I find less to get excited about in the 2009 Chablis Les Clos. Like the Blanchots, the Clos is a wine built mostly on fruit rather than structure or minerality. The 40% French oak is very nicely integrated, but the refinement and silkiness typical of the best wines from this site remain elusive. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. Domaine Laroche is back in the US market after an absence of several years. The house style is marked by a search for considerable textural richness, which makes these some of the deeper, more opulent wines made in Chablis. Over the last few years, Domaine Laroche has begun to focus on organic viticulture and increased the use of indigenous yeasts, both of which are rare in Chablis. All of the Domaine Laroche wines are bottled under screwcap, also rare in Chablis, especially at this level. Winemaker Gregory Viennois told me the 2011 harvest started on September 12, towards the later side for the village. Viennois noted that potential alcohols and acidities were quite similar for both 2010 and 2011, which is unusual among the top domaines in Chablis. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661

Les Clos is always the most structured and powerful of the grands crus, but this is also elegant, with refreshing fruit and acidity, while retaining a firm structured backbone. Winemaker Denis de la Bourdonnaye has reduced the amount of oak ageing for his grands crus, and the benefit is there to be tasted in the glass, with some refined elegance.

Intensely perfumed, this supremely ripe wine has kept all the dense structure of the Les Clos vineyard. Here is an impressive mix of tight structure, ripe pear and citrus, layered with toast and great juicy acidity. Age for 4–5 years. Screwcap.——R.V.(12/31/2011)—— 94