By Antonio Galloni
1_2014 Domaine Vincent Dauvissat
Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru
(12.7% alcohol from a crop level of about 30 hectoliters per hectare, according to Dauvissat): Pale, bright yellow. Knockout pristine nose combines white grapefruit, quinine and iodine; at once perfumed and powerful. A wine of great energy and finesse, conveying outstanding cut and precision to its flavors of citrus peel, grapefruit, lavender and dusty stone. The Preuses is as thick as this Clos but this wine is even more sharply delineated. Finishes with extraordinary energy and rising length. Dauvissat owns 1.7 hectares in this great grand cru.
— Stephen Tanzer (95-98)
2_2013 Lucien Le Moine
Chables Preuses Grand Cru
(Mounir Saouma has a single 500-liter barrel of this juice; he expects to bottle this wine with his 2014s, as late as September of 2016): Knockout pristine nose combines apple, flowers, herbs, mint and limestone minerality. Discreet and deep, showing almost painful herbal, stony cut and purity for the vintage. Finishes with incredible mineral purity, persistence and verve. During my time in Chablis, I mentioned to a few growers that I had tasted a Preuses that was likely to get three years of élevage in oak and they were speechless. But there’s no arguing with the energy and minerality of this brilliant young sample. Saouma told me that kept 18 liters of the heavy lees.
— Stephen Tanzer (94-97)
3_2014 Domaine François Raveneau
Chablis Clos Grand Cru
Pale, green-tinged color. Lemon, lime, white pepper and herbs on the pristine nose. Penetrating and backward, showing a tactile, tightly chiseled character to the citrus peel and saline flavors. This strikingly taut, dry, citrussy Clos reminded me of a top 2010. Still amazingly tight and built for a long evolution in bottle.
— Stephen Tanzer 95
