Thomas Pico (Domaines Pattes Loup) Chablis Villages 2012
As I get older I tend to find I get less fixed on certain idea’s and more circumspect about things. Whether this is a good or bad thing probably depends on the scenario but I hope it reflects growing knowledge more than it does indecisiveness.
One wine I do feel strongly about though is Chablis. To me, it is the most over-rated of all of the fine wines of France. There are four of five domains I like and feel make good wines, the rest I’m totally happy to ignore. Outside of these five domains, I would never buy a bottle of mature Chablis because I’ve had too many bottles that were oxidised, brown, lacking acidity and dead to the world. This is a totally personal preference of course, but just saying..
So, it was with great joy I tasted this bottle of Chablis from a producer I was not familiar with, Thomas Pico. It had all of the typicity and cut of great Chablis, but with the depth and substance of Raveneau or Dauvissat. An exquisite villages, it was consumed with gusto at the excellent new Beaune hotspot La Lune. It was available for a very reasonable price, I think ex-cellar it goes for 9.5 – 15 Euro wholesale and it comes heartily recommended.