2014 Caves Duplessis Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos- France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (7/21/2017)
Bright and energized lemon/lime acidity, painfully young, yet as it warms the cream and fullness come out, coating the palate, with plenty of ripe pitted fruits, lemon and grapefruit acidity, saline minerality of slate and chalky crushed oyster shell. Pretty white flowers and a little chive…has wonderful clarity and pureness, with the power and energy for the long haul. LOVE this! (95 pts.)
commercial post: I represent most Duplessis wines in most of the U.S., but I think this is probably gray market.
Lilian Duplessis took over from his father Gerard about 10 years ago and I never had any concerns… Gerard was famous for building them to last and Lilian never showed any sign of doing things any other way. IMCO (in my commercial opinion) this is one of the great, seriously understated and underrated Domaines in Burgundy.
My only regret is that the business card used to say ‘Antiquites’. Gerard did a tasting for Revue du Vin de France… the resulting article was titled ‘The Immortal Chablis of Duplessis’. This was in the early 90s and went back to 1947. Robert Parker asked me to ask Gerard to reproduce the tasting… Gerard sent bottles back to 1953, every single one young and fresh (except for a 1970 that had a bad cork). Up until about 10 years ago, I could buy 5 and 10 case lots of 1er Crus at ten years of age, with restaurants fighting for every last bottle. Unfortunately Lilian in his early days allowed much of the library to be sold off (although I think he invested the proceeds wisely in new vineyards).
I’ve got guests coming to hike Mount Katahdin in early August (places still available). There will be a pre-hike dinner at my home the evening before. 1994 Duplessis Chablis Grand Cru ‘Les Clos’ is on the menu (will be served with lobster or scallops, game-time decision)… I’m out of 1995 and of course holding the 1996s until they are somewhere close to maturity… I’ve got most of a case… I know they will outlive me, but I’ll crack a few anyway in a few years.
Drinking the 2016 of this…VERY tropical, almost like a Muscat, or a something from the Macon…would never guess Chablis blind, let alone LES CLOS? Not even close to that 2014…and with the multiple bad bottles of the 15 MdT i’ve had…I’m beginning to falter from my love of the Caves Dup?
Infanticide! Maybe I’ll open a bottle of '14 Chablis AC in the near future, but I’m not touching my 1er crus and Clos from that vintage!
I’m slowly working my way through my 11s. 10s are too young (for me). I have 5 1/2 cases of Duplessis. Just 5 bottles left from 2007-09 (two '09 Montmains and one Fourchaume, one each '07 Montmains and '08 Clos). I stopped buying with the '14 vintage as I decided I had enough quantity. Also, '15 and '16 didn’t appeal to me as vintages in general. Of their 1er cru, Montmains are the oldest vines and I was told the longest lived of the 1er cru. I opened a bottle of '07 Montmains with Steve Edmunds last year. Even with a decant, the wine barely budged all evening.
I’ve never had a premox bottle. All my bottles were imported by Selection Massale, not gray market. They arranged a visit with Lilian when I visited Chablis in 2014.
I am also puzzled by the 2016s. Out of character, from village through Les Clos. Honeyed, almost candied. Good as Lilian is, I think the heat got away from him in this vintage. OTOH, I’ve had only one 2015 MdT and it was wonderful, as racy as ever. I own more, but am a fan of Duplessis from 10 (village) to 20 (Clos) years, never tempted to open anything at 5 years.
Can you please tell us what was wrong with the 2015 MdT? IMO his top 1er Cru.
to Larry Stein - AFAIK Selection Massale treats their wines right. Unfortunately they tend to sell into my markets where they are not authorized. So you will soon see other sources for Duplessis in California, handled just as well. There won’t be any price wars, but my company will be offering the wines direct to selected retailers.
Selection Massale’s roster is predominantly natural wine producers. Duplessis is not natural. However, because of that, your best bet to finding the wines is from shops that tend to veer in that direction. Those stores are the ones where SM sells their wine.
15/16 are cork. I’m not a cork expert, but for wines that are suppose to built for the long haul…these corks seem VERY lite and fragile? That 15 MdT cork slid out way too easy, and had cracks all around it? There’s no way you could lay those down for over 5 years.
I opened a highly respected Red Burgundy the other day where the cork slipped out like a rocket. It had a seam all the way up one side of the cork as well. Wine was still OK, but not what it should have been.
Moral of the story - bad corks happen to everyone.
commercial post: I import Duplessis to most of the U.S.
I have not had a cork problem. IIRC the youngest bottle I have in-house is a 2014 Village. I will ask the office to send me something from 2016, test the vintage and get a good look at the cork and report back. This will take a week or two.
Here’s the pic of the 15 MdT. If you can zoom in you can see cracks on top of the cork, and there were others on the bottom as well. The 14 Clos also shows a big crack.
I’m sure their corks are no worse or better on average than anybody else’s, but it’s too risky to cellar white Burgundy now unless it’s under Diam or cap.
