A great find for Chablis lovers — Domaine des Chenevières
Neville made an excellent discovery in Chablis: the wines of Frédéric Gueguen, Domaine des Chenevières. Frédéric was — and is — a wine maker at Jean-Marc Brocard. He formed his own domaine in 2005. While only a young domaine, from what I have tasted this is one of the best sources for exciting Chablis.
Neville tried the range while I took a nap, naïvely dismissing the domaine after a day of disappointing tastings. He returned with a smile and three samples.
Domaine des Chenevières l’Homme Mort 1er Cru 2007 Deeper colour than most young Chablis I’ve seen, more like a Côte d’Or which has seen barrel maturation. The domaine does not use barrels, however, so all this colour is skin contact and lack of filtering. An explosive nose, beautiful, clean, pure. Aromas of lemon juice, gooseberry, grass, unripe peach. The palate deliveries, deliciously crisp acidity frames a wine full of flavour, which still remains refined and free of any heaviness, the classic Chablis. The palate has a strong grapefruit flavour, without any of the sourness of that fruit. The wine has impressive length, a lasting acidity.
Domaine des Chenevières Côte de Lechet 1er Cru 2007 Pure white stone fruit aromas dominate the nose, very refined and confident. The aromas linger. While not powerful, it is the kind of wine you can smell from a metre away. The wine touches all parts of the mouth — I say touch, rather than coat, because there is no heaviness to this wine at all, despite its powerful aroma. Extremely good effort.
Domaine des Chenevières Bougros Grand Cru 2007 The most impressive of the wines I saw. Like the others, strongly reminiscent of grapefruit but also full of white flowers. A minerality to the palate that I can only describe as gastronomic, it is textural, crystalline, dots the tongue and leaves it tingling as you swallow. Extremely refined with a flawless structure and amazing complexity for a young Chablis. Unlike most Chablis, this gives pleasure in its youth and can be enjoyed for another year. Then, I guess, it will need another three to five years in bottle, to develop some secondary characteristics and really show what it has to say. The style of wine making probably means that this won’t go thirty or more years as other Chablis in great years can. However, over the next 15 years it will give immense pleasure to many.
