Quality, Individuality, Value

Domaine Clément Lavallée, Saint-Bris-Le-Vineux

Brilliant Wines from a Rising Superstar in Chablis    The prices shown are under bond UK, not all wines are available now.

Domaine Clément Lavallée, Saint-Bris-Le-Vineux

Every so often, one comes across a new producer that stands out from the crowd, and significantly so at that. Clément Lavallée is one such producer who, I believe, has the potential to become something of a superstar. He is definitely one of the most exciting producers from the new generation in Chablis, although his story is not unusual these days: he wanted to do things differently to his father, started up a new domaine from scratch in 2019, just 1.6 hectares of Chablis, then added 3.4 hectares of vineyards in Saint-Bris and Côte d’Auxerre until, in 2021, his father retired and he now has 14 hectares which he manages with his sister Caroline. The whole operation is run along the lines of minimal intervention – chemicals and insecticides are not used and treatments are minimal. It was interesting to see that in the vineyards they use older tractors, which are lighter and thus compact the soil less – perhaps a return to horses will be next, they wouldn’t be the first. Only the finest pressings are used, the rest being sold off in bulk. Aging is in old oak barrels and stainless steel to allow the wine, rather than the wood, to talk. I love these wines, they are expressive, focused, vibrant and beautifully balanced.  He has produced brilliant wines in 2013 and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

The followings wines are offered per 6 x 75cl Under Bond UK only.  Prices exclude duty and Vat and any potential delivery costs.    All orders are subject to final confirmation.  The wines will be shipped later in 2025.  These wines are of quite exceptional quality but equally limited supply.

Bourgogne Aligoté “Pariot”  –  £108

Clément maintains his attention to detail and focus on quality even with his supposed ‘lesser’ wines. The result is an immensely enjoyable wine that transcends the Aligoté appellation. Mouth-watering acidity underpins ripe white fruit flavours creating a harmonious whole that keeps you coming back for more. Perfect as an apéritif, but would be great on a picnic or with light summer meals – shellfish, grilled fish or cold roast chicken, for instance.

Saint-Bris “Les Copains d’abord”  –  £129

“Friends first”, and this is clearly intended to be fun, but what fun! Many years ago, I used to sell an excellent Sauvignon de Saint-Bris, but since then it has rather dropped out of the collective consciousness and when I tried this wine I realised that I had been guilty of overlooking the region too. Now, I’m asking myself, Why? This is such a stimulating wine it has made me fall in love with Sauvignon again. A different style of wine, with a recognisable but restrained Sauvignon flavour and with a slight unctuousness about it, but held in check by the vibrant acidity which produces a taut, nervous and very long finish. Great for just sharing a glass with your mates, but would also show off lightly sauced fish or roast pork. In a word, excellent.

Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre Blanc “Grand Roche”  –  £129

A buttery, hazelnut Chardonnay with ripe white fruit and delicate citrus notes, this is real Bourgogne Blanc with all the flavour one could hope for. Medium weight on the palate with a delicacy and refinement all its own. Once again, outstanding balance and a long, clean finish. Drink however and whenever you want.

Chablis A.C.  –  £141

Delightful! As pure an expression of Chablis as you could want. White flowers and ripe white fruit on the nose, with a minerally palate that is perfectly balanced and has that ‘Chablis feel’. Precise, focused and long.

Chablis Les Ardillers  –  £162

From a single vineyard of shallow clay soils in Courgis, this is already starting to show its character. More intense, with a higher acidity and a deeper flavour than the ‘village’ Chablis, it is a really dynamic and exciting wine with a very long finish. I was lucky enough to try the ’22 with a few oysters, and it was perfect. This looks even better.

Chablis 45°  –  £162

Named after the 45° slopes of very poor white clay soil it is grown on. This is still a little closed at the moment, but has more weight than the Ardillers with a deep, nutty flavour and an even longer finish. All, of course, with the trademark Lavallée balance. It will be gorgeous. Makes me think of sole, turbot, veal chops and fricassées of chicken (I could go on).

QUALITY THROUGH COOPERATION

QUALITY THROUGH COOPERATION
Probably nowhere in the world has the Cooperative movement played such an important role in the economy as in Italy. Enthusiastically embraced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was widely, and often brutally, suppressed by the Fascists in the 1920s and 1930s, only to re-emerge even stronger than before in the years following the Second World War. It now has a presence throughout the country in almost every sector of the economy. This is no less true in the field of wine production, where far from being hiding places for lazy and incompetent farmers and serving mainly to boost production figures, cooperatives are among the most important producers in their denominations and often lead the way in the search for excellence and innovation. The two wineries featured today are not only among the most highly regarded in their respective regions but world leaders in the styles of wine they produce.

Part 1.  Cantina Terlano – Year in, year out it produces some of Italy’s Finest white wines. 

Cantina Terlano was founded in 1893 and is set high up on terraces cut into the slopes of Mount Schöggel (near Bolzano) at altitudes of up to 1000 metres. The south-facing slopes, strewn with crystals and volcanic rock, give rise to wines of wonderful elegance, complexity and minerality, and chief winemaker Rudi Köfler is an absolute master at maximising varietal character in every wine. Elegant and stylish on release, the Cantina Terlano whites also have an enviable record for cellar ageing, very unusual for Italian aromatic varieties. Terlano is now part of the Wine Spectator magazine’s ‘Grand Tour’, a tasting event celebrating the world’s finest 200 wineries, and a regular star performer in the American Press, Gambero Rosso and many other Italian guides.

The 2023 Growing Season
A mild winter with little snow was followed by a very dry and mild spring. Fortunately, this was followed by a cool April and rainy May. Although it delayed flowering a little, the rainfall was welcomed as it replenished the water reserves. There was a little more rain than usual in an otherwise warm June and July, but August was hot until near the end of the month when it rained again and then conditions remained good until picking, which started on 4 September. The white wines are fragrant and balanced with slightly lower levels of alcohol – a very good vintage overall.

2022 Growing Season
A very dry and mild winter was followed by a cool spring and the vines were slightly behind in their development by the time a very welcome warm and sunny May arrived – flowering commenced mid-May and was complete on the higher-altitude vines by early June. Due to an exceptionally hot and dry summer, there were few problems with fungal attack, but the lack of rainfall started to stress the vines before rainfall and even thunderstorms at the end of July and beginning of August put an end to the lack of water, thus averting drought stress and related quality problems. Harvest started early on the 24^th August  – the grapes were fully ripe and healthy with slightly reduced acidity levels.

2022 Pinot Bianco Riserva “Vorberg” – £210 (magnums also available) The enigmatic Pinot Bianco grape absolutely thrives here and is capable of very long-term ageing. The grapes are carefully hand-selected before gentle whole cluster pressing followed by slow fermentation at a controlled temperature in big oak barrels (70 + 30 hl); malolactic fermentation and aging on the lees in traditional wooden barrels for 12 months. Sea and river fish, mature hard cheese, any excuse really.

2021 Growing Season
A cold, snowy winter was followed by a cool, dry spring resulting in late budding, which was lucky as there were frosts in April. Decent rainfall in May with flowering starting at the end of the month, about two weeks later than average. A hot June was followed by a wet July and early August but temperatures remained good, not too high, until harvest which started on 6 September.  It was a small but excellent vintage.

2021 Terlano Primo Grande Cuvee – £585 (also available in magnum) To answer the first and possibly most important question: yes, it is absolutely worth it. Primo has a depth of flavour, intensity and sustained finish that can only be compared to the finest of Grand Cru Burgundies. Sensational wine.
Intense and mineral from the start, the 2021 Terlaner I Primo Grande Cuvée opens with a beguiling blend of flint stones, camphor and white smoke, giving way to dried peaches and apricots. It sweeps across the palate, ripe in style yet refined, with silken textures, taking on a saline tinge as tart orchard fruits cascade throughout, complicated by a spicy hint of ginger. Long, long, long, the 2021 lingers on, youthfully tense and gently tannic, with a crunchy feel and sensation of liquid stone that remains under an air of pretty inner florals. The potential is off the charts. This is a I Primo for the ages. Reviews & Tasting Notes 96+ Drinking Window 2026 – 2038  From: Trentino-Alto Adige: Pushing the Limits (Mar 2024) – By Eric Guido on December 2023

Part 2. Produttori del Barbaresco – Leading the way with Nebbiolo
Barbaresco’s history is intimately linked with that of its co-ops. Although the uniqueness of its wines had long been recognised, it was not until the principal of the Royal Oenological School in Alba founded a co-operative in 1894 and marketed the wine under the name of Barbaresco, rather than Barolo, that the region was placed on the wine map. The co-op was forced to close by the Fascists in the 1920s, but its tradition was revived in 1958 when the parish priest invited nineteen local growers to come together to form the Produttori del Barbaresco with the aim of safeguarding and developing the reputation of Barbaresco wines, initially allowing them to make the wine in the crypt of the church, before a new winery was built across the road. Today, the Produttori comprises 51 growers, and under winemaker Gianni Testa has been consistently producing wines that rank among the very best that the Nebbiolo grape can deliver.

The secret of success lies not only in hard work and meticulous attention to detail, but especially in the variety of terroirs (a word they openly use to denote the unique combinations of soil, exposure and microlimate) of the clay and limestone marl on which their grapes are grown, and, in great years, they produce individually vinified Riservas from the nine best sites, or ‘crus’. Those from the northern hills (Ovello, Montefico and Montestefano) have a higher clay content and tend to produce wines of fuller body and firmer structure. To the south are Pajé and Moccagatta, with less clay, that produce very fine, elegant wines with tremendous depth of flavour. Further south lie Asili, Rabaja and Pora that at their best produce some of Italy’s most refined and complex wines. At the extreme south lies Rio Sordo, producing wines of great aging potential. A cross-section of the best that Barbaresco has to offer.

The 2023 Growing Season
A ‘rollercoaster ride’ is the best way to describe 2023. The growing season began with a mild but wet spring, but a late cold snap and sharp frosts damaged some of the vines. Early summer was wet, but once the rains stopped something of a heatwave followed – temperatures reached 40 degrees which stressed the vines and some started to shut down, but the upside was that these hot dry conditions prevented disease. Fortunately, late summer saw a drop in temperature, particularly at night, allowing the grapes to reach fully phenolic ripeness. The cooler night temperatures encouraged the grapes’ aromatics and preserved good acidity levels for freshness and balance.  Harvest was a little late but picking occurred mainly under good conditions. Although the growing season for Piedmont was not the smoothest, the wines are looking good at this stage.

2023 Langhe Nebbiolo – £159
Can one describe a wine as “pretty”? I’m going to here because of it’s recent bottling and the fact that it is full of ripe Nebbiolo fruit with good acidity and gentle tannins – just about medium weight it is a delightful glass of wine for pasta or any light meal or just on its own.

The 2021 Growing Season
A wet and snowy winter ensured the water table was in a healthy state by the time the vines started budding, albeit late. June onwards was dry (the dry spell actually lasted until spring 2023!). Early April saw some frost although damage was limited. July was relatively cool but early August and all of September saw higher temperatures and the harvest began and ended in near ideal conditions. The 2021 grapes were in excellent health and perfectly ripe. The resulting 2021 wines are very promising,

2019 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano  –  £390

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