DAUVISSAT 2020 CHABLIS LES CLOS

WINE ADVOCATE 98 POINTS - "I generally have a slight preference for Dauvissat's Les Preuses, a preference I suspect Vincent Dauvissat shares, but the 2020 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos, at least at this early stage, gets my nod as the king of the cellar—and the wine of the vintage. Wafting from the glass with aromas of citrus oil, fresh bread, oyster shell, white flowers and wet stones, it's full-bodied, layered and textural, with huge concentration, racy acids and a long, resonant finish. Technically retired but very much a continuing presence at his eponymous domaine, Vincent Dauvissat—who forsook a career as a shepherd to become one of France's most celebrated vignerons—seemed just as delighted with his 2020s as he had been with his 2019s. Chiseled, concentrated and pungently mineral, there's no grower in the region who has done a better job of retaining all of Chablis's classical signatures in the warmer, sunnier vintages of the last decade. Once again, Dauvissat has produced some of the wines of the vintage, and they will be worth a special effort to seek out. Readers will remember that farming here is organic but without certification. The harvest is by hand, and the wines ferment in tank before racking to barrel with the lees (Raveneau's Chablis, by contrast, are racked to barrel more or less without their lees), spending a second winter in wood before bottling. A first bottling, destined for the American market, sees a light filtration, while a second bottling—some of which is sealed with wax."