At the end of our buying trip to France back in March, we wound up back in Paris at a brasserie in Monmartre called La Mascotte. This place is famous for its oysters, some of which were the size of my fist, and as groaning platters of them landed on the table so did today’s wine. This was our first opportunity to taste the 2016 vintage of Guy Robin’s “Vieilles Vignes,” and, based on two weeks of tasting great ’16s at every stop, we had high expectations—which this wine absolutely blew away.
I didn’t think it would be possible to improve on the blockbuster 2015 (which we offered to great response last year), but they indeed managed it! Like many 2016 white Burgundies we’ve tried, Robin’s has similar weight and generosity to its predecessor, but has a little more held in reserve. Its proportions are ever-so-slightly leaner, giving the wine more freshness and focus and leaving the impression that it has longer aging potential. As for the “Vieilles Vignes” designation—a term with no legal, or ‘official,’ definition—it is especially meaningful in the case of Guy Robin, an estate known for having some of the greatest ‘heirloom’ vines in all of Chablis. As I proclaimed that night in Paris, this wine is on fire—especially when you factor in its modest price. I was, and am, truly blown away by this wine, and you will be, too. This is just about the pinnacle of ‘village-level’ Chablis.
As we’ve learned firsthand while offering many great whites from this property, there’s nothing generic about Guy Robin. Even this bargain-priced village bottling delivers a level of depth usually reserved for much higher designations (and price points). The estate’s calling card is a formidable stand of vieilles vignes (‘old vines’), originally acquired in the 1960s and lovingly tended in the subsequent decades, when many Chablis producers ripped up vineyards to re-plant with higher-yielding clones. As a Chablis fanatic, it’s painful for me to acknowledge that this region has seen its share of ‘industrial’-scale viticulture and winemaking—but the Robin domaine is part of a major resurgence in Chablis of more naturally made, hand-farmed wines. Today’s wine leaves a few details off its front label that we find vitally important—namely, that the old-vine sites supplying the fruit for this wine sit at the top of the slope between the Premier Crus “Montmains” and “Vaillons.” So, not only are the vines old, they are extremely well-positioned!
The Robin family has deep roots in Chablis, literally and figuratively. Namesake Guy Robin assembled most of the family’s holdings back in the 1960s, and these included significant stands of ‘pre-phylloxera’ vines—i.e., vineyards that escaped the deadly phylloxera epidemic of the late-1800s. Although the phylloxera ‘louse’—an aphid that destroys the roots of vines—devastated the European wine industry (forcing vignerons to graft vines onto phylloxera-resistant American rootstocks), it didn’t get everybody. Some pockets of Europe were spared, especially spots with sandy and/or volcanic soil, and in Robin’s case, a good 80% of their modern-day vines are still on their “own,” pre-phylloxera rootstock. As noted above, Robin never re-planted them.
Despite this incredible patrimony, however, the Robin wines had fallen into mediocrity; one of their US importers dropped them for a time, but the arrival of fourth-generation Marie-Ange Robin in the early 2000s was a huge shot in the arm. A successful fine art dealer in Paris, she returned home to the family estate and began tending their historic vines more naturally, using the lutte raisonnée method (essentially organic, except in emergencies). Some of the Robin holdings, which span five Grand Crus and four Premier Crus, are 80+ years old.
Average vine age in the plots that supplied the fruit for this 2016 is 40 years. The grapes were hand-harvested and fermented on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, after which the wine was aged in tank and bottled unfined and unfiltered. In the glass, the 2016 is a bright yellow-gold with green and silver highlights at the rim. Both its depth of color and abundant ripe fruit aromas (yellow apple, pear, citrus) might fool you into thinking this is a Puligny-Montrachet or some other Côte de Beaune white, but as the wine hits the palate and a blast of salted lemon and crushed rock/oyster shell comes to the fore, you’re firmly rooted up in Chablis. Nevertheless, this is not your typically steely, flinty, tooth-chattering young Chablis: It has real depth and persistence, and is quite accessible now, especially after some time open. While I wouldn’t hesitate to lay some of this down for 10+ years, it’s too good right now not to indulge in some right away. If you’re inclined to do the same, decant it about 45 minutes before serving in all-purpose white wine stems (or larger red Burgundy bowls) at 50 degrees. As for oysters, yes, they would be a perfect pairing, but I’m going to be honest—exceptionally large, room-temperature raw oysters are not my cup of tea. I’m going to re-share a broiled oyster recipe from a previous offer for those in the same camp. Otherwise, shuck away and enjoy!
