2008 Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin Chablis Vaudesir Grand Cru
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Tasting notes
The Droin 2008 Chablis Vaudesir is overtly stony, fusil, saline, alkaline, and smoky throughout, exhibiting a tightness and firmness to accompany those diverse mineral elements that put one more in mind of 2007. (But not of this particular wine in 2007, as witness my tasting note in issue 186.) Hints of lanolin, resin, and spice from barrel are well woven into a fabric that also features green walnut, rosemary, grapefruit, and apple. This really comes into its own in a finish rich in fruit yet transparent to myriad herbal, hedge flower, and mineral nuances in a way the corresponding 2006 and 2007 conspicuously were not. It should gain in richness and excitement over the next several years and show well for at least a decade. ”I think 2007 displays a bit more finesse than 2008 and might have the edge in ten or fifteen years,” suggests Benoit Droin’s, but adds that he doesn’t perceive his more generous 2008s – which he compares with 2002 – as less impressive today. Nor, in the least, do I: in fact, they represent the most exciting collection I have so-far tasted here; in my opinion a significant advance on Droin’s 2007s. I hope his estimated time frame proves accurate, but this is admittedly another of those Chablis addresses where – even putting aside one’s general concerns about premature oxidation – the rise in quality and the influence of a new generation are too recent to really be able to treat results from the 1990s as predictive of today’s wines’ evolution. Droin bottled all of his 2008s already in September. Unfortunately due to a schedule change that put us both under time pressure, I was able to taste only around 70% of the entire collection. Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Medium bright yellow. Complex aromas of mirabelle, fresh apricot, tangerine and crushed stone. Quite dry, juicy and elegant, with stone fruit, mineral and powdered stone flavors sexed up by a grilled nuance on the end. Still a bit youthfully tight, but there's a lot of wine here.
Pale yellow. Pineapple, lemon and a toasty note on the nose; more exotic and oily than the Blanchot. Fat, rich and sweet, with a silky texture but less tension and minerality than the Blanchot. This rather elegantly styled, easygoing wine tightens up a bit on the end, finishing with good lingering perfume. But I prefer the more taut Blanchot. This aged in 35% barriques, one-third of the barrels new.