Based on half each estate and purchased fruit from a relatively isolated, breezy Right Bank cru south of Fleys (and one of the region’s three easternmost), the Brocard 2006 Chablis Vaucoupin displays fresh apricot and lime, along with their faintly bitter kernel and zest respectively; is suffused with chalk and toasted nut low tones; and finishes with pithy concentration. This had just been bottled when I tasted, so there is some reason to believe it might be juicier and even more expressive when it recovers. It should be worth following for at least several 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 Since my visit, Quebecois cellarmaster Patrick Piuze, who arrived here in 2005 from Verget, has been replaced by Nadine Gublin of Domaine Jacques Prieure.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
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