Verget Fourchaume Vieilles Vignes de Vaulorens, Chablis Premier Cru, France

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Compared to his -regular- Fourchaume bottling from the north side of Vaulorent, Guffens- barrel-fermented 2008 Chablis Fourchaume Vieilles Vignes de Vaulorens (he spells the site with an -s-) demonstrates the difference made by a southerly location and roughly 70 year old vines. Ripe white peach, white currant, and grapefruit are allied to a seductively savory saline, sweet scallop-like essence and the transparent flow of fruit also permits lovely glimpses of floral perfume and herbal essences that were presaged in the nose. This displays a lift and energy, nuanced complexity, and winsome alliance of silken texture with vibrant refreshment that reveal the superb potential of its vintage and site, and I won't disagree with its author's claim that it is unsurpassed in his collection of 2008 Chablis. Expect this beauty to be worth following for a decade. -To those who wrote that 2007 was a classic Chablis year,- says Macon-based Jean-Marie Guffens, who bought fruit from that vintage solely for a Les Clos - -I want them to know that I never again want to see a -classic- year like that! You had to choose between picking under-ripe or risking over-ripeness and rot. And to me Chablis under-ripe is ?- at which point he struck one of those elastic-faced grimaces that are a Guffens hallmark. (Naturally, his comment and gesture were directed inter alia at my own opinion!) Guffens described the summer of 2008 as -even worse than the summer of 2007,- but considered the upshot of 2008 incomparably better thanks to the balmy, breezy September weather, which permitted him to put off picking until September 26 - October 9, the wines reaching 13.5% potential (and finished) alcohol at the upper end, but generally hovering in the mid to upper 12s. No doubt influenced as well by growers- willingness to deal on price in 2008, Guffens rendered a considerable (not to mention exemplary) range of Chablis from this vintage; and his 2009 Chablis collection will be his largest-ever both in volume and diversity as well as, in his opinion, among his best. (Indeed, those 2009 wines were displaying a dimension of minerality and degree of nuance as well as vivacity from cask and tank in April that few of their vintage appeared likely to equal.)Importers include: Ideal Wine & Spirits, Medford, MA; tel. (617) 395-3300 and Vintner Select, Mason, OH; tel. (513) 229-3630