under the name “Quintessence,” each representing a broad range of sites that precludes “single vineyard” status. (I place that expression in quotes, since the names of many of the best-known premier crus by law already serve as collective or alternate names for certain nearby crus.) The blends are largely determined as juice, subject to some later fine-tuning. Imported by: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400

Firm, flinty nose. Good mineral palate with bracing acidity and more flint flavours. Youthful. Will develop well.