Gilbert Picq Chablis, 2000

This is real Chablis: cool climate unoaked Chardonnay--steely and powerful. No butter, no brown sugar.

Medium deep gold./ Fully developed bouquet of Chablis minerals and soil, appropriately flinty./ The same on the palate: unoaked Chardonnay complexity with a citrusy, flinty edge. A very full feeling on the mid-palate. Everything is in place; it's just stepping into its own. At this stage, the 1996 was prematurely oxidized--a distinct disappointment. But whatever the problem was, it apparently has been fixed.

I like all of the Gilbert Picq line of Chablis--good fruit, traditionally made using stainless steel rather than new oak. The Vieilles Vignes is my favorite.