1996 was a great great white Burgundy vintage. And it fell apart. The great wines were amazing, some of the best white Burgs in my experience. And premox came like the grim reaper, destroying so many wines. I’ve kept a few. Opened one tonight—Preuses from Dauvissat, not immune to the pox.
But this bottle is great. Great great like the vintage promised long ago. Essence of lemon drops. Incredible intensity. Length is infinite. So balanced. Minerals and a little chalk, but such intense citrus. I can’t even write in sentences.
Nice wine Alan. Congrats on avoiding the POX.
I had a case of these and they were my introduction to the anguish of premox. Some were brilliant, others shot. The last bottle I had some 12 months ago was a great as Alan describes
Yummy . This post motivates me to keep my Chablis in my cellar ( versus selling them because of premox ) and try them when they are really ready : after 20 to 30 years .Cheers
So happy you had some good fortune here. Great Chablis is special.
When this happens, I’m never quite sure whether to rejoice, or cry. 1996 was the white wine vintage of my lifetime. Then it all came crashing down. The wines that have survived have been memorable. (Note that Jasper Morris has speculated that simply waiting on the 1996’s will fix their premox issue. I have none left to run this experiment, but I’m not terribly hopeful that he’s correct).