2007 Chablis Fourchaume Vignoble Vaulorent

The 2007 Chablis Fourchaume Vignoble de Vaulorent – from their top parcel in Vaulorent – delivers in spades the combination of fusil, chalk dust, and smoky notes that many locals relate to the smell of Kimmeridgian rock itself when broken apart. Whatever its origins, this family of what, by sheer default, can hardly be called anything but “mineral” notes combines harmoniously with luscious, bright grapefruit and lemon as well as high-toned herbal essences for a palate display uncanny in its combination of textural richness and palpable underlying extract with lift and elegance. A more savory sort of mineral character with hidden sweetness akin to raw shrimp or scallop wells up as this takes on air, and the wine’s finish positively reverberates in its oscillation of mineral and citrus, like the resonance of stone church walls after a choir has gone silent. This is bound to offer at least a decade of delicious excuses for metaphor, as well as versatility at table. Didier Seguier and his team have managed to follow up their amazing 2006s with an equally remarkable collection of 2007s (though he insists that 6 to 9 months after bottling – when I tasted them – “is the worst time for expressing the purity of fruit”!). Harvesting here began early, on September 6 – the earliest start on record save for 2003 – but without feeling any compunction about taking one’s time, Seguier emphasized. Even so, the task was completed in 11 days, harvesting fruit of impeccable ripeness and harmonious though prominent acidity at a time when many growers were wise not to have begun yet. Without question, the rigorous sorting that all of the grapes undergo here is among the keys to the purity and the transparency to nuance of these wines. As usual at this address, even when one reaches the roughly 80% level of barrique (none, new, though) a smell or taste of wood is the farthest thing from one’s mind. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY; tel. (212) 605-6706