2005 Alice et Olivier De Moor Chablis Bel Air et Clardy Chablis Burgundy France. Chambers Street Wines, $27.99. Lyle/Asmivo bottle. Imported by Vintage59.com http://www.vintage59.com/
Beautiful golden color, light hue, intense aroma of citrus fruit with subtle mineral notes, sharp steely flavors of minerals and relatively light citrus taste, wonderful acidity, "lean and racy" sprang to mind, long finish, creamy mouth feel and impression, a lovely wine. The best Chablis I've had in a fairly short experience with Chablis. It's amazing that this wine is made from the same grape as the rich, sweet, oaky, cloying California wines I've learned to avoid. 5*
Regards, Bob
PS: I'll be offline for a few days. B.
Notes:
Chambers Street is the only US retailer on Wine Searcher Pro for the wines of Alice and Olivier De Moor.
Vintages59.com: Alice & Olivier De Moor are a young couple in the village of Courgis, south of the town of Chablis. They met during an internship at Domaine Brocard in the neighboring village of Préhy and started their tiny domaine in the early 1990s from scratch—a rare move for a young couple in France, where domaines are typically inherited. They are passionately committed to quality. They severely prune their vines for low yields, harvest by hand, ferment with native yeast sur lie in one to four year-old oak barrels, and neither fine nor filter their wines (all highly unusual methods in this mechanized wine region). In a book of artisan domaines, this may be Vintage '59's most artisan domaine.
The De Moors make Aligoté, Saint Bris, Bourgogne Chitry, and two AC Chablis. The Aligoté comes from a tiny parcel planted mostly in 1902 and is arguably France's greatest Aligoté (it's chock full of liquid minerals). The new Saint Bris AOC is an obscure zone bordering Chablis to the southwest, where Sauvignon Blanc is the focus. It was granted appellation status with the 2002 vintage. The De Moors' wine, averaging 220 cases per year, is a singularly rich Sauvignon. Chitry is a village immediately across the Chablis AC border. In the De Moors' hands, Chardonnay from Chitry becomes a kind of baby Chablis with precocious aromatics. Bel-Air et Clardy and Rosette are their two Chablis, each a 2.5-acre parcel. Bel-Air is on a plateau and generally produces somewhat riper wines; Rosette grows on a steep hillside and makes for a classically stony, minerally Chablis. Rosette has come to be their unofficial premier cru.
Berry Bros. and Budd: "Alice and Olivier de Moor are qualified oenologists relatively new to the world of wine, having planted their first vines on their 6-hectare estate in 1988. They prune the vines hard to prodice yields some 20% less than the permitted maximum and hand-harvest the entire crop. The wines are fermented in 10 year-old casks, using wild yeast, followed by a further 10 months elevage on the fine lees. They are bottled in the 15th month without cold stabilisation of filtration, but undergo a slight fining. The Chablis Bel-Air et Clardys is a blend of 2 lieux-dits planted with 12 year-old vines, with 25 centimetres of humus and limestone sub-soil."
Andrea Robinson presentation at French Culinary Institute. "Chablis produces only white wine from Chadonnay. The soils are chalky -- the same chalk layer that forms the White Cliffs of Dover -- the formation is far underground for many miles before rising again to the surface in Chablis to the east. The climate is chancey, generally cool, but thin skins and wet can lead to rot. Chablis whites are lighter bodied than their Cote de Beaune cousins -- cooler so less ripeness and body, and higher acidity. Often described as lean and racy. Usually are not fermented or aged in oak. The style is normally stainless, but two producers use oak barrels, and then only in their best wines. The style is lean, highly acidic, similar to Sauvignon Blanc.
Biss & Smith: The Wines of Chablis ISBN: 0953810100 2000: "The most comprehensive guide to the region ever accomplished. This is the definitive guide to Chablis." Clive Coates MW in the Foreword. This book gives a detailed account of the history, viticulture, climate and geology of this area of Burgundy and discusses the conflicts over expansion of the vineyards and the use of oak. Over 80 domaines are profiled in detail and the leading negociants are explored. More than 1000 tasting notes are included of recent and older vintages with advice on which ones to drink now and which to keep.
Andrew Jefford: The New France: "Chablis needs more young, talented, and iconoclastic outsiders—like this pair of winemakers from Dijon whose small 6-ha estate is divided between Chablis and St-Bris. There are no Premiers or Grands Crus here, but the Chablis La Rosette and Bel Air are both from promising sites and are intense and floral, with more texture and depth than many Premier and Grand Cru wines (thanks to careful lees contact and the refusal to fine or filter)."
[Bel-Air et Clardy and Rosette are their two Chablis, each a 2.5-acre parcel. Bel-Air is on a plateau and generally produces somewhat riper wines; Rosette grows on a steep hillside and makes for a classically stony, minerally Chablis. Rosette has come to be their unofficial premier cru.]