Louis Michel is my favourite Chablis producer. He does not make my favourite Chablis wine, but that is another story. He is my favourite producer partly because he totally eschews oak when he makes his wines – they are models of squeaky clean, racy purity.
He has a broad selection of vineyards in his portfolio, including an excellent collection of 60+ year old vines in a holding of Butteaux.
Chablis’ Premier Cru Butteaux is a sub-climat of the Montmains Premier Cru. Butteaux sits high up the hill in a more exposed location than the rest of the Montmains Premier Cru, resulting in the wines having more energy and drive.
Additionally, its geological profile of a thin layer of compact, heavy blue clay over the classic, fossil-rich Kimmeridgian limestone, adds to the tension in the wine. It gives both structural density and an austere mineral focus.
How will Louis Michel’s old vines express this tension in the ripe 2020 vintage?
Let us get popping and find out!
Chablis Premier Cru Butteaux Vieilles Vignes 2020, Louis Michel
As one should do with all serious Chardonnay, especially those that might be suffering from a little middle-aged awkwardness like a six-year-old fine Premier Cru Chablis, I decanted this. I took it out of the fridge 45 minutes prior to drinking and glugged it into a jug.
45 minutes later
What a glorious nose! Chablis par excellence. It has play-dough aromas, preserved lemon, flinty notes and a definite oyster shell character. It is plungingly deep and impressively involute.
Some might say it smells a little ripe, balls to that! I like a bit of charm as well as austerity and this has both in high-value spades. It is incredibly clean and pure with no wood to interfere with its pure Chablisiousness. I am totally right to love the wines of Louis Michel based on this nose.
The old vines character is shown by the huge complexity and real depth to it, even though it is obviously a Premier Cru; it does not toy with Grand Cru density as the Premier Cru Vaulorent does. It is Premier Cru elegance and sculpted minimiformity. Lovely stuff.
The palate is a light, subtle-bodied delight. Lovely, lovely lemon fruit, with a hint of honey and nuts mixed in. There is a penumbra of marine flavour swirled into it as well.
Whilst it is light on its feet, the old vines character gives it a depth that engrosses and absorbs one as one tastes. Lordy, lordy, this is a good one!
The acidity is excellent, bright, vivacious and sapid. It is enhanced by a seashell minerality that keep the whole structure energetic and alive.
What I really like, and this is something I like in all the best dry white wines, is a savoury character to the palate, almost an astringency, that I think comes from the cooler and more mineral Premier Cru site. Excellent.
This is clearly very enjoyable now, with a decent decant, but it more to give! More, I say! In one to three years this will blossom even further, becoming nuttier with more dimension in every flavour and aroma. Woe – this is my only bottle! But I do have six bottles of 2020s from other vineyards by Louis Michel – cheers, cheers!
A first-rate Premier Cru Chablis that confirms my view that Louis Michel is a top tier Chablis producer. People drink their wines too young and sniffily say they are a bit simple. Purest bullshit. Give them time and their complexity, poise and style will thrill the tits off you.
Super note and thank you for introducing me to Louis Michel Chablis!
Jonathan, as a chap of taste and style, you will love Louis Michel Chablis! I have not tried a 2022, but I see no reason why they would not be as great as this refulgent entity. I got goosebumps and an aesthetic frisson just smelling this. I have two 2020 Grand Cru and four, count them, 1er Cru Vaulorent. Since that is my favourite Chablis vineyard, I do not know how I can possibly save them for another two years… But I will! I want them at their glorious best! I promise you, if we meet in two years’ time, I will save a bottle to have with you. You have two years to prepare yourself for potentially the zenith of 1er Cru Chablsity!
I am looking forward to this immensely
I realise you know this, Jonathan, but I say this for any Chablis neophytes. 1er Cru Chablis is not a raw hedonism-pleasure in the same bien loché style that, say 1er Cru Chambolle is. 1er Cru Chablis is more like looking at an exquisitely beautiful glass sculpture, which is undoubtedly still a great pleasure, than having a delicious romp with a lovely nymphette.
Another fun note, Davy. I’m a Louis Michel fan and have been fortunate to cellar a fair amount of it over the years. My favorites are probably the Grenouilles, Montée de Tonnerre, and Butteaux VV, with Les Clos right up there whenever I can find it at a reasonable price.
I’ve read a number of notes mentioning premature oxidation, but so far every bottle I’ve opened has been sound, and CellarTracker says I’ve consumed 5 cases total over 18 years. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, maybe some bottles were affected by storage or shipping issues, or maybe it’s simply the same random premox lottery we’ve all seen before.
Thanks for sharing, and cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it, Warren!
I have enjoyed Louis Michel Chablis since before I was, strictly speaking, allowed to buy wine. The local Bottoms Up had Montée de Tonnerre at £8.95 a bottle and this seemed a bargain price for a wine of incredible sophistication. I also enjoy Les Clos (you can get the 2024 for a good price from Vinatis right now) and I am eager to try the 2020 Vaulorent I mention in a comment above.
I have never had a premoxed bottle, it just has not been a problem for me. Some people have all the luck, eh? 🙂
Keep enjoying excellent wines – they are good for you!