Jean-Paul Droin Valmur Chablis Grand Cru 2012
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with white meat, lobster, foie gras and escargots, as well as Comté, chèvre and blue cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Recently assembled from tank, Droin’s 2012 Chablis Valmur evinces a bit of lanolin and resin from its majority barrel-component. Behind that, lime, peppermint, and pineapple close to the core project a cooling, stimulating and brightly-juicy personality on a palate so palpably enriched by lees and envelopingly creamy (alongside such bright juiciness!) that Droin calls it “Batard(-Montrachet)-like” – but is at pains to insist that this is more a function of terroir than of technique. Chalkiness segues into peppery pungency to enhance a finish of grip and enervation. This striking offering is more in the mould of a couple of Blanchots from its vintage (including Droin’s own, also reviewed in this report) than that of most other grand crus. It ought to serve well through at least 2022.
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.