The Wine Advocate
90 Points
The 2016 Chablis 1er Cru Les Fourchaumes Vieilles Vignes is one of the more expressive wines in what's a youthfully reticent range, exhibiting pretty aromas of white peaches and flowers. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, glossy and textural, with a broad attack, succulent acids and a tense, stony finish. Understated but nicely balanced, it's a persuasive Fourchaumes.
Vinous
91 Points
The 2016 Chablis Les Fourchaumes Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru, which comes mainly from L’Homme Mort, is aged 60% in oak and 40% in stainless steel. It has a comparatively rich bouquet with scents of orange blossom and peach skin complementing the citrus peel notes, although, personally, I would have preferred more mineralité here. The palate shows fine tension from the start, quite concentrated but with satisfying energy towards the finish that offers just a hint of stem ginger. There is plenty of energy here and it probably deserves a couple of years in bottle.
Vinous
92 Points
The 2018 Chablis Les Vaudevey 1er Cru is a gorgeous, complex wine. Dried flowers, slate and earthy tones give the 2018 tons of aromatic nuance to match its mid-weight personality. The Vaudevey is an especially somber Chablis marked by strong mineral/soil inflections. It is also tightly wound today and in need of time to be at its best.
Wine Enthusiast
91 Points
Aromatic hints of ripe greengage and Mirabelle are subtle on the nose of this wine. The palate adds a creamy languor to these fruity notions, endowing them with gentle, pithy texture and letting them flow in their generous ripeness, with richer pear on the dry finish.
Vinous
91 Points
The 2016 Chablis Les Vaudevey 1er Cru is aged in 70% stainless steel and 30% in used 600-litre barrels, racked at the end of May after which the two cuvées are blended together. It has a lovely bouquet with hints of nutmeg infusing the citrus fruit, real presence and generosity. The palate is well balanced with fine definition, impressive mineralité and a precise, quite focused finish that has a certain steeliness. Recommended.
Decanter
96 Points
There's no mention of the fact on the label, but this brilliant Chablis is a selection of the best lots from Laroche's extensive holdings in the Blanchot Grand Cru, chosen in a blind tasting. Pale, racy and enticingly perfumed and elegant, it's another triumph over the vintage conditions with tangy, crunchy acidity, classic limestone freshness and intensity and fine, scented oak. Blanchot at its inimitable best. Les Clos Grand Cru also scored 96 and the Blanchot 95. Drinking Window 2021 – 2030.
Vinous
95 Points
The 2017 Chablis Les Blanchots La Réserve de L'Obédience Grand Cru offers a super-intriguing mix of floral notes and lovely mid-palate pliancy, all in an understated style that is quite distinctive. Lemon confit, tangerine oil, sage, mint and white flowers are all woven together nicely. Bright saline notes give the 2017 lovely freshness and verve on the finish.
Burghound.com
93 Points
Soft but not invisible wood sets off similar if perhaps ever-so-slightly riper aromas. There is noticeably better mid-palate concentration to the more powerful and serious middle weight plus flavors that evidence excellent minerality and salinity on the bone dry, linear and impressively long finale. This too could use more depth but this could well be outstanding with 10 years of bottle age under its belt.
The Wine Advocate
92 Points
A barrel selection, the 2016 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots La Réserve de l'Obédience is more reserved than the regular bottling of Blanchots, unfurling in the glass with a reticent nose of crisp buttered orchard fruit, wet stones and spring flowers. On the palate, it's fuller-bodied, more ample and complete, with lovely depth, dimension and concentration and an impressive alliance of texture and tension. The finish is long, pure and stony.
Vinous
92 Points
The 2016 Les Blanchots La Reserve de l’Obédience Grand Cru has a much more intense and voluminous bouquet than the regular Les Blanchots with copious yellow plum, quince and oyster shell notes, flirting with honeyed aromas. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, a much more phenolic wine than the regular Blanchots with a saline tang towards the finish. There certainly seems to have been a bifurcation between the two cuvées, apparently something that has occurred in the weeks prior to my visit. Excellent.
The Wine Advocate
91+ Points
The 2016 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos from Domaine Laroche plays its cards very close to its vest, only unwinding with extended aeration to reveal a pretty bouquet of crisp white peach, lemon oil and citrus blossom. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, glossy and delicately textural, with a deep, stony core and vibrant acids, concluding with a stony, almost saline finish. This is a Les Clos that's going to insist on several years' patience, but it's pure, discreetly concentrated and well-balanced, so I wouldn't bet against it.
Vinous
94 Points
The 2016 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru comes from the bottom and mid-slope part of the vineyard and is aged 100% in used demi-muids. It is blessed with one of my favourite bouquets from Laroche this year: beautifully entwined scents of white flower, oyster shell and gunflint, touches of wet granite and struck flint coming through with aeration. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, the wood exquisitely enmeshed with the fruit and delivering a wonderful, precise, slightly nutty, smoky finish. Superb!
JancisRobinson.com
17.5 Points
Yoghurt, mint, apple – much more interesting than their Blanchots. Gorgeous mixed-peel character on the palate with a long, layered finish giving loads of chalky flavour as well as pure, succulent apple fruit.
The Wine Advocate
90-92+ Points
The 2018 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots was still quite primary and reserved, exhibiting discrete notes of peach and lemon, followed by a medium to full-bodied, ample and tangy palate with plenty of chewy structuring extract.
Decanter
95 Points
Domaine Laroche are the dominant vineyard owner in this Grand Cru, with 4.56 out of a total of 12ha, spread over eight different parcels. Early picked to retain focus and salinity, this is one of a series of impressive wines in 2018, showing praiseworthy mastery of the vintage conditions. Sappy, pithy and stony, this carries its 90% wood very lightly, showing a long, refreshing, sea breeze finish. Drinking Window 2021 – 2028
The Wine Advocate
93+ Points
Laroche's 2017 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots is showing well, unfurling in the glass with a pretty bouquet of almond paste, yellow orchard fruit, nectarine and mint. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered, with good concentration and tension at the core, and a saline, delicately wood-inflected finish.
Burghound.com
92 Points
There is plenty of classic Chablis character to the cool, fresh and ripe aromas of green apple, citrus, iodine and kelp. There is a lovely mouth feel to the textured, vibrant and utterly delicious medium-bodied flavors that exude a fine bead of minerality on the clean, moderately dry and sneaky long finish. This could use a bit more overall depth but the underlying material appears to be present for that to occur.
The Wine Advocate
91 Points
The 2016 Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots is a success, unfurling in the glass with a youthfully reserved bouquet of buttered green apples, lemon oil, white flowers and chalky soil tones. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and layered, with good concentration and depth in its pure, understated style, concluding with a tense, stony finish.
Vinous
91 Points
The 2016 Chablis Les Blanchots Grand Cru is matured 95% in oak whereas previously Laroche used more stainless steel. It has a well defined bouquet with scents of citrus fruit, almond, smoke and desiccated orange peel. The palate is well balanced with a lively opening, quite saline in the mouth with a tightly-coiled, spicy finish that lingers. This Blanchots shows good potential.
Vinous
91 Points
The 2018 Chablis Les Vaillons Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru is laced with lemon confit, citrus peel, almond, dried flowers and chamomile. Aromatic and light on its feet, the 2018 offers lovely near and medium-term appeal. This is such an attractive 1er Cru.