2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Séchet- France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (5/22/2020)
Smells of slate tiles after a Summer shower. There’s loads of lemon notes and some mint and fennel too. It is intense, direct and linear, incredibly fresh and incredibly good. It has great cut and the bone dry finish drives on and on, with real saline minerality.
Sechet (Secher, Sechets–they can’t seem to make up their minds in France on these things) is sort of a favorite site of mine, maybe just because it’s slightly out of the mainstream. But also perhaps because it tends to be higher on the “minerality” end of things, whatever that is.
Glorious vin de garde … I had an excellent Dauvissat Séchet 2000 (17/20) for new year’s Eve dinner 2017 …
My last Séchet, last week : Dauvissat Chablis Séchet 2011 : 17/20
Très typé, encore jeune, sur des goûts chablisiens réguliers (et sans l’aspect racinaire de certains 2011).
The Dauvissat Séchet 2002 was excellent in may 2010 : Chablis 1er cru “Séchet” : Domaine Vincent Dauvissat 2002
DS17 - PC17 - LG17 - MS17.
Robe dorée.
Puissance aromatique fortement typée : agrumes, fougère, croûte de fromage, craie.
Matière pleine, savoureuse, fine, aux goûts plaisants et persistants. Une certaine volupté, qui me ferait plus penser à Raveneau qu’à Dauvissat.
They are not actually that far away! Séchet is one of the cooler climats within Vaillons - south-easterly exposed and higher up the slope, and at the bottom of the valley which is less of a heat trap. So I’d say that if the stereotypical Vaillons is floral, satiny and quite open young, Séchet is more chiseled and tensile—that’s certainly the case at Dauvissat. La Forest (to use Dauvissat’s spelling) is just over the ridge in Montmains, next to Butteaux and sharing a south-facing exposition but with less clay in the soil than Butteaux. Chez Dauvissat, it’s a bit more muscular, layered and complete: typically the most concentrated of the premiers crus, and the slowest-evolving, but a bit more saline if Séchet is more chalky.
La Forest is Dauvissat’s biggest holding by some margin (4.5 hectares vs 0.8 of Séchet), you can read René Dauvissat’s anecdotes about clearing abandoned parcels for planting in the winters of 1946 and 1947 in Khiem Le’s excellent book. They acquired their holdings in Séchet later, in 1951.
2012 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Séchet- France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (5/15/2020)
Quite a reductive nose (no decant) but a damn fine taste. Big and ripe feeling but all about seashell minerality and lemony acidity. Great, long finish. (93 pts.)
Ive been drinking through a case of 2013 Dauvissat Sechet That has been awesome. More enjoyable at this phase than. 2013 La Forest.
Strange but consistent thing about the Sechet the last 6 months is it shows incredible for the first hour or so and then totally shuts down. Kind of like a brand new fresh vintage. I’d guess that means a long life ahead
I didn’t like any of Dauvissats 2013s at first because they seemed too ripe/tropical/burgundy but with time the Chablis has won out
I found Dauvissat Chablis Forêt excellent in 2013 (17/20). For Chablis 2013, a generally fresh vintage in France, the wines are quite ripe … (and the best very resilient …).