"As the scores and comments suggest, these are well-made wines and at the prices the Dampt wines generally sell for, they are first-rate bargains." BurgHound (Allen Meadows) quote on Dampt 15s. As I've just finished off my brilliant Sebastien Dampt 13s with a ripping bottle of the"Vaillons," I have come to reflect that no one does these warmer vintages in Chablis better than Dampt. The wines retain what is so essential to them, which is their wonderfully expressive and distinct minerality. Chablis is not Chablis without that seashell/Kimmeridgian minerality and with 2011, 2013 and now 2015, young Sebastien Dampt has started to prove, the only way a winemaker can prove anything, which is with a track record, is that he is a master of keeping Chablis Chablis in these not as classical vintages. I find myself reaching for 11 (all gone), 13 (all gone), 15 (just arrived) more than any type of wine in my cellar. The classical vintages like 14 and 10 are still not ready and in between you've got all these as the British like to call them,"useful vintages." They are used to drink. Popular amongt restauranteurs and collectors who enjoy having wine cellars and not wine museums. Enter 2015, which is a warmer vintage than '14 and there was also a hailstorm so quantities for certain vineyards are very low. But the quality I tasted in '15 is terrific, albeit in a richer style. It is more like '11 and maybe '13 (which are both drinking insanely great.
These wines are Incredibly "Burgundian."
By Burgundian, I mean central Burgundy - these wines have more of a central Burgundy character than most other Chablis I've had, while still being proudly Chablisien. I had a bottle of 2015 Lechet the other night and while it was certainly Chablis, the Chablisien minerality was an element among many, not the central element of the wine. The acidity was there but it was more in balance than your typical young Fass wine. The way that Sebastien harvested, the vintage translated into concentration but not blowsy fruit. The wines are much more traditionally balanced than most Chablis. For me, it is a very interesting and slightly delicious Chablis that Chablis lovers really need to try.
A quick note on pricing. All 3 of my Chablis producers raised their prices across the board in 2015, because all 3 suffered great losses in 16 due to frost and hail. They have businesses to run and it was deemed necessary. I have no issues with that at all. I have cut my margins significantly on this offer to create continuity of vintages. The 14 Vaillons was $24.99. I only raised my price a dollar for the 15. I had to. The 2014 Les Clos was $53 and I raised my price on 15 two dollars. I had to. Retaining price consistency for people who buy within a budget is critical to me and one of the reasons I opened this company. If I can avoid it, I don't want to get people hooked on a wine and then price it out of their range.
Up first I have the 2015 Sebastien Dampt Chablis 1er Cru "Vaillons" for as little as $25.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. The wine is beautiful and classic Vaillons. It is a great drink today but needs a few years to develop complexity. Still showing lovely minerality, deep fruit and tensile minerality and acidity. Vaillons has terrific zesty lemony/limey/appley fruit that really lingers here and is really clean and especially vivid. It has that Vaillons intensity (60 year old vines) that makes it a favorite amongst Chablis lovers everywhere. It is actually the most backward of all the 15s and could use a few years in the cellar. At Dampt, Lechet always shows better first, then Vaillons takes a few years to come around. '13 is tremendous now. Also 90 pts from BH!
"A more elegant and more complex nose offers up notes of lemon, wet stone, iodine and lovely floral nuances. There is both good volume and richness to the concentrated and relatively powerful medium weight flavors that exhibit a sneaky persistence on the solidly complex finale. Good stuff here."
90 pts Allen Meadows, BurgHound.
The second wine is the 2015 Maison Dampt Chablis Grand Cru "les Clos" for $54.99 on a 3 pack. You just don't see Les Clos much at all for $55 a bottle (the '14 is $68-$79 -- we buy direct so we can sell it for much cheaper). It is a rich, powerful Les Clos with killer freshness and purity. Loads of pear, apple and melon fruit that attacks the palate in layers. As typical as Les Clos can be this is a full bodied mineral-driven wine with a crescendo of a finish that is balanced and long. I mean long. The nose has a light exoticism to it but is dominant classic Chablis aromas. Floral and stoney. The oak is really integrated for such a young Dampt Grand Cru. He's getting better. For point people the 2012 got 93, 2014 got 93 and the 2013 got 92. I think the 2015 is in the same league or better. The 2015 is a stunner but needs rest as the 11, 12, 13 and 14 did. The '11 is the one to drink now while you sit on the 12, 13, 15 and 14. The wood in this wine always needs a year to integrate but man does it integrate. You don't know there is wood at all after a year in bottle. It is called Maison Dampt because this is from purchased fruit.
Sébastien Dampt is one of the bright young stars in Chablis. His three Premier Crus are all knockouts and he has been producing some wonderful Grand Cru Chablis under the Maison Dampt label. He's also a great guy to work with. 2015 shows his ever evolving skill as a winemaker, given that he made some of the best wines I've tasted from him given some difficult conditions.
Sebastien Dampt has become one of our core producers and it is very easy to see why. Whenever I taste Dampt with anybody they are just blown away by them. The quality price ratio is perhaps the best in Chablis and one of the best at Fass Selections. Sebastien is still relatively young and is getting better every year (he learned from his father, one of my favorite producers, so he was quite good when he started). Allen Meadows at Burghound is also a fan (we're big fans of the longtime leading American Burgundy critic).
No comments:
Post a Comment