My colleagues and I open our fair share of outstanding white Burgundies every month, but few unleash total pandemonium at SommSelect HQ like today’s exquisite, perfectly mature 2005 Chablis.
The reaction upon tasting it recalled a raucous, celebratory scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Yes, this wine is that good. Having only recently emerged from its cellar of origin, this beauty is the very definition of “sweet spot”—and we aren’t the only ones losing our minds about it. As recently as last autumn, The Wine Advocate described this extremely rare treasure as “drinking beautifully,” with a “generous, textural attack, vibrant acids and a charming, open-knit profile that belies its evident capacity to age.” Not to mention, in order to acquire inventory for today’s offer, we had to draw straws with an honor roll of Michelin-starred restaurants in Northern California who are also receiving small allocations. In short, this is special stuff, everyone knows it, and there is nowhere near enough volume to satisfy the demand. This combination of quality, maturity, and bulletproof, straight-from-the-winery provenance would be a no-brainer for $100 per bottle—but at $55, it’s an absolute steal. I’m going all-in with my personal purchase and urge fellow Chablis lovers to do the same!
[*PLEASE NOTE: Today’s wine will ship from California the week of February 18th. Limit 12 bottles per customer.]
Simply put, Daniel-Etienne Defaix is bottling some of the most complex and fairly priced Premier Cru whites in Chablis. In an era when Burgundian whites are so often (a) overpriced and (b) engineered for quick release and young drinking, Defaix remains one of the last defenders of long, slow aging in the cellar and genuine value in the bottle. I can’t quite say how the estate stays in business after deferring profits for 13+ years, and then charging such modest prices for such exceptional wines—but I’m not arguing, either. As you might guess, I’m not the only sommelier who notices the magic and remarkable value that’s been emanating from this cellar recently. Defaix’s top Premier Cru whites quickly vanish upon arrival in the US market, and with each exciting release, SommSelect is only offered a small allocation. So, you might want to move quickly: We don’t expect today’s offer to last long!
My own experience cellaring Premier Cru Chablis has shown that most drink best between 10-20 years of bottle age. This is typically the point when oxygen has broken the wine down to the perfect balance between refreshing minerality and advanced aromatic complexity. This waiting game, however, can be dangerous, as one never knows if the wine has expired until the bottle is open. Fortunately, Daniel-Etienne Defaix is a master of anticipating each vintage’s eccentricities in this regard. Over the past few years, I’ve enjoyed a variety of Defaix whites from the late-1990s to the present and almost always, spectacularly, they’ve possessed a beautiful synthesis of youth and maturity.
Defaix’s family has been producing wine in and around this region since the 1500s. Defaix works almost exclusively with Chardonnay and his ample collection of Premier Cru vineyards are farmed entirely by hand and fertilized with natural compost and manure. It’s an ancient and devoutly traditional operation in the vines. Still, I’d say that the most exciting and unique aspect of this property is what happens in the cellar. Over the last handful of centuries, the Defaix family has amassed a sprawling collection of Premier Cru acreage in Chablis—yet very little of the fruit it produces ends up in wine with a Defaix label! With 70+ acres of vines in the region, Daniel-Etienne oversees a ruthless triage (sorting) every harvest that banishes all but the finest, most pristine grapes to the négociant (merchant) market. Only a minuscule amount of peak-quality product remains for fermentation in the Defaix cellar.
Benefitting exclusively from the property’s native airborne yeast culture, Defaix’s wines ferment slowly and naturally—sometimes for as long as a month for alcoholic fermentation, and even two years for natural malolactic fermentation to complete. It’s an unusually patient, hands-off process, but the excitement doesn’t end there: Defaix aged today’s “Vaillon” on its fine lees for upwards of two years, while using an unusual oxygen- and sulfite-free bâtonnage (lees-stirring) process that relied only on the wine’s self-produced CO2 to maintain freshness. While there is ample technique and technology in this second stage of vinification at Defaix, things return to arch-traditionalism for the rest of the voyage. There is no harsh fining or filtering, only an additional two years of natural settling and clarification in the family’s bone-chilling underground cellar. Finally, before bottling, Defaix demands a second multi-year round of gentle aging. When all is said and done, one can generally expect to wait between 12-13 years for the release of Defaix’s top Premier Crus. It can be agonizing to hold out for a truly special vintage like 2005 (when everyone else is releasing 2017s), but trust me—it’s well worth the wait!
With today’s extraordinary 2005 Chablis Premier Cru “Vaillon,” Daniel-Etienne Defaix has pulled off yet another miracle: Namely a wine that displays all the depth and complexity one expects from 13+ years of aging in Defaix’s frigid cellar while still perfectly preserving the 2005 vintage’s youthful freshness, power, and regality. Unlike so many other older white Burgundies in the market, here there is no premature oxidation, no watery finish, and not one crack starting to show. It’s a masterpiece, and an absolute joy to drink right now. Whereas many wines from Chablis only tease fruit and richness, today’s 2005 “Vaillon” overwhelms the senses with vibrant yellow apple and citrus, opulent mid-palate fruit, cascading layers of floral and mineral aromatics, and a seductive finish that lingers for what feels like hours. This is about as hedonistic and luxurious as Chablis gets. And you really can’t go wrong: Feel free to decant for 30-60 minutes if you wish, but I found two recent bottles poured directly from bottle into large Burgundy stems no less enjoyable than a previous one that was decanted—it was perhaps even more enjoyable to witness the wine slowly revealing itself over the first hour. Along the same lines, I impatiently poured one bottle fresh out of the refrigerator and far below optimal service temperature (55 degrees in this case), but it still displayed ample character and texture. It just goes to show you: truly outstanding wines don’t need to be coddled! When it comes to a companion dish, I do urge you to embrace this wine’s inherent, let-it-all-hang-out charisma. I eschewed refined cuisine in favor of crispy, perfectly grilled cornish game hens alongside a platter of blistered potatoes dauphinoise (with added thyme and gruyère), and a local baguette with lots of butter. You know you hit it out of the park when there is no leftover food or wine after dinner! Cheers!
