Isabelle et Denis Pommier Chablis Les Reinettes 2021
This Chablis was tasted blind, without the label in view. It showed a subtle vanilla laid lightly over tropical fruit, carried by high acidity.
Producer
The domaine was founded in 1990, when Isabelle and Denis Pommier took over 2 hectares of family vineyards at Poinchy, in Chablis. Until then the harvest had been sold to the négoce as grape juice, and their first cuvée was bottled in 1994. The domaine's whole production has been organic since the 2014 vintage.
Site
This wine is a parcel selection (sélection parcellaire) of vines chosen for their minerality, on the Côteaux du Kimméridgien in the commune of Chablis. The soil is clay and limestone (calcaire-argileux), the vines are 25 years old, and the vineyard covers 78 ares.
Vinification
The grapes are machine harvested, and the juice settles for 24 hours before alcoholic and malolactic fermentation begin spontaneously in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine is racked after malolactic fermentation and lightly fined with isinglass.
In the glass
I found the acidity very high. There was peach on the nose, and a quiet vanilla sat over riper, tropical fruit. On the palate it turned salty, then slowly more bitter toward the finish, with a cool, mineral edge.