The wines of Chablis are known for their limited oak, piercing minerality, and crystalline elegance. Our favorites are often mid-range bottles that combine everyday pricing and with great energy and beautiful precision.
But high-end Chablis can be extraordinary. Cuvées from Chablis’s seven famous Grand Crus show a depth and power that’s remarkable for a white wine. The Domaine Jean Collet makes superb everyday village and premier cru cuvées, but their Grand Cru, with a higher pricetag and shorter supply, is worth every penny.
Collet’s 2020 Grand Cru from Valmur lives up to its considerable billing, the product of impressive terroir in a concentrated vintage. Romain has expertly balanced Chablis’s signature minerality with a richness that calls to mind a Puligny Grand Cru. William Kelley gave 94 points, calling it “excellent…layered and fleshy…deep and nicely concentrated.” Jasper Morris MW awarded 95 points, finding the wine “pleasingly balanced…with energy levels that really kick on at the back.”
Grand Cru Chablis is hardly an everyday bottling, but we think this wine easily outperforms its pricetag. The nose shows is explosive and delicious, showing gardenia, green tea, and baked lemon flavors, with a bright chalky stoniness that enhances the fruit. The mouth is simply packed with flavor — it’s bold and rich, but vibrant in texture. A grand wine for a grand occasion.
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Collet Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2020
bottle price: $82
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