One of the late bloomers in bottle, as always, is the 2023 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur. The aromatic range is evocative of mirabelle plum, orange peel, fennel and oyster liquor. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied and concentrated, with a deep and crystalline core of fruit brimming with energy. Its incisive acidity and saline undertow frame a long, reverberating finish. If Fourchaume is expressive and giving, Valmur is elegantly reserved, and it will demand considerable patience before revealing its cards. Jean-Claude Bessin officially retired, handing over the reins to his sons, Romain and Antoine. Today, Romain is responsible for work in the vineyards, while Antoine manages the cellar. What was formerly Domaine Jean-Claude Bessin has been rechristened Domaine Bessin-Tremblay—Romain's mother, source of many of the domaine's vineyards, being a Tremblay. The name may have changed, but the quality at this 12.3-hectare domaine in La Chapelle Vaupelteigne remains just as impressive.(KK)

The 2023 Chablis “Valmur” from Domaine Bessin-Tremblay is an outstanding young wine. The bouquet is deep, youthfully complex and pure, offering up scents of apple, pear, lemon, a gorgeous base of limestone minerality, beeswax, apple blossoms and a gentle foundation of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with racy acids, great backend mineral drive and grip, fine balance and a long, complex and precise finish. Great juice. (Drink between 2031-2075)

Note: from a 2.08 ha parcel of very old vines - Bessin is not exactly sure how old they are but claims they are the Domaine's oldest; 20% of the blend was vinified in oak. Firm reduction renders an evaluation of the nose impossible today. More interesting are the fresh, impressively dense, especially for the vintage, and powerful larger-scaled flavors that also brim with sappy dry extract on the palate soaking, youthfully austere and tightly wound finale. This is very promising and a wine that should amply repay a decade, perhaps even a bit more, of keeping.