Producer note: I tasted this time with director Brice de La Morandière along with new régisseur (estate manager) Pierre Vincent who was hired away from Domaine de la Vougeraie (see below). They told me that 2016 "gave us a lot of difficulty with the frost and mildew but we managed reasonably well under the circumstances. While May and June weren't great, thereafter we enjoyed fine conditions that allowed the vines to bring the remaining fruit to excellent maturity. We chose to begin picking on the 21st of September and the happily the fruit was spotless so there was essentially almost no sorting required. The frost though cost us severely in terms of yield as they were off 50% overall but 75 to 80% in the grands crus, which is obviously painful for a variety of reasons. And of course there will be no Montrachet, at least not 100% from our owned vines. But the losses were markedly disparate because as hard hit as the grands crus were, yields were about normal in Blagny, Clavoillon and Folatières. As to the wines, they are impressively concentrated with excellent terroir transparency; indeed the word classic is a good descriptor." (Wilson & Daniels, www.wilsondaniels.com, CA, USA; John Armit Wines, www.armit.co.uk, Corney & Barrow, www.corneyandbarrow.com and Private Cellar Ltd., www.privatecellar.co.uk, all UK).
Tasting note: A cool and markedly restrained nose only grudgingly reveals its notes of mineral reduction, essence of Granny Smith apples, acacia blossom and a lovely array of spice elements. The tightly wound and almost painfully intense middle weight plus flavors are stony to the point that the palate feel is akin to rolling small pebbles around in the mouth, all wrapped in an explosively long finish. This is an aristocratic Chevalier that somehow manages to gracefully combine overt power and a taut muscularity with Zen-like harmony. This too is a definite 'wow' wine.
