2007 Burgundy – The Entrée
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The tiny fossilised oysters characterise that most
Chablis of soils: Kimmeridgian
limestone
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For those who haven't been reading my
blog, I made the following comment after my
tastings in the region: "One can forget the power of
good Chablis to tattoo crystalline terroir onto one's
palate and the 2007s are a return to the classical
textbook: cool, concentrated and choc-full of
minerals."
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The last visit of my week in Burgundy - a day
wreathed in thick fog, so that glimpses of the
vineyards were as hazy as guesswork - was to a young
man called Vincent Dampt in Chablis; a young man
gradually taking over the reins of from his father,
Daniel. He's also a young man more than capable of
tattooing one's palate! I have scarcely ever tasted
wines with such intensity and vigour.
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All the wines here are superb. We gradually climbed
the range and after the last sample, Vincent peered
into the tasting room fridge, had a rummage, and came
out with a venerable-looking bottle. It was a wine
that his grandfather had made; a 1985 from the
vineyard that had produced the wine in Vincent's
range of 2007s that most impressed me (and in a range
in which everything is impressive, that's saying
something!): Côte de Lechet.
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The 1985 was extraordinarily nutty, so much so that
one would almost certainly have said that it was
oaked if one tasted it blind. But Chardonnay, when
mature, so often has that knack of taking on these
pseudo-oaked notes and here, it was simply a spice
for the super-clean and, yes, young seeming, smoky,
lemon fruit. What a wine at 23 years of age!
I am delighted to be able to offer this glittering,
facetted 2007 from the same vineyard.
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Here's Allen Meadows - The Burghound - on this wine:
"This is the best wine in either Dampt range and
while notably ripe, flashes plenty of the classic
Léchet citrus influence on the nose along with
an intense stoniness on the textured, intense and
palate etching flavors that are almost painful with
their drive and energy on the explosive finish. A
perfectly balanced effort that has so much midpalate
material that it could already be enjoyed or easily
held for up to a decade. Worth a special search.
93/2012+."
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Call off that search. The UK agent for Dampt doesn't
import this wine, but following a special request,
they have managed to source me ten cases only.
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