2020 Chablis, Les Preuses, Grand Cru, Vincent Dauvissat, Burgundy

The 2020 Chablis Les Preuses Grand Cru has a mineral-driven bouquet that is very flinty and linear at the moment. The palate is well-balanced, powerful, and deep, turning very spicy on the mid-palate and delivering a crescendo of flavours toward the finish. Yet, something about this Les Preuses says it’s holding back much of what it has to offer. Be patient.

Drink 2028 - 2048

From a 1 ha parcel planted in 1970 though as noted in the introduction, the surface area will decrease to .70 ha effective with the 2021 vintage.

A gorgeously elegant and wafting nose is perhaps the purest of the entire range with its essence of lightly smoky mineral reduction, oyster shell, quinine and spicy poached pear wisps. The texture of the stony middleweight flavours immediately reminds one of just how classy Preuses is when it's 'on' and this was on with its caressing mouthfeel that is refined to the point of finesse, yet the finish is vibrant, detailed and hugely long. This has the potential to be one of the wines of the vintage. In sum, this beauty is strikingly good with the potential to match.

Drink from 2032 onward

A little more to the colour, oily and saline at the same time. Perhaps yellower fruit. Delicious body, and actually more harmonious on the palate than the nose suggested. More white fruit in the end than yellow, and with a wonderful weight!

Drink 2028 - 2040

Offering up aromas of orange oil, white peach, jasmine, oyster shell, wet stones and struck flint, the 2020 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses is full-bodied, ample and layered, with terrific concentration, racy acids and a long, intensely mineral finish. As ever, this wine is more floral-mineral than it is fruity, standing out for its ethereal personality in contradistinction with the blockier, more muscular Les Clos.

Drink 2027 - 2055