Chablis Chablis

Tracy and I just opened two bottles of Premier Cru Chablis. They are:
 
2004 William Fevre Chablis Premier Cru "Fourchaume" ($38)
2004 Chablis Premier Cru "Montmains" Dauvissat ($39)

In the first Thursday Night Tasting all those months ago--in which we drank Burgundies red and white--we tried a William Fevre Chablis, though not a Premier Cru. The second bottle tonight, the Montmains, I purchased from Rosenthal Wine Merchants on East 84th Street. What a store. I'll be purchasing much of my wine from them from now on, if I can get there often enough. We all know what a Chablis is by this point, so:

William Fevre
This is more of a white Burgundy to me than a typical, mineral-laced Chablis. Not as crisp, light, or dry as the other Chablis I've had. It has a soft mouthfeel and a bright fruit flavor discernible on the tongue. There's also a faint muskiness that I have tasted in white Burgundies before, a little touch of loam, mostly in the nose. After aerating the wine in my mouth, some slight hints of white-fleshed fruit comes through, mostly pear and maybe apple. This is surprisingly not like Chablis I've tasted. It's somewhat heartier and more robust.

Montmains
Lighter than the William Fevre, with more of that Chablis minerality. There's a little more acidity, and a touch of citrus flavor here as well, lemony arcs of flavor batting this way and that. Though again, I'm finding that both of these Chablis are quite different from the others--richer, more wooly and aged, a little wiser.

These wines remind me, a little, of the white Burgundy from the last posting, insofar as that wine was a little richer and deeper and more complex than other white Burgundies I've tried. These Chablis just have more in the saddle than the sunny brightness of previous Chablis. Most delicious, in any case.