2007 - Chablis 1er Cru La Forest, Vincent Dauvissat

The Dauvissat 2007 Chablis La Forest (the “s” and “t” being reversed from the usual spelling at this address) is gloriously buoyant, open-knit, and generously perfumed, while at the same time possessed of vivid crushed stone and chalk dust all the way through. Suggestions of white truffle and iris waft ethereally throughout, while subtle suggestions of toasted nuts, iodine, clam liquor, and fruit pit add underlying, persistent piquancy. And for all of this wine’s energized and rarified nature, as well as its overt mineral character, it also evinces a subtle and winsome hint of creaminess. This is about as nuanced and rivetingly multi-faceted as premier cru Chablis gets, and it even tasted this way right off the bottling line! Expect at least a decade of enthralling pleasure and intrigue here. Incidentally, this clearly blessed vineyard parcel lies between one of the two owned by Fevre and La Moutonne. Vincent Dauvissat (whose father Renee’s name has been removed from that of the domaine, a fact I neglected to reflect in my Issue 179 coverage) harvested between September 11 and 21 a crop entirely in keeping with his estate’s awesome track record. But things were not looking good, he says, until the north wind arrived to banish incipient botrytis and permit felicitous, healthy concentration. Hail trimmed some of his crop of generic Chablis and Vaillons, but left the foliage unscathed, he reports, so that fruit maturation was not retarded. The premier crus came in at not much over 12% natural alcohol and were lightly chaptalized, more to extend their fermentations, insists Dauvissat, than to boost body. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802 (Under the “Dauvissat-Camus” label, certain of these wines are also imported by Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; tel. (781) 352-1100.)

Pale yellow. High-pitched aromas of crushed stone, quinine, fennel and flint. Almost painfully intense and uncompromising, with steely yellow fruit and crushed rock flavors conveying an impression of volume without any weight. Like sucking on a mouthful of rocks. Leaves a coating of dusty stone behind on the palate that's hard to scrape off: this seems even stronger after you swallow it! A stunning premier cru that seems destined for a long and graceful evolution in bottle.