Unique Natural Wines From Alice and Olivier De Moor!

5/11/2009 -

We have just received the 2007 Chablis "Rosette" and Chablis "Bel Air et Clardy" from Alice and Olivier De Moor, now imported by Louis/Dressner Selections. These are brilliant wines of terroir, made in an uncompromising style to preserve the complexity and character of the grape and the soil. Unlike the overcropped, machine-harvested, over-sulfured and often over-oaked Chablis one encounters so frequently, the De Moor Chablis are an entirely different style. The farming has been organic from the beginning (their first vintage was 1994) with the vineyard plowed only every other year which encourages the natural life of the soil (and it's better for the strawberries, says Alice). Harvesting is by hand into small boxes, fermentations are long and slow with wild yeasts and aging is in small 7 to 8 year old barrels. The soils are clay and fossil stones over kimmeridgian limestone, which comes through loud and clear in the wines. The bottlings here used to be done by hand, sometimes without sulfur which caused occasional criticism. "Now we have a new oenologist and we bottle with a machine, add lots of sulfur and filter the bleep out of the wine" says Ollivier with a laugh. Yes, the wines are "cleaner" now but there is still minimal filtration and minimal sulfur which allows a truer expression of Chardonnay and the soil. As elsewhere in northern France, the 2007 vintage was cool and damp in the summer but was saved by dry weather from late August through October, giving wines with good acidity and mineral character which should be carafed when young or cellared 5 to 10 years. The De Moor wines are not for everyone, nor for casual sipping - they require patience, but their fantastic work in the vineyard and in the cellar will reward those looking for wines that are subtle, complex and alive. We urge you to try them.