2022 Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis "Bas de Chapelot"

Paler colour and less to show on the nose as yet. Perhaps some citrus. Beautiful on the palate though with energy and clarity and a fine marine finish. There is significant body further back on the palate. I also tasted a mini cuvée of two barrels made from experimental high trellised vines which was more austere, with more muscle, firmer but less sensual. This is being followed with detail analysis and may be bottled separately. Drink from 2025-2030. Tasted: June 2023.

The 2022 Chablis Bas de Chapelot mingles aromas of peach and orange zest with hints of white flowers and nutmeg in an inviting bouquet, followed by a medium to full-bodied, taut and satiny palate, its sweet core of fruit girdled by racy acids. Chablis may not be the most dynamic of Burgundy's subregions, but Eleni and Edouard Vocoret are among the most ambitious new arrivals on the scene, and it was good to finally see full cellars at this address after the tiny quantities produced in 2021. The real expansion of the estate, with prime grand cru parcels, comes this year, but in 2022, there are already a number of new cuvées to take stock of, including one produced from vineyards farmed with high canopies without hedging, a technique that is popular among avant garde domaines in the Côte d'Or but which has yet to be much tested in Chablis (spoiler: it works). As I've written before, the Vocorets farm their vineyards without herbicides or pesticides and harvest by hand. In the cellar, vinification is in tank, followed by élevage in used barrels—very much in the mold of Vincent Dauvissat, one of the young couple's mentors.(WK)