Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - 100

YEAR'S BEST
WHITE BURGUNDIES
Our blind panels tasted 361 white Burgundies over the past 12 months. Joshua Greene, our critic for Burgundy, rated 91 as exceptional
(90+) and 21 as Best Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

CHA B L I S
GRAND CRU
275633

94 | Domaine Laroche

$162

2017 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos ^ Ripened
in the ample sun of Les Clos, with its direct
southern exposure, this is packed with flavor intensity, straight through to its bright,
sunny finish. Laroche owns 2.77 acres of the
vineyard, the vines 30 to 50 years old; its
2017 feels vibrant and youthfully grand, with
Meyer lemon richness wrapped in smoky,
briny soil notes. This has the substance to
develop for a decade or more. § Wilson Daniels, St. Helena, CA
272769

94 | Domaine
Louis Moreau

$90

2016 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos ^ Here's
a naked view of Les Clos, from seven acres
of vines planted in 1958 and 1968; the fruit
never sees oak and is vinified in stainless
steel with ambient yeasts, then aged on the
fine lees for 20 months. The wine sustains
freshness in scents of peach and yellow
apple, buttery green olives and notes of
white lilies. It's stony and elegant, with a
mysterious depth and concentration that
hints at hazelnuts and smoke. This will be
compelling to follow as it evolves over the
next five to ten years. (W&S 10/19) § Craft +
Estate/Winebow Imports, NY
275632

92 | Domaine Laroche

$126

2017 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots ^
Laroche owns 11 acres of Les Blanchots, the
oldest vines planted 70 years ago. This 2017
buzzes with youthful concentration, its delicious freshness making an impression that
lasts for minutes on the breath. With fresh
flowers, wildflower honey and beeswax flavors, it's tight, integrated and as ample and
sweet as it is tough and persistent. Wilson
Daniels, St. Helena, CA
276529

92 | J. Moreau & Fils

$99

2017 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot ^ Mellow
up front, this wine slowly reveals its powerful
concentration as it releases flavor. The leesiness carries notes of barley and corn, then
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WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2020

the wine tenses up, transitioning through
nutty flavors and herbal scents of green
grapes before building to a blast of tart fruit.
A tight young wine to hold for five years or
more. § Boisset Collection, St. Helena, CA
276107

92 | Patrick Piuze

$87

2018 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots ^ Super
rich, this wine buzzes with scents of jasmine,
apple blossoms and brisk, reductive notes of
horseradish and flint. It's fresh and bright,
even as the fruit has an undeveloped, slightly
vegetal cast, like the flavor of a white peach
as it comes into ripeness. There's a lot of
potential energy in this wine to carry it as it
ages over the coming decade. § David Bowler
Wines, NY
272889

90 | Dom. William Fèvre

$145

2017 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos ^ This presents grand cru credentials in its size, lemon
richness, powerful structure and stalwart tannins. Pale and leesy, everything about this
wine is big and white. Check on it ten years
from the vintage, when the flavors should
be more accessible. (W&S 10/19) § Maisons
& Domaines Henriot, NY
276106

90 | Patrick Piuze

$83

2018 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros ^ Sunny
and warm, with broad richness in its flavors
of honeycomb and unsalted butter, this is
heady and dense. It's as if the wine is so big
you can't see it, only revel in its gentle grapeskin flavors. Better to wait five or six years
for those flavors to come into focus. § David
Bowler Wines, NY

PREMIER CRU
276145

93 | Domaine des Hâtes

$51

2017 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume
L'Homme Mort ^ Pierrick Laroche grew up
in Maligny, where his father farmed grains
and vines. Pierrick made his first wines in
2010; this 2017 comes from a 2.7-acre parcel where the vines average 30 years of age,
farmed to capture the sparkling acidity and
spring meadow scents of Queen Anne's lace
that drive this wine. It's quietly rich, like a
debutante turned flower child, hiding its

pedigree behind a moment of wild excitement. § Vintage '59 Imports, Washington, DC
275817

93 | Louis Jadot

$47

93 | Domaine
Louis Moreau

$40

92 | Julien Brocard

$53

2017 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume ^ It's
impressive that a négociant wine can provide
a sense of bottled springtime, and it's right
there from the first moment you open this
Chablis: a brisk, cool sense of digging into
the earth in spring, the cool, round refreshment of spring water. As rich and opulent
as the wine may be, the salty acidity keeps it
lively, ringing with freshness. Buy enough to
watch this wine as it develops over the next
five to ten years. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY
272770
2017 Chablis 1er Cru Vaulignot (Best Buy) ^
Louis Moreau farms 22 acres in Vaulignot, a
premier cru in the village of Beines, where
his cellar is based. Perhaps the proximity
plays into this wine's freshness and expressive depths. Vinified in stainless steel, its
concentrated juiciness reveals a leesy fatness, somewhere between a ripe peach and a
freshly shucked oyster. A lemon essence and
a limestone grip bring clarity to the wine's
sophisticated minerality. Where but in Chablis would you find a bold, rich wine of this
stature for $40? (W&S 10/19) § Craft + Estate/
Winebow Imports, NY
276016
2017 Chablis 1er Cru Côte de Léchet ^ Brocard's biodynamic farming and vinification
in large oak vats bring out the intensity of
this steep vineyard, its rock face oriented
directly toward the sun. The wine's power
comes across in precise flavors, from tart
apple to juicy lemon and the red zone of a
peach close to the pit. You can almost feel
the wine struggling to get out from under the
pressure of its leesy-hard structure, as if you
can taste the future at the very end, when
the entire wine turns toward freshness. § David
Bowler Wines, NY
273092

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Wine & Spirits - April 2020

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