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Wine Description
The Story
Starting with the vintage 2008, the name “Vaudon” will be associated with Joseph Drouhin for all its Chablis wines as a sign of the firm's allegiance to this historical terroir www.drouhin-vaudon.com
Vineyard
Site: the largest and probably most famous Grand Cru, located between Valmur on the left and Blanchot on the right. The exposure is responsible for its generous and powerful character.
History & tradition: it is the cradle of Chablis, already recognized by the medieval monks as a superb location for planting a vineyard. The term "Les Clos" (enclosure, in French) probably refers to the surrounding wall that they built to fence off the parcel. This wall is no longer in existence. At the end of the 19th Century the vineyard was devastated by the phylloxera disease. In the 1960's, Robert Drouhin was one of the first Beaune propriétaires to bring it back to life.
Soil: the Kimmeridgian limestone contains millions of tiny marine fossils embedded in a kind of whitish mortar which may have been once the bottom of the sea...hundreds of million years ago. This marine origin gives the wines of Chablis their unique flavour.
Drouhin estate: 1.3 ha (3.212 acres).
Average of the vines: 37 years.
Viticulture
Biological cultivation since 1990 and biodynamic cultivation since 1999.
Soil maintenance: age-old methods. Plouging: "buttage" (hilling up around the vine-stocks) in autumn; "débuttage" (ploughing back in spring); work between the rows and the vine stocks done with manual tools only.
Treatment: only authorized products for biological cultivation are used - infusions and macerations of plant materials, sulfur and copper, powdered rock. Natural predators are not eliminated.
Plantation density: 8,000 to 10,000 stocks/ha.
Pruning: double Guyot "Vallée de la Marne" (for its resistance to frost).
Yield: we aim for a lower yield, such as it existed before the new law. This yield is therefore the present maximum yield minus 20%.
Average yield at the Domaine: 43.2hl/ha (the yield currently authorized for the appellation is now 54hl/ha).
Vinification
Harvesting: by hand.
Pressing: very slow so as to respect the fruit. Juices from the last pressings are not retained.
Ageing
Type: in oak barrel (0% new wood).
Length: 12 months.
Origin of the wood: French oak forests.
Weathering of the wood: Joseph Drouhin insists on total control of the weathering for a period of 3 years, one of the contributing elements to the elegance of the wine.
Follow-up: barrel by barrel.
Throughout the ageing process, decisions are taken only after careful tasting evaluation. The data obtained is completed through technical analysis. As with every other Joseph Drouhin wine, absolute priority is given to the true expression of terroir and character of the vintage.
Tasting note by Véronique Boss-Drouhin
"A great wine, perhaps the one most able to express what the terroir of Chablis really is like. The colour is pale gold yellow, with greenish hints. Refined nose, with aromas of lily ("fleur de lys"), honey or preserved lemon. Astounding depth and velvety sensation ("gras") on the palate, with some delicate marine nuances. Intense and long aftertaste. After 5 or 6 years, even more complex and subtle aromas develop in the wine. A wine of incomparable finesse".
Vintage
The wines show great purity of taste and a pleasant floral style. Chablis is very mineral in character, almost briny.
Serving
Temperature: 14°C (55°F).
Cellaring: 5 to 15 years.
Vintage 2019
“2019 is ‘the perfect storm’ of a vintage,” said Laurent Drouhin of top negociant house Drouhin, which owns vineyards in many parts of Burgundy. “We keep smiling because some wines will be great.” The mix included the hottest temperatures since the time of the Black Death 700 years ago (!), frost in April, rain in June, and no rain for nearly four months.
Drouhin’s harvest started on time on Sept. 13, and Laurent’s winemaking brother Frederic reports, “The first reds show an intense and beautiful color, good concentration, great balance and acidity and depth. The whites also show good richness with balance.” It’s a great year for reds, with slightly higher alcohol than usual.
The downside is very low yields. In just one April night, frost destroyed about 30% of the crop in Macon, though what’s left is making wines with good acidity and aromas.
Export company Le Serbet gathered reports from 65 producers in its portfolio, and head of marketing Peter Wasserman says the loss of grapes varies from vineyard to vineyard; in some places it may be as much as 50% to 60% lower than normal. Northern appellations such as Gevrey-Chambertin seem to have done best, down only 10%.
With less wine, you might predict even higher prices, but producers worry that this would drive away consumers.
