Given the impressive abundance of hard-to-name mineral characteristics exhibited even by the generic wines in this collection, it comes as little surprise that Dauvissat's 2006 Chablis Sechet is a stunner. Haunting notes of bitter-sweet iris, orange blossom, sea breeze, and lobster shell reduction rise from the glass. In the mouth, this combines seductive richness with lift and transparency to mineral and floral nuance, and the finish weaves a complex lace of ineffable (saline, chalky, ore-like?) mineral matter over a luscious grounding of ripe peach, honeydew melon, and citrus. It should delight over the next 5-7 years. The floral, saline 2005 is well-concentrated and admirably clear, if marginally less impressive than this 2006.
Vincent Dauvissat's 2006s were finished with both alcoholic fermentation and malolactic transformation by January. Overall " and particularly in the Grand Cru range " Dauvissat's 2005s are marginally less exciting than his 2006s, and in certain instances, surprisingly, more opulent and exotically ripe. In both recent vintages, Dauvissat's wines (even the generics) are pushing 14% alcohol, although in tasting the 2006s in particular, you'd never guess this.
Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802. (Under the “Dauvissat-Camus†label, certain of these wines are also imported by Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; tel. (781) 352-1100.)