2017 | Vincent Dauvissat | La Forest

Pale colour, exceptionally complex nose, the blue clay playing its part. Displaying a meaty aspect, this has a power on the palate that knocks even Montée de Tonnerre into the shade. But it is not luxuriantly flamboyant.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: A fabulous rendition of Vincent Dauvissat's emblematic premier cru, the 2017 Chablis 1er Cru La Forest offers up classic aromas of oystershell, lemon oil, dried white flowers and rock salt. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and reserved, with superb cut and tension, concluding with a long, saline and chalky finish. As is consistently the case, Vincent Dauvissat has fashioned some of the finest wines to be found in both the 2016 and 2017 vintages. 2016 is a small crop, amounting to a mere third of an average harvest. The wines are comparatively low in acidity, with notable concentration, but remaining tense, pure and incisive.

• James Suckling: Has a very strong, flinty yellow grapefruit and lime-leaf edge with a waxy, steely mineral core, making it a really exciting nose. There’s additional depth here, from white peppery minerals to chalk. Super fine and tight. This has a scintillatingly pure, fresh and powerful with a richer texture powered by very strong acidity. Exceptional.

Producer Information

Vincent Dauvissat is one of the most prestigious producers from the Chablis region of northern Burgundy. It is family-owned and -operated and has been selling wine under the family name since 1931. In 1976 Vincent began helping his father René Dauvissat and he has since taken over. The wines can be bottled as Vincent Dauvissat or Domaine Dauvissat-Camus – the latter denoting wider family holdings farmed and made by Dauvissat. Chablis in general is known for its steely, crisp wines made from Chardonnay. The soil of the best sites is Kimmeridgian, a mineral-rich clay with significant lime content formed by a high density of marine fossils. Vincent Dauvissat has sections in two Grand Cru vineyards: Les Clos and Les Preuses. Additionally, Dauvissat boasts four premier cru sites: Séchet, Vaillons, Montmains, and the acclaimed La Forêt (labeled by Dauvissat as "La Forest"), the quality of which can approach that of the grand crus in good vintages. Dauvissat also produces a Villages Chablis and a Petit Chablis. However, the small size of Dauvissat's basic Chablis holding (on the opposite side of the valley to the La Forêt vineyard) and its correspondingly small production means it can be the hardest of the wines to find. The fruit is naturally farmed and hand-harvested. No destemming is done (the wines are all whole bunch pressed) and malolactic fermentation occurs spontaneously. Winter temperatures cause the tartrates to precipitate out of the wine and beyond this, the wines are unfined. Unconventionally for Chablis, Dauvissat forgoes bâtonnage (regular lees stirring). Vincent Dauvissat is also one of the few Chablis producers to use oak barrels during élevage (the wines' maturation in cellar), though the barrels used are 6-8 years old. The belief is that the oak is essential in developing the body and structure of the wine, but old barrels are used so that the flavor characteristics are unaffected.

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