Product Description
Jancis Robinson
"This producer is really good at releasing wine with considerable bottle age. And this wine is from a really good vintage too. If only more followed his lead!
Really rather glorious without being at all expensive for a five-year-old white burgundy. This is pure Chablis with green fruits and a subtext of water flowing over stones. So rare to come across a commercially available wine with this much evolution that's still fresh and lively! See also my notes on his 2006s currently available. Really appetising. GV *good value*." 17/20 points.
Vinous Reverie Notes
Daniel-Etienne Defaix’s ancestors were already cultivating the vine in the sixteenth century at the Château de Faix near Avallon, not far from Chablis. Etienne-Paul Defaix installed the family as vignerons in Chablis during the eighteenth century. Today, Daniel-Etienne Defaix continues this long family tradition as he maintains a domaine of 26 hectares planted exclusively to Chardonnay and primarily in a series of vineyard sites classified 1er Cru. Daniel-Etienne calls himself “Le Dernier des Mohicans” (The Last of the Mohicans); in generations past, long aging in Chablis was more the rule than the exception, but today Danny is virtually alone in that practice. The wines are released to the market only after obtaining several years of bottle age at which point the market has the pleasure of having access to wines that more fully express the remarkable and unique terroir that is Chablis. Chablis Vieilles Vignes: This cuvee is sourced from vines the age of which is between 45 and 70 years. A wine of exceptional concentration for a village level appellation, this wine is always a true expression of the kimmeridgian soils that make Chablis so distinctive. Aged for thirty months before release, Defaix’s old vines Chablis is richly dense with a classic “pierre a fusil” bouquet and long mineral-infused finish.
