Pommier Chablis

Isabelle et Denis POMMIER Chablis 1er Cru 2006 Côte de Léchet

Chardonnay is a grape variety we tend to associate with oak aging; from beautiful toasty Burgundies to blowsy Californians and perma-toasted Australians, a well-made, oaky Chardonnay can be a thing of joy. Although in New World wine-making it is now common to make unoaked Chardonnays – as a reaction against the overoaked but under-performing wines that were common in the 1990s – Chablis is the one fine wine area where Chardonnay is not automatically given some contact with oak. Some Chablis makers use nothing but stainless steel to make their wines, believing this gives the purest expression of the Chablis terroir; an austere, mineral quality often described as “gunflint”. Other makers will use oak barrels to age their Chablis, arguing that the slow process of oxygenation that results from barrel-aging imparts an extra level of complexity to the wine. These will always be old barrels, so that the oak character never becomes dominant.

The Pommier Chablis, it turns out, belongs to this second class. Quite pale, even for a Chablis, there is just a wispy hint of oak on the nose along with a gentle but discernable tropical fruit note; guava, followed by cooked apple. Fine, light on the palate and slightly oily, not quite as steely as a more classic Chablis would be. Elegant, although it doesn’t show a great deal of development.