Etienne Boileau Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru 2014
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Robert
Parker
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chablis 1Er Cru Vaillons, from 20-year-old vines cropped at 58 hectoliters per hectare, has an attractive apricot blossom and slate-scented bouquet that opens beautifully in the glass. The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, admirable depth and with layers of finely tuned citrus fruit mixed with walnut and smoke on the finish. This is a fine addition to the canon of superb 2014s.
Domaine du Etienne Boileau is situated in the small town of Chablis at the northern extremes of viable viticulture in the northernmost wine district of the Burgundy region of France. Subscribing to the belief that tradition combined with terroir and climate are essential to making a great wine, viticulture at the estate is dominated by the belief that a winegrower should allow the natural environment where his grapes are grown to be reflected directly in the glass. Etienne Bolieau credits the Kimmeridgean clay soil of the hilly slopes of the Serein Valley — a clay-based soil that dates back to the Upper Jurassic age over 180 million years ago, and includes a particular soil type known as argilo-calcaire (a composition of limestone, clay and fossilized oyster shells) — with imbuing their wines with their superior character and structure.
In 1987, three growers joined forces to create a larger domaine called Domaine du Chardonnay that would have access to more manpower and an impressive collection of vineyards. Etienne Boileau, the overall director of the domaine and manager of both work in the cellar and general sales, works side by side with partners William Nahan and Christian Simon, who oversee all operations in their 37 total hectares of vineyards. Every harvest is vinified and matured in their cellars in Chablis. Through every stage from harvest to bottling, the wines are handled with the utmost of care. Recently a new bottling line was chosen and installed as the finishing touch to their commitment to high-quality vinification and bottling. Combined, they have 9 hectares of Petit Chablis, 18.5 hectares of Chablis, and 9 hectares in Chablis Premier Cru vineyards, including Montmains, Montée de Tonnerre, Vaugiraut, Vosgros, Vaillons and Mont de Milieu, with total annual production of under 30,000 cases. All wines are vinified in stainless-steel tanks, with a handful of the Premier Cru bottlings seeing a brief period in oak. Filtration is minimal and mostly achieved through low-impact cold precipitation.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The source of the most racy, light and tactile, yet uniquely complex Chardonnay, Chablis, while considered part of Burgundy, actually reaches far past the most northern stretch of the Côte d’Or proper. Its vineyards cover hillsides surrounding the small village of Chablis about 100 miles north of Dijon, making it actually closer to Champagne than to Burgundy. Champagne and Chablis have a unique soil type in common called Kimmeridgian, which isn’t found anywhere else in the world except southern England. A 180 million year-old geologic formation of decomposed clay and limestone, containing tiny fossilized oyster shells, spans from the Dorset village of Kimmeridge in southern England all the way down through Champagne, and to the soils of Chablis. This soil type produces wines full of structure, austerity, minerality, salinity and finesse.
Chablis Grands Crus vineyards are all located at ideal elevations and exposition on the acclaimed Kimmeridgian soil, an ancient clay-limestone soil that lends intensity and finesse to its wines. The vineyards outside of Grands Crus are Premiers Crus, and outlying from those is Petit Chablis. Chablis Grand Cru, as well as most Premier Cru Chablis, can age for many years.