2021 Louis Michel & Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos [D96][JG95-96][JM93-95][WA94][TA94][BH92-94]

Producer: Louis Michel & Fils  
Region: Chablis, Burgundy, France  
Varietal: Chardonnay  
Year: 2021 

Decanter, 96 Points 

"TOP QUALITY PRODUCER.  Clean, fresh, driven and with great purity, this balances soft, ripe peach fruit, a dash of lemon/lime zest and a saline character on the very long finish. Super concentrated, elegant and precise, this restrained, less showy, Les Clos will be exceptional in 5-10 years. Louis Michel's plot lies in the western part of Les Clos, halfway up the slope on blue clay soils." 

John Gilman, 95-96 Points 

"The 2021 les Clos was a touch reductive at the time of my visit, but as it was due for a racking in preparation for bottling in the early spring, this was certainly not a concern. With some coaxing, the wine offers up a lovely nose of lemon, sweet grapefruit, green apple, a complex base of chalky minerality, white flowers and a topnote of beeswax. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with lovely purity and minerality, zesty acids, beautiful focus and a long, complex and soil-driven finish of lovely balance and grip. This too is going to be outstanding. 2027-2060+." 

Jasper Morris, 93-95 Points 

"Pale lemon colour. The bouquet is the most backward to date, but with a measure of steel which promises well. Very good tension, pure and clean white fruit with grand cru grip, and fine length, especially for the vintage. One to look out for. Powerful in a compact style! Drink from 2027-2035." 

Wine Advocate, 94 Points 

"The 2021 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos is one of the richer, more muscular wines of the vintage. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet orchard fruit, white flowers, clear honey, toasted nuts and youthful reduction, it's full-bodied, satiny and seamless, with a layered core, bright acids and a long, saline finish. Guillaume Michel presides over this important 22-hectare estate, which has long been the reference for tank-fermented and -matured Chablis, a style that the Michel family did much to popularize in the 1980s. Intense and tensile wines are the calling card here, pure and unadorned in style and consistently high in quality. Indeed, as I've written before, I sometimes think that Louis Michel is the most underrated of Chablis's larger domaines. The big news at this address is a very welcome shift to Diam closures—with the exception of the Vaulorent that was bottled earlier for reasons explained in the accompanying notes—which should guarantee these wines' graceful evolution in bottle. For this first year, Michel retained his usual 30 parts per million of free sulfites at bottling, which lends the wines a somewhat reductive profile out of the gates; but it isn't overdone and I suspect that many readers, like me, will actually appreciate this quality. Those that don't may want to consider a brief decant." 

Tim Atkin, 94 Points 

"Tucked into the middle slope on the northern, Valmur side of Les Clos, these vines sit on steep slopes – the steepest of the domaine. The wine is markedly Chablisienne with a nobly chalky nose accompanied by enticing earthiness and sweet yellow apple core. The palate layers on freshly-baked bread and discreet spice. The chalky finish delivers a pleasantly drying sensation." 

Burghound, 92-94 Points 

"Note: also from .50 ha parcel, half of which is young vines. Firm reduction pushes the underlying fruit to the background though it does seem ripe. More interesting are the impressive dense, powerful and muscular broad-shouldered flavors that possess an almost opulent mid-palate thanks to the abundance of dry extract that does an excellent job of buffering the firm acid spine shaping the compact, moderately austere and serious finale. This is also excellent thought it's also very backward and a wine that will need at least moderate patience. *Burghound Sweet Spot!*" 

Alcohol: 13% 

*Discounts do not apply to items like this one in the Fine & Rare category. Price and availability in store may vary.