Last week I was thrilled to taste through Daniel-Etienne Defaix’s just-released 2005 Premier Crus: It was as memorable a white Burgundy tasting as I’ve enjoyed in the last few years. 2005 remains a stunning vintage and the experience left me with strong convictions about Domaine Defaix.
Namely, that this estate is bottling some of the most complex and jaw-droppingly fair-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 real 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 hey, I’m not arguing. As you might guess, I’m not the only wine professional 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!
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*PLEASE NOTE: Today’s wine will ship from California the week of Monday, 11/26. Limit 12 bottles per customer.]
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 has proven himself 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 very 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 “Côte de Lechet” 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!
The miracle of Daniel-Etienne Defaix’s unique cellar regimen is its ability to perfectly preserve a vintage’s youthful energy and vitality across many years of aging. So, while today’s 2005 brings all the depth and complexity one seeks in mature white Burgundy, there is no “trade off” (i.e. no unpleasant oxidation nor watery finish). Even after 13 years, this wine is a monument to the power and deep minerality of the historic 2005 vintage. The first impression of today’s wine is that of pure limestone terroir. It’s as if Defaix has converted millions of years of geological evolution into each sip. For me, this is the essence of Chablis. If I want unctuous fruit and hints of vanilla, I look elsewhere in Burgundy; in Chablis, I need to feel the impact of soil and minerality. Today’s bottle delivers this region-defining quality in spades. If enjoying with friends, please decant for at least one hour before serving in large Burgundy stems at cellar temperature. But, if you’re a real wine nerd like me, there’s nothing like experiencing the gradual unfurling of a great wine over many hours. No outside distraction or discussion, just complete solitary immersion in the wine itself: I opened my bottle alone in the backyard one recent, unseasonably warm evening while lighting my grill. As I soon learned, Defaix Chablis may have been custom-designed for whole trout wrapped in herbs and crispy bacon. I love contrasting rustic food with refined wine and this experiment succeeded beautifully. Great meal, incredible wine. Give it a shot
