Having been mightily impressed with a few of his 08’s, I asked the Australian importer to schedule us a visit with Patrick Piuze. Patrick is in the middle of moving to new facilities but was generous with his time, working through a few 09’s with us and having a cheeky peek at a couple of 2010’s.
These are incredibly fresh 2009’s, with good vibrancy and tension. It is incredible to think that Patrick has just 3 vintages under his belt since setting up a negociant business out on his own. These are compelling wines that will delight the Chablis purist.
2009 Chablis ‘Terroir de Chichee’: Crammed with lemons and minerals and possesses good freshness with nice tension.
2009 Chablis ‘Terroir de Courgis’: A little reductive but certainly laden with ripe fruits. It is fruitier and sappier than the ‘Chichee’.
2009 Chablis ‘Terroir de Chablis’: 30% of the wine has spent time in old barrels and this has a light creaminess to its texture. There are notes of white flowers and it is voluminous with nice lemon acid cut to the finish.
2009 Chablis ‘Terroir de Fye’: 50% time in old oak. There’s a light spice and candied feel to the fruit. It is rich and mouth filling with a sappy feel and a blast of lemon freshness to the finish.
2008 Chablis Vaillons ‘Les Minots’: Off 71 year old vines this is mineral rich, textured and long. There are some buttery notes but it’s essentially all piercing iodine and citrus, great stuff!
2009 Chablis ‘Forets’: 100% of the wine is aged in old oak. Some candied apple and pear aromas along with oyster shell. Ripe, rich and round in the mouth with great line and minerally drive through the finish.
2009 Chablis ‘Butteaux’: Patrick notes that the fruit came from an east/west facing portion of ‘Butteaux’ and that only Raveneau and he bottle a wine from this part of ‘Butteaux’. Picked early this wine is really quite nervy for the vintage. It has a saline, sea spray quality, is rich and the chalk laden finishes goes on and on.
2009 Chablis ‘Blanchots’: Quite fine aromatically with some white flowers, aniseed and candied pear. Powerful and muscular in the mouth with dense, chewy fruits and loads of dry extract to the finish.
2009 Chablis Bougros ‘Cote de Bouqueyreaux’: A nice blend of elegance and power. On the nose it is flinty with a suggestion oyster shell and shale. It really builds on the palate with s sense of controlled power. It is layered and fans out on the finish.
2009 Chablis’ Vaudesir’: Creamy, spicy and round but bristling with energy. Quite approachable at this early juncture.
2010 Chablis ‘Butteaux’: Hard to get a read on but there’s good richness and plenty of citrus and mineral, Patrick seemed very pleased.
2010 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre: Again at an awkward stage of evolution but very long and minerally in the mouth.
This is our final report from our recent trip, thank you for reading them.
Cheers
Jeremy