Verget Bougros, Chablis Grand Cru, France

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From the eastern portion of the Bougros – below Preuses – the Verget 2006 Chablis Bougros emphasizes the savory, subtly sweet, crustacean side of minerality just has have several of the most dramatically expressive wines from Preuses this vintage. Tart apricot and lime offer a rather brash and unexpected contrast with a voluminous and slightly warm palate. Certainly the overall level of concentration is impressive, and 15% new barrels not noticeable, but there is a sort of sweet-tart dichotomy that needs to resolve itself. (A Cote de Bouqueyreaud bottling from the easternmost and steepest portion of Bougros was also marked by a bit of heat and a generally disorganized personality on the occasion of my tasting, so I have reserved judgment on it for now.) Jean-Marie Guffens has gone back to vinifying Chablis at his facility in the Macon, immediately after pressing in Chablis (a residency required for appellation controlee) and a highly selective separation of the juice. Guffens was quite bullish on the 2006 vintage – although he characterizes it as “exotic” rather than “classic” – and could afford to be, after having sat out 2005, and given the early harvest in 2006. (It’s always harder, he points out, to get growers to collaborate in a vintage that demands risky restraint and late picking, as did 2007, when Guffens purchased fruit from only a single supplier and cru.) Even given early picking to retain acidity, says Guffens, the freshness and length that characterize the best of them would not have been possible save for two factors. Most important were the relatively low pH levels that characterized the 2006 fruit. But secondly, the levels of total acidity actually rose during fermentation (presumably a function of the production of succinic acid as a fermentative by-product, a phenomenon in many ripe Riesling vintages as well). Importer: A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93