TN: 2014 Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons

WINE TALK
1

Banging '14 White Burg train rolls on. One after another…

  • 2014 Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (2/17/2018)
    Fully Chablis. Clearish yellow. Apple and lemon and briny notes. Wound at first. Needs to warm and open a bit. Fleshes out to show cool, clear and crisp tones and a mouth drying salinity that lingers. Terrific young '14, as many '14s have been. Lovely.

Posted from CellarTracker

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premox poster child. Was it screwcapped? Wouldn’t touch Droin unless.

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I know, but I have strangely had good luck. I drink them young. '10s, '11s.
Cork.

4

I drank a lot of 2014 Droin, AOC Chablis, Vaillons, and Montmains and all were excellent. But obvs young. Fair amount of 2012s too. No premox.

5

The wife loves this producer so we drink a fair amount and most of that isn’t grand cru. Because of the reputation we try to drink them all within 5 years of the vintage and so far not a single POX.

6

I like the wines, but stopped buying. If I ran across a young vintage in a store, I’d probably give it a go since I enjoy them young. Matrot Meursault is another premox poster child, but I went through 5 or 6 bottles of recent vintages of their Meursault Les Chevalieres that were selling at a good price in a grocery store.

-Al

7

Thanks Michael and Brian for chiming in. Drinking them young seems key, unfortunately.
Al- now, Matrot is one I don’t mess with. Way too many bad bottles.

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Al- now, Matrot is one I don’t mess with. Way too many bad bottles.

Actually, I also had much worse experience with Matrot than Droin. I would not have touched these except a couple of local wine friends who love white Burgundy were happily drinking multiple bottles they bought at JJ Buckley for around $30 a bottle. The supermarket price was a few dollars more, but I bought one to see and it was nice at the price. I occasionally bought again, but never more than one at a time and for very near term drinking.

-Al

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Matrot is worse than Droin. It’s the reason their Meursault Perrieres is so cheap compared to quality producers. When you find a b that is not oxidized, it is good wine, but I won’t buy it.

10

This is such a fantastic wine - I’ve been through over a case and love it every time. If you can find it, the Vaulorent is even better!

My fingers are crossed on premox. I had a 2007 Droin Les Clos recently that was in perfect shape. Small sample size. I think all of the '14s are bottled under Diam. Hopefully that helps.

11

Thanks, Mason. I have some Valourent coming. I didn’t even pay attention to the Diam piece. Good to know.