Winemaker Notes
A different sort of nose than the séchet, mineral and herbal. On the palate, anise again with some baked granny smith apple. less acidic than the séchet, more earthy, and vanilla bean without new wood dominance. a vanilla ice creamed finish.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Showing a warmer, fleshier and generous character, this Vaillons has plenty of acidity, floral characters and elegance with a long, fine, finish. Sappy and mineral, a finely textured premier cru which doesn't have quite the interest of Les Forêts or Séchet but is still very fine.
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Vinous
The 2021 Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru was severely affected by the frost this year, so there are just seven barrels and five feuillettes this year. It has a beautifully defined bouquet with fine focus and energy, honeysuckle and light crushed stone aromas. The palate is very intense with a killer line of acidity, taut and fresh with a twist of sour lemon on the finish. Excellent. Barrel Sample: 91-93+
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Jasper Morris
Fuller yellow here, no green tints. Didn’t fine to remove oxidases, deliberately, none of the sulphur here, pure Vaillons wishing to express itself. Fleshes out more than usual at the back, but still all the white fruit with a touch of almond paste.
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.