Welcome to WineChap’s newest column “Economical Expeditions” wherein myself and WineChap contributor Zachary Sussman will be sailing a figurative tall ship around the world—possibly battling scurvy, mutiny, and dysentery—to chart some of the finest regions for value wines. This week: 2008 Village Chablis.
The northernmost sub-region in Burgundy, geographically and climactically closer to the vineyards of Champagne than to the rest of Burgundy’s vines further south, Chablis epitomizes the virtues of a wine that sings of its place of origin. The stark northern climate, combined with rich, chalky limestone soils, yields Chardonnay wines of exceptional purity and precision that couldn’t possibly come from anywhere else.
In Chablis perhaps more than any other Burgundy appellation— a region already precariously vulnerable to the vicissitudes of climate—the “vintage factor” plays a determining role. In hot years, the delicate nuances of Chablis terroir— its textbook brininess, minerality, and sharp acidity— can be lost to overly ripe grapes, resulting in flabby, forward wines that lack the region’s distinctive taste. During “classic” years, however, such as the much-praised 2008 vintage, the Chardonnay grape thankfully takes a back seat, allowing “Chablis” itself to assume center stage. Each glass becomes a transparent window into the hillsides of Chablis, highlighting regional distinctions while bearing the signature of each winemaker’s particular style and techniques.
While top bottles from celebrity growers like Francois Raveneau and Vincent Dauvissat easily hover around the $100 range (and often more), the beauty of the ’08 vintage in Chablis is that even the lowest, “village level” wines (those whose grapes are not sourced from a single classified vineyard, but blended from any of the winemaker’s holdings in the region) offer honest, affordable introductions to this appellation’s unmistakable style.
On a recent balmy summer night (ideal Chablis weather), we tasted through a cross-section of ’08 village Chablis, from large commercial producers right down to the smallest husband-and-wife team. Getting to know a potentially expensive region this way is a bit like test-running a handful of wallet-busting spots during Restaurant Week: you might not be getting each establishment’s full potential, but at least you’ll leave with enough of a general impression to decide whether to return. So, while we weren’t floored by every wine (usually the fault of the winemaker, rather than the wine itself) we found a few that surely warrant a second visit.
The wines, in order of nom:
2008 Chablis De Moor “Rosette” ($37.99, Crush Wine & Spirits)
Hyper-natural, non-interventionist winemakers Alice and Olivier De Moor produce challenging, artisanal wines that resist preconceived notions. Olivier believes that the Chablis our great-grandparents drank generations ago had a nutty, buttery character, a style to which this unctuous “Rosette” pays homage. Rich, saline, and balancing precise acidity with just a touch of oxidation, this is utterly delicious, suggestive of a more mature wine, even if a bit anomalous as Chablis.
2008 Chablis Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin ($25.00, Burgundy Wine Company)
What we talk about when we talk about Chablis: vibrant, shimmering purity, marrying fruit with acidity and a clawed-from-the-earth mineral streak. Just what we’re looking for in a “village” Chablis, demonstrating why the ’08 vintage shines in this appellation: even at the lowest level, you’re not just tasting Chardonnay, but dare we say the chiseled soul of the land itself?
2008 Christian Moreau Chablis ($23.95, Crush Wine & Spirits)
Purists might initially turn their noses at the discernible, if well-integrated touch of oak seeping through, but this represents an equally traditional side of the appellation, verging upon richness without masking the wine’s sense of place. Not necessarily everyone’s personal “cup of Chablis,” but a useful introduction to this producer’s house style and an instructive contrast to the Droin’s cleaner, more streamlined interpretation.
2008 Chablis Costal “Les Truffieres” ($29.99, Chambers Street Wines)
Given our profound respect for this bottle’s importer, natural wine legend Kermit Lynch, we had high expectations for the Costal. Admittedly, all the pieces of the Chablis puzzle (acid, minerals, fruit) did come together—it just wasn’t a particularly rewarding puzzle for us to solve. Fine for twenty bucks, perhaps, but at thirty we require distinctiveness, not mere acceptability. For the money, we’d rather buy two bottles of solid Muscadet.
2008 Chablis Fevre Champs Royaux ($18.95, Crush Wine & Spirits)
There’s just not a whole lot of wine in this wine. A generic showing from one of the region’s larger commercial producers, whose high-end wines have impressed in the past. A serious loss of quality here at the entry-level: mute and featureless, without sufficient acidity to impart focus or freshness. A resounding “meh.”
2008 Chablis Drouhin ($21.95, Crush Wine & Spirits)
Drouhin couldn’t help but disappoint with the most obviously mass-produced wine of the bunch. More expressive than the Fevre, but drinking clumsily, with generic, saccharine fruit. Not classic, briny “tidal pool” aromatics so much as Marriott swimming pool: noticeably spoofy and chemical, swim at your own risk.
-Zachary Sussman
