![Domaine Laroche Chablis Les Blanchots Grand Cru 2019 (Burgundy, France) - [WE 95] [W&S 94] [VM 94] [WA 93+]](http://artisan.wine/cdn/shop/products/DL-Chablis-Grand-Cru-les-Clos_5f796eea-dcf5-4ecb-83e4-f52925c344ac_{width}x.png?v=1656098838)
Domaine Laroche Chablis Les Blanchots Grand Cru 2019
(Burgundy, France) - [WE 95] [W&S 94] [VM 94] [WA 93+]
Regular price $150.00 Sale price $139.97 Save $10.03
About The Domaine:
Domaine Laroche is directly linked to the history of Chablis. One of the most respected and largest landholders of Grand Cru vineyard, Domaine Laroche owns 90 hectares of vineyard situated amongst the best crus.
Its headquarters, the Obédiencerie of Chablis, reveals a heritage dating back from the Middle Ages when the Canons of Saint Martin of Tours were making wine. Saint Martin’s relics were hidden in the Obédiencerie for a decade. This exceptional testimony is very much alive: Domaine Laroche still elaborates and ages its Premiers and Grands Crus in these historical cellars. Its wines are a testimony of 1000 years of history!
The Laroche philosophy is based on a very special care of the terroirs in order for each of them to express its own particular characteristics in the glass. The importance of the ecological balance is crucial to maintain the vineyard heritage and to favour its durability. The respect of the soil, of the vine workers and of the environment are Laroche major commitments.
2019 VINTAGE: The 2019 vintage bore all the extremes: April and May with night frosts followed by three heatwaves at the end of June, end of July and end of August. The vineyard suffered from almost no disease therefore very few treatments were applied. The harvest started gently on September 10. The grapes were perfectly healthy. The first juices were very well balanced which forecasts a vintage similar to 2017.
Technical Information:
GRAPE VARIETY: 100% Chardonnay
VINEYARD: Domaine Laroche owns 1.12 hectares of the Grand Cru Les Clos appellation(25.81 ha in total). Les Clos is located straight in front of the village of Chablis with a Southern exposure. This favorable sunny exposure allows grapes to achieve excellent ripeness. Therefore, Les Clos is the most sinewy and long-lasting Grand Cru of Domaine Laroche. Massale Selection from Blanchot 1950 vineyards was planted in 2018.
MATURATION: The wine is aged in barrels with only 9% new oak for 14 months before being bottled in December 2020.
Tasting Notes:
The influence of this exceptional terroir appears in the pure mineral character and the intensity of aromas. Quite restrained at first, this Grand Cru offers finesse, complexity and a superb length. Culinary inspirations: smoked wild salmon, lobster salad, Royal King Crab, mature cheeses and chopped veal with creamy sauce and porcini mushrooms.
Ratings & Reviews
"This wine exhibits strength as well as richness. With a dense texture and powerful, warm yellow- and white-fruit flavors, its ripe character is supported by toast and a tight structure. Drink from 2024."
94 Points - Vinous:
The 2019 Chablis Les Blanchots Grand Cru is very well defined on the nose, where sea spray and oyster shell notes combine with citrus aromas. Hints of green olive emerge with time. The well-defined palate is taut on the entry, with hints of chai tea and chamomile infusing the white peach and citrus notes, and builds nicely toward a very composed finish. Superb. (NM) (10/2021)
94 Points - Wine & Spirits:
"Mark Laroche owns 11 acres of Blanchots, a cru named for the layer of white clay over Chablis’s Kimmeridgian limestone. That clay helps retain some moisture, which may be why this particular grand cru shows so beautifully in 2019. It’s as full as you would expect from the heat of the season, but the dynamic energy of the wine sustains freshness and buoys the broad flavors of yellow apple and puff pastry. It’s generous in spirit, without being overwhelming in alcohol. Lush and delicious, it lasts on floral apple and tangy white cranberry notes. A keeper." (10/2021)
93 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots wafts from the glass with notions of crisp orchard fruit, white peach, apple blossom, toasted almonds and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, concentrated and reserved, with good cut and back-end grip, it concludes with a long, delicately honeyed finish. The dynamic Grégory Viennois, who presides over Laroche's fully 90 hectares as technical director, continues to take this large house onwards and upwards; and with every vintage, the wines seem to take on more depth and dimension. As I wrote last year, Viennois is a Chapoutier and Derenoncourt alumnus, and he is working toward more sustainable farming and moderated yields in the vineyards, eliminating the use of pesticides, herbicides and anti-botrytis treatments, as well as pressing the grapes long and hard in the winery in pursuit of structuring dry extract. Recently used oak is more subtly employed, and Laroche's early-2000s transition to screw-cap closures has been abandoned. Several cuvées now see a longer élevage, and a couple of new small bottlings from within Laroche's large holdings have joined the range. 2018, revisited here in bottle, has turned out well, constituting a fine success in this abundant vintage, and 2019 is more promising still. (WK) (8/2021)