2013 Chablis Les Clos

Pale straw-yellow. Ripe peach and honey on the nose. Round, rich and mouthfilling, conveying a seductively glyceral texture without excess weight. Very ripe for the year and sexy in the early going. But the chewy, long finish conveys a dusty impression of extract and good energy.

The 2013 Chablis les Clos Grand Cru comes from 1.3-hectares of two parcels in the middle of the slope that was cropped on October 2 with Vaudésir. It has a more outgoing bouquet with orange blossom, honeysuckle and distant Riesling-like, petrol aromas indicative of the richness of the vintage. The palate is very well balanced, very rounded and lightly honeyed but with a keen thread of acidity. There is just a touch of tropical fruit, pineapple and guava toward the spice-tinged finish that lingers long in the mouth. This is a more approachable Les Clos compared to other vintages, delicious if not as intellectual as the 2012 or as I suspect the 2014 will turn out to be.

The 2013 Chablis Grand Cru les Clos was picked on October 3, whole-cluster fruit and aged for ten months in a combination of tank and wood. Bottled on August '14 it has a light, beeswax-tinged bouquet that opens nicely with aeration. The palate is elegant and pretty with white peach and touches of orange sorbet, crisp acidity and a finish that flows nicely toward its conclusion. It is a sophisticated Chablis, but I feel it is surpassed by the superb Vaudésir this year.