Louis Michel & Fils Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent 2023

Critical Acclaim: 94 pts Tim Atkin; 93 pts John Gilman; 93 pts Vinous; 92 pts Jasper Morris; 92 pts Burghound. 

Winemaker's Tasting Notes: Its very pure nose reveals notes of rose, white pepper and lychee. These aromas also appear in the voluptuous, rich palate, which includes buttery, caramel notes with a hint of mint. 

"The crystalline purity here is immediately striking. Sweet grapefruit meshes with verbena tea, white flowers and crunchy pears. Broad and satiny in the center palate, a crusty, chalky feeling surfaces on the sides. There's more chewy density than usual for Vaulorent, generally speaking. This teems with a bracing acidity through the long, pleasantly crunchy finish. Lovely Vaulorent!"- Tim Atkin. 

"The 2023 Vaulorent was the last of Guillaume Michel’s premier crus in our lineup that had already been bottled. It was showing beautifully roughly two months out from its mise, delivering a very classy nose of green apple, fresh lime, a complex base of wet stone minerality, dried flowers and citrus peel. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and complex, with a lovely core of fruit,beautiful foundation of minerality, bouncy acids and a long, well balanced and wide open finish. As I said in the introduction, this wine may end up closing down a bit as it gets further out from its bottling, but for the moment, it looks like it is going to be delicious from the moment it is released. It is a lovely example of the vintage! 2025-2050."- John Gilman. 

"The 2023 Chablis Vaulorent 1er Cru doesn't quite possess the harmony and precision of the Séchets at the moment. It offers lemon rind and orange zest, but less in the way of mineralité. The palate is well balanced with a viscous, oily opening. Plenty of extract with a slice of sour lemon on the finish. Not on the level as the Séchets, as it doesn't have the purity. Yet, this is still an impressive offering."- Vinous. 

"A clear pale colour with a green tint. Here the melon and honeysuckle are lurking just below the surface. Clearly more weight here, fortunately just enough acidity but it may be that the tropics will win. Still, the finish is pretty good. Drink from 2028-2033."- Jasper Morris. 

"This is also aromatically firmly reduced and revealing essentially nothing. Otherwise, there is good freshness to the succulent, rich and quite sleek medium-bodied flavors that brim with sappy dry extract that serves to buffer the lingering finish that also reflects a touch of bitter lemon character. This too needs to develop more depth but it is undeniably pretty."- Burghound. 

Varietal: Chardonnay.