In Droin’s 2007 Chablis Les Clos, the components from (50%) barrique – lanolin, toast, and vanilla – are married adeptly with oyster shell chalkiness, lemon zest, kirsch, and a gun flint-like pungency. Athletically lean in texture, firmly extract-rich, and full of vigor, this finishes with long, nutty piquancy, invigorating zest and spice, and profound, diverse mineral notes that one struggles to capture in words. I would not hesitate to give it 4-5 years before even tasting again, and suspect it will keep for a decade. In striking contrast with the experience of most of his colleagues, Benoit Droin’s 2007s were very slow to begin – much less complete – their malolactic transformations. Droin believes in the potential of machine harvesting in a majority of his vineyards, even in a year with hail, and the bottled results once again point up the foolishness of glib generalizations such as abound on that particular subject. That said, the potential weak spot in some of his 2007s – perhaps due to much-reduced yields, perhaps to hail per se, and a feature to which some tasters will certainly be more sensitive than others – is their tendency toward bitterness. These wines weighed-in in the low 13s natural alcohol, a bit higher than the vintage norm. Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565