Chablis Premier Cru: Domaine Laroche Les Vaillons Vielles Vignes 2022: best price for this ‘classy, refined, long living’ white, scoring 93/100 from Decanter MW and winning Gold Medal at the Sommelier Wine Awards 2024: Chablis Left Bank: case of six bottles delivered
£259.00
Gold Medal, Sommelier Wine Awards 2024
93/100 Decanter
93/100 Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy
Here is an exceptional Premier Cru Chablis from Burgundy, Domaine Laroche `Les Vaillons Vielles Vignes’ 2022. Laroche epitomises Chablis, showing impeccable quality. The wine is widely praised by the critics. It won Gold Medal in the Sommelier Wine Awards 2024 and 93/100 from Decanter, the Club Tasting Panel highly recommend it—and through the Club it is an amazingly good price!
Domaine Laroche is one of the most prominent wine producers in Chablis and critics have scored Les Vaillons as one of the top five Chablis Vielles Vignes wines.
Awarding 93/100 points, the Decanter Master of Wine notes, ‘Very precise Vaillons with plenty of ripe stone fruit on the palate, balanced by a fine line of zesty lime acidity. All in all, a very classy, refined and long-living example of this premier cru.’
Note the Sommelier Wine Awards judges, awarding their Gold Medal: ‘I love the ripeness and delicate smokiness, with typicity and freshness, cooked banana and dried apricot notes, and lots of limey citrus on the finish. Delicate, but with tart acidity.’
The Vaillons is a Premier Cru vineyard in the Chablis appellation, renowned for producing exceptional Chardonnay wines, characterised by Kimmeridgian clay-limestone soils and a south-west-facing aspect, ensuring ample sunlight exposure for optimal grape ripeness. The wines are highly regarded for their elegance, purity, freshness and balance, with enticing aromas of ripe citrus and orchard fruits, complemented by delicate floral notes.
The old vines of this sunny Premier Cru give intense wines with stone fruit and oriental spice aromas. Limestone marls and Kimmeridgian limestone soils are paramount in this Premier Cru. Vines are deeply rooted and extract many available minerals.
Drinking beautifully now, this wine is perfect with seafood or on its own, a stunning pairing with steamed scallops, a buttery Dover sole or a lobster, veal with a creamy sauce and with cheeses. This is an exceptional wine from Domaine Laroche and the Club Tasting Panel highly commend it to Members.
100% Chardonnay. Case of six bottles. RRP £348 plus delivery. CCUK £259 including UK mainland delivery.
For more delicious French wines in the Club Cellar, click here.
For all the handpicked wines by the Club Tasting Panel at advantageous prices, click here.
For more details, please read on . . .
Note the judges in the Sommelier Wine Awards, awarding a Gold Medal, 2024:
‘I love the ripeness and delicate smokiness, with typicity and freshness, cooked banana and dried apricot notes, and lots of limey citrus on the finish. Delicate, but with tart acidity.’ Elly Owen, Sommelier.
‘Tasty minerality, as well as intensity of fruit, and a lasting finish. A good price for the depth of flavour.’
Savvas Symeonidis, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants.
Chablis Premier Cru AOC
Exclusively made from Chardonnay, there are 40 vineyards classified as Chablis Premier Cru. Among the best-known are Vaillons and Fourchaume. Two words characterise them: freshness and elegance. Compared with the basic Chablis, Premier Cru shows riper fruit flavours, more body and more mineral notes.
Domaine Laroche
Domaine Laroche is deeply rooted in the history of Chablis, based in the ‘Obédiencerie’, a former monastery in Chablis itself, where wine has been made for over 1,000 years. The quality of the wines is consistently impeccable, with the Chablis hallmark of crystalline purity and racy acidity. Their ownership of vineyards is remarkable and sets them apart from their main competitors. Chablis is a fragmented region, yet Domaine Laroche owns 90 hectares of vines, including 21 hectares of Premier Cru and six hectares of Grand Cru vineyards. In addition to their own vineyards, the domaine has developed long-standing purchasing partnerships with 40 small growers. Both the building and vineyard are still very much alive today: the estate continues to make and mature Premier and Grands Crus in the original cellars. The domaine has been built up over the past 160 years, but a dynamism that is unusual in such a venerable producer permeates everything Laroche does. Laroche winemaker Grégory Viennois is a vigneron of flair and precision. He refers to Chardonnay’s ‘two-day window’ of maturity—if they don’t pick the grapes in this time, the precious Chablis aromas might leave the skin of the grapes.
For more delicious French wines in the Club Cellar, click here.
For all the handpicked wines by the Club Tasting Panel at advantageous prices, click here.
