Chablis' Best Kept Secret
2010 Tribut Chablis 1er Cru Beauroy
Last year, we did an offering of Tribut's 2010 1er Cru Beauroy. It quickly became a customer and staff favorite.
When a final small parcel became available, we jumped on it.
We love the 2010 vintage, we love Tribut... It was a no-brainer.
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For the Chablis obsessed, the wines of Laurent Tribut are legendary. Tribut is Vincent Dauvissat's brother-in-law. For years, Tribut's wines have been an insider's secret.
Tribut is very small and the bottles that make it to the country are quickly snapped up by collectors and savvy sommeliers. If you're looking for an explanation of why the wines aren't better known, look no further.
Just to highlight the rarity of Tribut's wines, I should mention that there's just one other listing in the U.S.
2010 is a special vintage in Chablis. The key word is harmony. The vintage is seriously close to being perfectly proportioned. 2010 is simply a gorgeous, purist's vintage. What's most striking, though, is the combination of purity, detail and concentration. This is a very rare trifecta.
If you've never tasted Tribut's Chablis, 2010 is close to an ideal vintage to become acquainted with them. The 2010 Beauroy is crystal clear and utterly compelling.
Rarity does have an upside. Tribut's Chablis are ridiculous values. Without large quantities or sexy Grand Cru holdings, there's just not the profile to drive prices up. This, of course, is a very good thing.
The story here is that Laurent Tribut married Marie-Clotilde Dauvissat, the daughter of René Dauvissat. The Dauvissats had purchased choice parcels to give their children land to become winemakers, which is the land Laurent and Marie-Clotilde farm.
Of course, this would be meaningless if the wines weren't great. There's certainly no problem here. Tribut's wines fall very much in the Dauvissat idiom - they possess the same deeply complex Chablis minerality, the same intense sweeping notes of stone fruits, flowers and minerals. Tribut was welcomed with open arms to the Dauvissat winemaking process: the two domaines share everything from pickers to printers and until very recently, Tribut made wines in Dauvissat's cellar.
This is a small parcel that we're only sending to people who've supported the Chablis program. We'll likely have to allocate. Please give us your ideal order and we'll try our best.
To order, reply to offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits
Burghound: "Outstanding-An exceptionally fresh nose and there is only a hint of exoticism to the yellow orchard fruit and floral nose. There is good ripeness to the extract-rich flavors that possess an attractive sense of energy on the mouth coating and lingering finish that exudes a fine extract of apricot and peach. This fleshy and satisfying effort is more elegant than usual. Worth considering."