2017 Chablis Valmur
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Tasting notes
The 2017 Chablis Valmur Grand Cru is another wine with a production that was decimated by frost. Yields were a measly 8 hectoliters per hectare as opposed to around 50, which is the norm. As for the wine in the glass, it is superb. Curiously, the 2017 shows less density and power than I would have expected from this site in a low-yielding vintage. The 2017 Valmur is elusive, mysterious and also wonderfully inviting. A whole range of bright, saline notes add energy. I can't say the 2017 is a typical Valmur, because it isn't, but it is nevertheless very pretty.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur is brilliant, unwinding in the glass with a complex bouquet that mingles aromas of Meyer lemon and white peach with notes of oyster shell, iodine, wet stones, blanched almonds and wheat toast. On the palate, it's full-bodied, deep and searingly concentrated, with racy acids, chewy structuring extract and a long, precise and mouthwatering finish. Cropped at a mere 13 hectoliters per hectare, it nonetheless retains superb balance and a very promising sense of reserve.
The 2017 Chablis Valmur Grand Cru, depleted to five barrels and one feuillette instead of 15 barrels due to the frost damage, has a rather backward and broody bouquet that is missing the same joie-de-vivre as the Blanchots. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, taut and linear, though I feel it does not quite deliver the depth and concentration of some of the best Premier Crus on the finish. Let’s see how this pans out.
Intense oyster shell and wet stones with some spices and flinty elements. Some herbs and a flinty stony edge, too. The palate’s very intense, very svelte and athletic with punchy lemons and a steely, composed, swirling powerful finish. Bracing intensity here. Drink or hold.