2004 Chablis Les Clos

Pale bright yellow. Precise, elegant aromas of citrus zest, crushed stone, white flowers and juniper berry, the last a classic note of older Clos, according to Dauvissat. Quite fresh on the palate, with lemon and mineral flavors complemented by a sexy note of white truffle. Finishes saline, dry and long. I should note that this was the third bottle of the '04 that Dauvissat opened. He found the first one a bit unclean and the finish dry, and the second one showed a faint mocha-like old wood quality. Obviously, my score is for the third bottle. This was a vintage with a lot of oidium, said Dauvissat. "It was a lighter-style year in terms of texture," he added, "but the wines were wonderfully showy early on." (12.5% alcohol; from a huge crop picked on October 2 with very good acidity; Dauvissat said these vines may have yielded as much as 75 h/h but noted that the maximum allowable production was 54 h/h, adding that "we destroyed a lot of fruit in those days")

The 2010 Valmur was a last-minute replacement for an awkward 2004 Dauvissat Clos that I wanted to serve next to the 2010 Raveneau Clos, but in the end it all worked perfectly.

Cool, pure aromas of citrus skin, white flowers, crushed stone and violet. Suave on entry, then classy and sharply delineated in the middle, with almost painful cut to the nervy flavors of citrus zest, minerals and juniper berry. Mounts slowly and inexorably, bathing the palate in minerals and lingering with great subtlety. I would not be surprised to see this rate a 95-point score with extended bottle aging.