Chablis 2018: Full vintage report plus top scoring wines
Tim Atkin MW reports on the 2018 vintage in Chablis ahead of his full Burgundy en primeur report, coming soon to Decanter Premium...
This hot, early and bountiful vintage was a welcome relief for weather-plagued producers. But while the quantity is there quality is patchy, says Tim Atkin MW, with much depending on yields, picking dates and producer nous. See the top-rated wines to buy, from grand cru to Petit Chablis.
First the good news: there’s lots of Chablis 2018 to go round. After the hail- and frost-imposed penury of 2016 and 2017, nature was munificent this time, filling cellars to overflowing. ‘In 2017, we needed 10 vines to fill a basket with grapes,’ says Christian Moreau of Domaine Christian Moreau. ‘In 2018, we needed only one. Two more days of harvest and we’d have run out of space!’
Scroll down for Tim Atkin MW’s 32 top-scoring Chablis 2018 wines
Producers took advantage of the maximum permitted yields, plus the VCI (volume complémentaire individuel) introduced in 2015 to allow them to set aside wine to compensate for smaller subsequent crops, but there was still plenty left over. Chablis has had large crops before, of course – 1959, 1982, 1990, 1999, 2004 and 2011 spring to mind – but nothing as big as this, with some producers reduced to leaving grapes on the vines or throwing them away. It’s certainly good to see the region back on its feet, yet this is a distinctly mixed vintage that has given wines of variable quality, balance and concentration depending on yields, picking dates and vinification techniques. There are patches of excellence surrounded by expanses of good to distinctly ordinary wines.
2018 was the hottest vintage of the 21st century, surpassing 2011, 2015 and even 2003, with 16 days over 30°C in July and a peak of 38.4°C in early August. What saved the vintage and preserved a degree of freshness in the wines was the very wet winter, which saw nearly twice the normal rainfall between December and February. Reserves of water in the soil mitigated the effects of the torrid summer and a second crucial bout of rain, in the first and second week of August, revived vines that had shut down in the heat.
Impact on style
Laurent Tribut told me that he’d never seen anything like 2018, but other producers compared it to 1982, 2006 and 2009, in that it was a large, good-quality vintage. Others mentioned 2015, another very hot year, but said that the 2018 wines are better – ‘less acidity but more dry extract’, according to Stéphane Barras of Domaine Laroche, and generally lighter on their feet than hot vintages with low yields, such as 2003s. And whereas it was sometimes hard to recognise terroir in the 2015s, the best 2018s definitely have it.
There is a problem of bitterness in 2018, partly because of thicker skins, but also in some cases because of machine harvesting and the amount of time it took to get the crop to the press. Some wines are almost tannic, which isn’t necessarily unpleasant.
Quick link: See all 70 Chablis 2018 tasting notes and scores from this report
Picking dates were even more important than usual and had a huge impact on style. This was one of the earliest-ever vintages, with some domaines starting in August and most of the top names under way in the first week of September. Some people were late because they were waiting for the large crop to ripen, which is why some generic Chablis and even Petits Chablis in 2018 have 14.5% alcohol.
Good but not classic
And what of the finished wines? Several growers told me they’ve tightened up in barrel and bottle, but I still find many on the soft side. Some producers added tartaric acid to give their wines more bite, yet overall they reflect the hot, sunny growing season, with some notable exceptions. If you like classic, saline, chalky, mineral Chablis you’d be better off buying the ’17s or, if there are any left, 2014.
The wines might surprise us as they age in bottle, mind you. Acidity levels are mostly on the low side, but dry extract and that hint of tannin should compensate to a degree. Michel Laroche of Domaine d’Henri is convinced that at premier and grand cru level, ‘the wines will keep for 10 to 15 years, no problem’. I agree.
The 2018s mostly follow what Olivier Bailly of Domaine Billaud-Simon calls ‘the hierarchy of our terroirs’. In other words, it’s a vintage in which it pays to trade up. The generic wines will please the general consumer, but no one would describe them as classic Chablis. Meanwhile, there’s lots of wine on shelves and restaurant lists, and the Chablisiens are smiling – at least for now.
Decanter vintage ratings: Chablis
2018 ★★★(★)
2017 ★★★★
2016 ★★★
2015 ★★★
2014 ★★★★★
2013 ★★★(★)
2012 ★★★★
2011 ★
2010 ★★★★★
2009 ★★★(★)
2008 ★★★★
See Tim Atkin MW’s 32 top-scoring Chablis 2018 wines
All wines scored 95 points or above.
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