The Brocard 2006 Chablis Montmains (a bottling dominated by estate fruit, and incorporating adjacent Forets and Butteaux) displays a lovely balance of citric brightness with glossy richness of peachy fruit tinged by grapefruit zest, walnut oil, and chalk dust. An excellent balance has been struck here between opulent ripeness, lees-enrichment, and clarity. This finishes with pronounced phenolic grip and chalk character without shading too far toward bitterness or adamancy, but nonetheless, I would be inclined to drink it within 3-5 years. (The firmly mineral yet admirably ripe 2005 was equally fine.) Since my visit, Quebecois cellarmaster Patrick Piuze, who arrived here in 2005 from Verget, has been replaced by Nadine Gublin of Domaine Jacques Prieure.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
粵公網(wǎng)安備 44030502006249號