2006 Chablis Les Clos

The Moreau 2006 Chablis Les Clos offers a very different personality from the corresponding Valmur, with more obvious stony sense of minerality, a firmer texture, and a finer grain. Hints of white pepper and chalk dust suffuse the palate, along with restrained inner-mouth floral perfume and subtly tart pit fruits, and lead to a finish of impressive concentration if not (at least for now) great generosity. This is less marked by its wood than Moreau’s other two grand crus, but the finish seems at least as influenced by its recent bottling, with a faintly rough spot. A separate bottling of Les Clos “des Hospices” was distinctly resinous, oaky, less-focused, and failed to convince me in either recent vintage on the sole occasion of my tasting. Christian and Fabien Moreau are engaged in an ambitious plan to pull their domaine (whose grand cru-rich acreage the family reclaimed in 2002) to the front ranks of their region. Even the generic wines are hand-harvested (although the A.O.C. Chablis is supplemented by some purchased fruit) and a vibrating trie de table surely put to good effect in the most recent vintages. The rotation between tank and barrel and the percentage of new wood vary for each vintage and individual cru, and the father-son team here plainly place proud emphasis on their flexibility and experimental-mindedness. All this said, my reaction to their 2006s and 2005s was to say the least muted when compared with the accolades that these wines have garnered in other quarters, so I hope to discover that I caught the wines at a difficult time (and of course to re-taste them). Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700