Domaine Chalmeau 2006 Tasting Notes

Chablis Côte de l’Étang 2005
Aligoté Envers des Côtes 2005

Our exclusive wines this year come from the exceptional 2005 vintage. This was a very warm, dry year, which resulted in smallish yields with highly concentrated wines. Stylistically the wines fall midway between the blockbuster 2003s and the leaner 2004s.

Our exclusive Chablis Côte de l’Étang 2005 has the mineral richness associated with top-flight Chablis, balanced by zippy lemony acidity. The vines themselves are still relatively young, but every year, as they get older, we see an increase in the complexity of the wine. The 2005 vintage has the best concentration of flavour and the greatest length of any wine so far produced from this vineyard. Our winemaker, Franck Chalmeau, makes this wine in the traditional Chablis manner - without recourse to new oak - thereby accentuating the fresh fruit and mineral character of the wine. It also has the structure to age gracefully - so you can enjoy it now for its wonderful fresh, crisp acidity, or keep it for five years and see it develop complex nutty flavours.

This is a very versatile wine style as its freshness makes it ideal with seafood - try it with oysters or lobster - but it also has sufficient power to work with poultry and white meat.

Our exclusive Aligoté Envers des Côtes reflects the same vintage characteristics. It still has typical fresh acidity, but combines this with more richness and fruit character, making it light years away from generic Aligoté - which tends to be searingly acidic. Envers des Côtes is distinctly unique and works wonderfully as an apéritif - no need to add cassis - but it also forms a perfect marriage with all seafood.