Redolent of gooseberry and white currant that follow on a tart, juicy, surprisingly silken-textured palate seemingly suffused with crushed stone, the Laroche 2008 Petit Chablis offers plenty of satisfaction with a bracing, rather Loire Sauvignon-like personality. Enjoy it over the next 18-24 months. Amazingly, the slightly reductive 2009 – bottled already in March – is even more Sauvignon-like in its amalgam of grapefruit, passion fruit, gooseberry preserves, and lime.
The Languedoc negociant and multiple estate-owner Jean Jean has bought-out Michel Laroche’s domaine, but for now at least, Laroche and winemaker Denis de la Bourdonnaye remain, and the quality and style of their 2008s is entirely consistent with that of other recent vintages. Incidentally, Laroche – a pioneer in France with utilizing screwcap closures – has switched to a saranex liner that de la Bourdonnaye says is designed to and does mitigate tendencies toward reduction that he and his team (and occasionally I) have noted in some past cuvees. Given the Sauvignon-like aspects of many of the 2008s here, I had wondered (prior to learning of this closure change) about continued hints of reduction in a couple of instances here as well. The lees were stirred actively to promote textural richness, which indeed most of these wines impressively exhibit, and there was some light chaptalization of musts that for the most part came in closer to 12% than to 13% potential alcohol.
Importer: Canon Wines, Ltd., San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 394-6454
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