One of the Great Wines of Chablis - "These Go to 11" - Tiny Plot, Concrete Egg, Small Production

Sebastien Dampt's Chablis Are Consistently Delicious Chablis

But...
 - His Concrete Egg Aged Beugnons Is on Another Level
 - One of the Most Interesting Wines in Chablis - I Kid You Not
 - It's Almost Its Own Category within Chablis (A Category of One)
 - If You Like Chablis, You Have to Try This

A "Wall of Flavor" Wine
 - Minerals, Fruit, Acidity Hit You in Big Whallops All at Once
 - As the Wine Aerates, Each Element Comes More Into Focus
 - Classic, Classic Chablis ... But Better
 - Terrific Fruit Density but Not Overtly Fruity
 - Everything Is on a Line
 - The Fruit Is a Component Alongside the Chablisien Minerality

With Air, This Can Compete with the Big Boys in Chablis - It's That Good

These Go to 11
We all know the famous scene in the iconic mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap."  One of the band

members extols the virtue of his amp dial going to up to 11 - as opposed to the standard 10.  If you need a little bit more oomph, you have that extra little bit.

Beugnons
After 6 vintages, I'm convinced that Beugnons is one of the elite wines in Chablis. All of Sebastien's wines are remarkably consistently very good.  But there is something about this Beugnons that catapults it into the upper echeclon of Chablis.  It has what I think you want in an elite 1er cru.  Dense without being blowsy.  Fruit but not so much that it overtakes the minerality that you need in great Chablis.  More of a density than anything overly obvious and tawdry. 

I'm not sure whether it's the plot, the egg or the fact that as a small production wine it gets extra special attention that makes this so great.   It's likely some combination of all 3.

The 2018 Vintage at Dampt
2018 is a warm vintage but we need to talk about warm vintages in Burgundy for a minute. When it comes to Chablis they really are learning how to do it. 2003 we can all admit was a disaster. 2005 was very good for a warmer vintage and 2006 was much better than 2003. 2009 was good not great and better than 2003 by a mile. 2011 was great for a warmer vintage and 2015 I think is the most successful warm vintage ever and now we have 2018 which in my opinion surpasses 2015 and is a brilliant warmer vintage. Why are they getting better at dealing with warmer vintages in Chablis? Because there are a heck of a lot of them. But 2018 at Dampt is a benchmark. I can also see how critics like BH and Neal Martin can taste all the Chablis in a vintage like 2018 and 2015 and leave with an overall impression of warm vintage wines. But as we all know wine is complex and nuanced. I can't make overall vintage impressions or Chablis when I have a max of 3 producers who were and are so different. All I know is how they did in a particular vintage. In 2018 Sebastien Dampt made some of the densest, most spectacular, longest aging wines of his career. I tasted his whole range and while all too young, all have decades ahead of them. This is the first vintage of Dampt where I would recommend aging all the wines for at least 3-4 years before one digs in. They are so dense, so fresh and so packed with material that patience will be rewarded. But my god are they impressive.

The Wine
Today, I am offering the 2018 Sebastien Dampt Chablis 1er Cru "Les Beugnons," (as little as $29.99 on a 4-pack). 

Les Beugnons is a subsection of Vaillons that is particularly well regarded. Sebastien believes that the concrete egg for elevage is perfect for this particular parcel. This is one of the first eggs in Chablis. The only other egg I know of is Thomas Pico at the cult favorite Pattes Loups. Sebastien's wines already have a lean, mineral spine along with wonderful density as his 2018 Vaillons can attest to, but with a concrete egg it can achieve more fruit during fermentation and a more opulent mouthfeel. There is a vastness you get  from the egg that is so intriguing. Sebastien pulls it off and this wine is sensational. I don't have much but it is worth it. Always the class of the 1er cru at Dampt and man is this a smoker.

Gorgeous nose of pear, apple, intense salty iodine, gorgeous ocean air, confectionary minerality. Some citrus and even some flint. This is exactly what you want in Chablis.  It's like sitting at the border of an apple orchard and a citrus orchard that are located at the top of a rocky cliff over looking the ocean.  You get that swirl of fruit and the minerals and the salt from the ocean all at once.   Just spectacular.

Palate is superb with wonderful texture and richness and lovely crunch. So clean and pure with racy acidity and freshness and awesome explosiveness. Concentrated and balanced with terrific crunch and texture. So pure and ripe but with just insane freshens. So long and persistent. A star. It has all the richness and tell-tale floral/mineral character of Sebastien's great Vaillons, but this is a warmer section of the vineyard and deemed a great spot by Sebastien, plus his decision to ferment in an egg makes this a must buy. It is so great in the superbly dense and fresh 2018 vintage at Dampt (like a cross between 17 and 15) and there is only a teeny amount (one egg) of it available for the world.  Perfectly balanced and already very complex.

Salty, lemony, seashell-like finish with jaw dropping purity and freshness.


The exceptional quality from this very little known 1er Cru within a 1er Cru is one of the most unique wines I have offered at Fass Selections. This is the 6th vintage and maybe the best yet I have offered.

2018 Sebastien Dampt Chablis 1er Cru "Les Beugnons" - $31.99 

($119.96 4-pack)(VERY LIMITED) (*Including Tariff of $2.92)