- He's Still Young and Getting Even Better
- The Distinct Chavy Style Combines Density, Fruit, Minerality and Acidic Balance to Keep Freshness
- 2 Wines from the Terrific 2018 Vintage
- I Still Buy Them Direct and They Are Great Values for the Quality
These Wines Are Among the Most Delicious Whites in Burgundy
- Tremendous Fruit Concentration and Intensity
- Brilliantly Mineral and Balanced With Top Notch Finesse
- Romaric is Using Less and Less Oak
- So Saline as Well Now
- Top 20 Producer of Whites in Burgundy
- The Wines Should Be Much More Expensive
- 2016 Was The "Breakthrough" Vintage/Everything Since Then Is Elite
2018 Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
- Nose: Coiled Richness and Classic Meursault Nuttiness
- A "Wall of Flavor" Wine: Stunning Fruit and Density but the Acid Balance to Go Toe to Toe with It, Huge Minerality
- Incredible Texture
- The Palate Impact Is Incredible
- Remarkable Meursault Power but Great Restraint and Finesse
- A Stunning Bottle of Burgundy
- 93 PTS Wine Advocate (2017)
2018 Puligny Montrachet "Les Enseigneres"
- Lieu-Dit Royalty (Like Tessons/Meix Chaveaux/Tillets in Meursault)
- Nose: Rich Hazelnuts, Lemon, Apple, White Peaches
- Grand Cru Intensity and Power
- Almost Impossibly Elegant Given the Density
- The Signature of Enseigneres is The Racy Minerality
I'm really lucky to represent Chavy-Chouet in the states as he has gotten better and better year after year. 16/17/18 are incredible here and a significant step up over 13/14/15. I don't always warn you to stock up on a producer before the wines get expensive. But when I do, I'm pretty much always right. Chavy-Chouet's popularity has been increasing steadily both in Europe and the States. And his prices have been increasing about 20% per year. And you know what? He deserves it. He's got great terroir, works his tail off in the vineyards and is very smart and knows when to harvest and how to make great wine. He has examples of all the top terroirs in Meursault and in Puligny-Montrachet. His wines are so beautiful and just get better and better with age. Just check out his 2013s now.There is more finesse and a serene genteel quality to his wines now as he has evolved as a winemaker. He hangs out all the tine with the top young winemakers in Burgundy and I always see Raphael Coche in his Instagram stories. He drinks wines from all over the world and is always learning and tweaking his formulas slightly for higher quality. It's working. In 2018 he has dialed back the oak even more and the salinity of the wines is just off the wall.
The 2018 Vintage
His 18s are just electric and have that acid and mineral spine that all white Burgundy lovers crave. But they also have gorgeous dramatic fruit and according to Romaric, more freshness and acidity than his 15s and 17s, which I concur with after tasting them out of barrel. Romaric says it's his best vintage and his evolution as a winemaker is so damn impressive. The 18s here are remarkable. The contrast between freshness and the beautiful fruit of the vintage along with that salinity and purity is awe inspiring.
The Wines
First up is the 2018 Chavy-Chouet Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes" for $89.99 (compare 2016 at
The nose has that coiled richness along with classic Meursault nuttiness. Really deep and intense but complex at the same time in a sort of a maelstrom kind of way. It has loads of baking spices, green apple skins, huge clear minerality, like smelling fresh air, gorgeous hint of florals, zero sense of woods unreal purity on this nose. Just world class, super elite and profound. And only better with air. A cornucopia of complexity after 8-9 hours of air.
The palate has powerful Meursault fruit. And it is incredibly dense - that's the Chavy style. And it is dialed up in 2018. But the fruit is restrained, almost coiled to allow the finesse to shine though. This wine really shows what the Chavy style is - the fruit is massive and dense but the acidic balance is also massive and dense so the wine is powerful, yet balanced and not at all monolithic. It's that Chavy unobtrusive purity and clarity which takes another step forward in 2018. He is young and getting better with every vintage. The wine is incredibly juicy as great Charmes can be but combines that with lovely complexity, minerality and ripeness as well as real depth of flavor. Zero sense of wood, unreal purity on this, palate is superbly complex, linear with great energy and a sappy intense mineral driven structure. Such a lean Charmes! Love it. That opulence and richness one can get from Charmes is there but man is this chiseled. Gorgeous. Insane complexity already. Chewy and structured and gets richer with air but the chisel stays as is. Another terrific wine from a great site. Romaric is doing incredible work here from terrific vineyards. This, for $89.99 in THIS vintage might be the best Meursault 1er value I will ever offer. This is Limited as is the next wine. Obviously, this is a bigger wine (it's Meursault, after all) but it does not go over the top and wallow in its power like some Meursaults can. It's absolutely chiseled and elegant while being prodigious and powerful. Below is the 93 Point Wine Advocate Score for the 2017.
"The 2017 Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes exhibits notes of green orchard fruit, iodine, hazelnut cream and honeycomb. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with bright acids and the most dimension and structure of Chavy's wines this year. Fresh and detailed, it's a persuasive Merusault Charmes that will reward several years' bottle age." 93 Points, William Kelley, Wine Advocate (2017)
Next up is the 2018 Chavy Chouet Puligny Montrachet "Les Enseigneres" for as little as $69.99 a 4-pack. Enseigneres, made famous by Coche Dury is one of my favorite sites in all of Puligny. Adjacent to the Grand Cru Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet and also below Batard Montrachet this wine combines the intensity and power you get from a Grand Cru with classic Puligny character of flowers, toasted hazelnuts, iodine/saline and top notch finesse. It is an insane value at $70 as Coche Dury's is prohibitively expensive this is a pittance and the quality delta between the two is really not huge. Just stunning. This is easily 1er Cru in quality here.
The nose just announces itself with rich hazelnuts, spice, lemon, apple, white peaches and also exceedingly mineral and almost smells like a breeze. Also a lanolin-like quality. Quite complex with terrific aromatic depth. So pure and expressive. Superbly mineral. With authority. Hickory, light smoke, green apple skins as well. Some wet earth notes as it warms up. Lovely, clean and super pure aromas. Awesome nose. Like a baby Batard.
Palate is classic CC, with incredible balance between richness and super rocky minerality with off the wall energy. Reminds me of river stones in a babbling brook that is extra because of severe winds. As it is young there is a hint of sweet wood on the palate but I've had enough of these to know this will integrate in 1-2 years from now. Impressive texture, balance and terrific purity. The inner mouth aromas are so clear and vivid. It's so elegant yet substantial. Structured, dense, juicy and explosive. So long and pure. Brilliant wine. Will age for a decade at least. This is super pure and has fresh fruit with terrific thrust and depth. Great classic Chavy-Chouet (read-high!) acidity. Mouthwatering. Great structure as well which suggests a nice window for aging. One needs to pay much more for Puligny of this character. This is an easy wine to fall for, especially in the juicy, clean, fine-grained and nervy style that 2018 is shaping up to be at Chavy-Chouet.
2018 Chavy-Chouet Meursault 1er Cru "Les Charmes" - $91.99
($269.97 3-pack)(*Including Tariff of *11.30)
2018 Chavy-Chouet Puligny-Montrachet "Les Enseigneres" - $71.99 ($209.97 3-pack) (*Including Tariff of *8.48)
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