2014 Chablis, Les Clos, Grand Cru, Domaine Pinson Frères, Burgundy

2014 Chablis, Les Clos, Grand Cru, Domaine Pinson Frères, Burgundy

Product: 20148013697
Prices start from £640.00 per case Buying options
2014 Chablis, Les Clos, Grand Cru, Domaine Pinson Frères, Burgundy

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

With a pale colour, this has a nose that suggests a wine of great potential power. It shows all the majesty of Les Clos, and the fruit is usefully supported by a touch of oak. Full and fine, with great grace and depth of fruit, this is exceptionally long. It clearly needs much more time though.

Laurent Pinson is happy to report better volumes than in recent vintages, and more typical Chablis in style. The grapes ripened nicely yet retained very good acidity. The crop was picked by hand in good weather, and fermented with natural yeasts. The crus are all barrel-aged, with a small proportion being barrel fermented. As usual, we see not just great quality but also excellent value for money at this estate.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate
Tasted blind at the Burgfest annual tasting, Pinson's 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos had an odd nose indicating that the fruit might well have been picked too late: quite rich with honeyed and yellow fruit aromas, then an underlying cheesy note. The palate is balanced with sour lemon on the entry, very bitter in the mouth and I find the finish very simplistic and one-dimensional for a Les Clos. The previous bottle was far superior than this and therefore I will not judge based on this example.
Neal Martin - 31/10/2017 Read more

About this WINE

Domaine Pinson

Domaine Pinson

The Pinson family have been growing grapes and making wine since 1640. They were among the first in Chablis to bottle their wines for public sale, in the 1880s. By 2009, the area under vine had grown to about 14 hectares, with holdings in Grand Cru, Premier Cru and village-level Chablis vineyards. The wines are made in the classic Chablis style while expressing the distinctive character of each terroir.

Domaine Pinson Frères has a fine range of vineyard sites, including four parcels in the Grand Cru Les Clos from which they make two different cuvées, and which allows them to combine the best features of the site.

The frères in the name are brothers Laurent and Christophe Pinson. Laurent's daughter Charlène has been winemaker here 2008, arriving with a degree in viticulture-and-winemaking from Beaune, and experience working in the Rhône. She has retained the traditions that have served the domaine well, using small amounts of new oak and mostly stainless steel, and has also introduced improvements in the cuverie, such as smaller tanks for more precise blending.

The domaine’s 14 hectares include holdings in Grand Cru (Les Clos), Premier Cru (Forêts, Fourchaume, Vaillons, Mont de Milieu, Montmains and Vaugiraut) and about two hectares of village Chablis. The estate’s plots on the left bank of the Serein River have Kimmeridgian soils rich in marine calcium and marl. On the right bank, soils are rich in calcium but with more clay, favouring a slightly richer style of wine. No weedkillers or insecticides are used, and yields are strictly controlled.

The Grand Cru and Premier Cru wines are fermented in 10-20% new oak, with the balance in stainless steel, and matured in older oak barrels. The village-level Chablis is fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel.

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Chablis Grand Cru

Chablis Grand Cru

These are the biggest, richest and most complex Chablis, which cover a total of 100 hectares – just two percent of the appellation. At their best, they can match the quality of a Grand Cru Chardonnay from the Côte d’Or, yet often at half the price.

They may lack their southern neighbour’s opulence, but they share the latter’s intensity and have a nervy minerality that set them apart. Inexpressive in youth, they should ideally be aged for 10 years, and can mature for up to 30 years. Styles vary according to producer, with some maturing and fermenting in stainless steel while others use barrels, sometimes even new oak.

All seven Grands Crus are grouped together on a single south-west-facing hill just north of the town. La Moutonne is an unofficial eighth Grand Cru straddling Les Preuses and Vaudésir, and is allowed to use the name on its label. The rich, fine Les Clos and the intense, spicy Vaudésir are generally considered to be the best, and are certainly the most full-bodied.

The delicate Blanchots and the racy Grenouilles are the most aromatic, while Les Preuses is full, complex and the least minerally. Valmur is fragrant, rich and smooth while La Moutonne is elegant and incredibly expressive. The vibrant Bougros tends to be the junior member of the group, but in the right hands can also be very good.

Recommended producers: Billaud-SimonDuplessisJ.-P. & Benoit Droin.

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Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is often seen as the king of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or.

Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.

It is quantitatively important in California and Australia, is widely planted in Chile and South Africa, and is the second most widely planted grape in New Zealand. In warm climates Chardonnay has a tendency to develop very high sugar levels during the final stages of ripening and this can occur at the expense of acidity. Late picking is a common problem and can result in blowsy and flabby wines that lack structure and definition.

Recently in the New World, we have seen a move towards more elegant, better- balanced and less oak-driven Chardonnays, and this is to be welcomed.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.