Chablis, Les Valéry, Jean Durup 2023

The most recent vintage, 2023 shows excellent potential and a good quantity, stylistically similar to its predecessor. A warm season but with cooler nights, 2022 has brought both excellent quality and, importantly, a decent quantity. The 2021 vintage was heavily affected by frost meaning quantities are well down though the quality is very good. 2020 was historically early and regarded as a great vintage. 2019 is a worthy successor to the excellent ‘18s, where low yields have given very concentrated wines. A seriously good vintage here in 2018 as the region escaped the frosts which have plagued recent years. They have a good crop of rich, aromatic whites across the region as a result. Despite a familiar and now all-too-frequent late frost in 2017 the growers in the Côte d’Or were better prepared and the vintage has delivered excellent results, with many domaines back to ‘normal’ yields. In the Mâconnais and Chablis growers were not quite so lucky with yields down for the second year but wines of excellent quality. What there is in 2016 is very good but sadly frost and hail had a bigger than usual impact this year, particularly in Chablis and the Mâconnais, but almost no-one escaped unscathed. 2015 produced round, full whites with good, ripe fruit. 2014 started well enough with an early spring but a cooler than average summer, and hailstorms in the south, reduced yields. The resultant wines, however, have elegance and beautiful balance.