Vocoret - Le Bas de Chapelot 2019
We drink a bottle of Le Bas de Chapelot 2019 from Chablis by Eleni and Edouard Vocoret.
As already announced, we stay for a bit longer in Burgundy. However, it goes from the bottom to the top. Not in the quality level but purely geographically. If we were last week at the southern tip of the Mâconnais, we are this time far in the north, in Chablis. But the grape variety has remained the same. If Chablis is on the bottle, Chardonnay is in it. Always. That makes at least this assignment easy then. Eleni and Edouard Vocoret, fittingly, met in New Zealand while harvesting grapes and bottled their first vintage in Chablis in 2013. They have been able to take over about 5 hectares from Edouard’s parental winery and work close to nature but are not certified. The grapes for Le Bas de Chapelot grow very close to the Premier Cru site Chapelot. Which, based on the name, somehow makes sense. The vines grow here on limestone soils and are harvested by hand. After harvesting, the grapes are fermented spontaneously in stainless steel and then aged in used wooden barrels for about a year on the fine lees.
With a lot of fine structure, some wood and a little touch of fruit, it starts off on the nose. And this is again such a candidate where oxygen does small wonders. The Chardonnay becomes more mineral and dense with each swirl in the glass. The acidity has bite and makes the wine super juicy. It now reminds us of salty olive brine and very bright, yellow fruit. Despite the added power, it always stays on the elegant, filigree side.
After a day, the wine seems a bit more ripe in fruit. It needs air again, which brings the minerality and saltiness to light. I find that it still has something of olives in brine, a bit of sea breeze on the nose and salted butter on the tongue are there as well. The wine has become noticeably creamier overnight and the acidity has pulled back a bit. We like that a lot. When it warms up a bit, it gets even creamier and almost opulent on the nose. But since there is always enough acidity to counter it, it never becomes too much or fat or clumsy. On the contrary, the intensity and freshness are a good combination. In addition, some citrus, kumquats and the sea. And so it then lies there on the tongue and does not want to leave, so that you yourself would like to lie there and not want to leave as well. But as so often the bottle is empty far too soon. It was really nice, however, and apart from that, the wine certainly still has a lot of time ahead of it.
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