2016 Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin - Grenouille Chablis Grand Cru

The 2016 Chablis Grenouilles Grand Cru has a clean and precise bouquet with granite and flint aromas mixed with pressed white flowers, red apple and Conference pear. The palate is very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, taut and linear, open and one of the most generous 2016 from Droin at this early stage. In fact, you could almost drink this now, especially to savour upon the long spicy aftertaste. This is a deeply satisfying, quite involving Grenouilles from Droin.

The 2016 Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles exhibits a spicy, oak-inflected bouquet of peaches and flowers. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, concentrated and chewy, showing some oak tannin. It's a little meager and compressed, and again, I wonder if 2016's raw materials were sufficiently serious to cope with Drouin's ambitious élevage.

(these vines just turned 70 years old but still produce a healthy crop, according to Droin, who has not yet started to replant them; 13% alcohol): Light yellow, but without the green tinge of some of the other 2016s at this address. Distinctly ripe, buttery aromas of soft citrus and tropical fruits show a slightly exotic character. Thick, creamy-sweet and highly concentrated but given shape by ripe, harmonious acidity. A bit aggressive and edgy on the phenolic finish but also boasts explosive length. At this point in our tasting, Droin noted that he lightly chaptalized both the Valmur and the Clos in 2016, but not this wine from deeper soil.