Guffens’ 2006 Chablis Vaillons comes from two parcels (one with 60-year-old vines) in relatively heavy soils near the head of the Vaillons valley. Juicy lime, grapefruit and white peach are underlain by chicken stock-like, shrimp shell, as well as shimmering, tingling mineral character. Elegance, lift, even delicacy characterize this wine’s lingering finish, and the sojourn of nearly half of it in older barrels has enhanced its complexity without engendering the least bit of woodiness. I would feel comfortable following this wine for the next 4-6 years.
Jean-Marie Guffens has gone back to vinifying Chablis at his facility in the Macon, immediately after pressing in Chablis (a residency required for appellation controlee) and a highly selective separation of the juice. Guffens was quite bullish on the 2006 vintage – although he characterizes it as “exotic” rather than “classic” – and could afford to be, after having sat out 2005, and given the early harvest in 2006. (It’s always harder, he points out, to get growers to collaborate in a vintage that demands risky restraint and late picking, as did 2007, when Guffens purchased fruit from only a single supplier and cru.) Even given early picking to retain acidity, says Guffens, the freshness and length that characterize the best of them would not have been possible save for two factors. Most important were the relatively low pH levels that characterized the 2006 fruit. But secondly, the levels of total acidity actually rose during fermentation (presumably a function of the production of succinic acid as a fermentative by-product, a phenomenon in many ripe Riesling vintages as well).
Importer: A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93
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