LOUIS MICHEL CHABLIS BUTTEAUX 1ER CRU 2022

LOUIS MICHEL CHABLIS BUTTEAUX 1ER CRU 2022

$47.99 x 12 bottles US LOW

$50 Reg

90-92 pts Vinous: The 2022 Chablis Butteaux 1er Cru comes from clayey soils that can easily become compacted and like "concrete" in dry conditions. It has a lovely nose with touches of yellow plum and mirabelle, very pure with an underlying mineralité coming through with aeration. The palate is well-balanced with a slightly waxy, pithy entry. It is lightly spiced thanks to a dab of stem ginger, with fine depth and commendable persistence on the finish. This will need just a couple of years in bottle. - By Neal Martin on July 2023

91-93 pts Jasper Morris: Pale lemon yellow. Noticeably saline on the nose, then a dry stony finish, with a raft of white orchard fruit between the two. Medium to full bodied, not too exotic, a quietly classy Chablis. Drink from 2027-2034.

Terroir: Kimmeridgian. Left bank. Strong presence of white and blue clay mixed with large blocks of marl oyster fossils. Fairly steep slopes. Very well ventilated. South-south-east exposure. This wine comes from four separate plots on the Butteaux slopes, in the western part of the Montmains valley. They are the most distant from the winery, but only a little over a mile away. The clays here are compact and contain marl. The wines made from these vines express great complexity on the palate. These are wines of character, excellent for enthusiasts.

Louis-Michel Chablis

William Kelley 7/22: Guillaume Michel presides over this important 22-hectare estate, which has long been the reference for tank-fermented and matured Chablis, a style that the Michel family did much to popularize in the 1980s. Intense and tensile wines are the calling card here, pure and unadorned in style and consistently high in quality. Indeed, I sometimes think that Louis Michel is the most underrated of Chablis's larger domaines. Some cuvées will see a slightly longer than usual élevage due to glass shortages, but I suspect that will only enhance their quality.

ALL wines are vinified and aged in stainless steel tanks, for 12-16 months.