Verget Chablis Cuvee de la Butte, Burgundy, France

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From a south-facing parcel at the high end of Les Butteaux, whose fruit Guffens has frequently separately bottled, the 2006 Chablis Cuvee de la Butte was vinified in large cask and then left there on its lees for seven months. Tangerine and lime, high-toned herbal essences and ocean breezes mingle in the nose, and offer a fine sense of richness yet also an invigorating amalgam of fresh citrus and salts on the palate. Chalk and lees tinge the long, juicy finish of this wine that should mature nicely for 4-6 years. 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