2021 Chablis, Hommage à Louis, Grand Cru, Jean-Paul & Benoît Droin, Burgundy

Cask sample

Sleek and refreshing with a strong mineral element. Impressive and tightly wound for a successful future.

Drink 2025 - 2040

This should be Les Clos but there is still a dispute in place with officialdom as to whether or not one of the plots counts as Les Clos or Valmur. I would side with Benoît and Les Clos. Incidentally, he has found out more about the soil through the laying of electric cables to warm the wines when it freezes. There is an unexpected amount of blue clay along with the classic slabs of limestone. The 2021 Hommage a Louis has a very classy nose, a really beautiful expression of Clos. There is a magical, lean intensity on the palate. Perhaps it is not as immediately stunning as the 2021 Grenouilles, but this will live to make old bones.

Drink 2027 - 2036

Named after the ancestor that originally bought the parcel, the 2021 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru Hommage à Louis has an intense bouquet with praline and white chocolate touches infusing the vibrant citrus fruit. The palate is very well-balanced, with a powerful opening. It's spicy like the Les Preuses, though many without quite the same ambition on the finish. But this is still very impressive.

Drink 2024 - 2046

As readers will remember, the 2021 Chablis Grand Cru Hommage à Louis is a result of a dispute with the INAO—who contended that part of the Droin family's historic parcel of Les Clos, named as such on the cadastre and always labelled accordingly, is in fact Valmur—and while that dispute is close to resolution, the "Hommage" label will endure, at least through the 2021 vintage. Revealing aromas of Myer lemon, pear, white flowers and almond paste, it's full-bodied, satiny and layered, with a concentrated core of sweet fruit, lively acids and a long, chalky finish. It's a terrific effort in a challenging vintage.

Drink 2025 - 2045

From a 1.4 ha holding in Les Clos.

Like the Grenouilles, there is enough wood to merit mentioning but not enough to overshadow the cool, airy and very fresh aromas of oyster shell, white flower and ocean breeze. The succulent yet powerful and delineated flavours brim with both minerality and dry extract, all wrapped in a driving bitter lemon-inflected and youthfully austere finale.

This gorgeously textured effort is a lovely combination of power and refinement that should amply repay a decade-plus of cellaring. I would add that Les Clos is known among the vignerons of Chablis as La Force Tranquille the tranquil force), and in 2021, it carries its nickname well!

Drink 2033

Top quality producer.

Weighty, profound, and rich, this is a stunning Les Clos with an extra depth and richness that would please many Côte-d'Or fans. White flowers are on the nose, and spice and stone fruit are on the palate, with 40% oak and a lingering, freshening mineral undertow. A Grand Cru with gravitas that will drink for 15-20 years. Droin has 1.4ha, with vine age averaging 40 years. Its plots are located in various sectors of the cru, with some lower down in the western sector and part on the blue clay soils on the mid-slope.

Drink 2026 - 2038