Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis 'Le Bas de Chapelot' 2022
Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis 'Le Bas de Chapelot' 2022
The 2022 Chablis Le Bas de Chapelot underwent partial tressage in the vineyard this year, so the Vocorets could compare. They found the fruit ripened earlier with more intense aromas. These will be bottled separately. It has a lovely peachy, nectarine-tinged bouquet that blossoms in the glass. The palate is well-balanced with touches of grapefruit and white peach. It is very elegant and pure, with a touch of spice towards the finish. Simply a mouthwatering prospect - difficult to believe this is not a Premier Cru. - By Neal Martin on July 2023
Eleni and Edouard Vocoret might be considered the hippest winemakers in Chablis at the moment. That’s neither here nor there. What is important is the quality of the wines that continue to find an ever-larger, appreciative audience. Thankfully, there are new cuvées in the pipeline as they take over some choice parcels from Edouard Vocoret’s family. As we taste through the barrels, we discuss some of the differences between the cuvées. “We have an explanation about the way the Boucheran wines are evolving because two-thirds are on the yellow marl soils, while Les Pargues is on white-grey marl. We talked to geologists who said the yellow marl is more oxidized, which is why the Boucheran can be more intense aromatically compared to Les Pargues, that tends to be austere. The 2022 season started with the spring frost. We lost two-thirds on the Left Bank and one-third on the Right Bank, but the yield was around 32hL/ha. It was a juicy year, so the yields were higher than we anticipated. Normally, we have 160 barrels, but we only have 80 this year.” These are often very nuanced Chablis, whose virtues are not immediately apparent. I often find you have to sit with them and watch them unfold in the glass. Their Bas de Chapelot is a knockout this vintage, incidentally, a vineyard where the Vocorets are trialing tressage(literally ‘braiding’ the vines together to obviate hedging à la Lalou Bize-Leroy, Charles Lachaux and others) so far, finding that it ripens from earlier and enhances aromas.
Terroir
Bas de Chapelot comes from a 3.2 hectare parcel just below Montée de Tonnerre. It is the Vocoret's only parcel on the right side of the river bank. The soil is deep, clay and limestone, and Kimmeridgian (moyen). The vines are now 40 years old vines and due to their proximity to the riverbed are very exposed to frost.
Viticulture
They work organically but for the moment, not certified. Eleni and Edouard do everything themselves by hand and know their plots by heart. They started applying biodynamic principles and planting fruit trees to increase the biodiversity.
Winemaking
Eleni and Edouard’s approach in the cellar is consistent across all the wines. Alcoholic and malolatic fermentation is done in stainless steel with natural yeast. The wines are then aged for one year in old barrels. Before bottling the wines are put back in tank for an assemblage of one or two months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulphur addition.
