94 Allen Meadows - Burghound

"From .50 ha parcel, half of which is young vines. A fresh, cool and highly reserved nose offers up notes of white flowers, citrus elements, pear, green apple and a plethora of classic Chablis character. The mouth feel of the substantially-scaled flavors is really quite fine with lovely delineation and verve adding to that impression, all wrapped in an intensely mineral-driven finish that is clean, dry, balanced and notably complex. This classically styled beauty should amply reward up to a decade of cellaring yet be approachable after only 4 to 5 years."

91-93 Stephen Tanzer - Vinous Media

"Fresh, pale yellow. Sexy, subtly complex aromas of lime blossom and acacia flower. Suave on entry, then youthful and sharply delineated in the mid-palate, with harmonious acidity framing and extending the intense citrus and powdered stone flavors. A rather delicate young Clos with a saline aftertaste and no austerity.

Guillaume Gicqueau-Michel was not the only Chablis winemaker who told me that the fruit in 2014 took a while to reach phenolic maturity. July and August brought a lot of rain (about 250 millimeters, according to Gicqueau-Michel) and there were mildew pressures late in the season; considerable millerandage also slowed down the ripening. The estate started harvesting on September 17, but the ripeness was uneven and some of the grapes were still hard despite their analytic maturity. In fact, the team stopped for three days in the middle of the harvest to wait for the skins to get riper, and eventually finished on October 1. Potential alcohol levels averaged about 12.3% and most of the wines were lightly chaptalized. The fermentations were long and Gicqueau-Michel did not keep much in the way of lees after a débourbage lasting 18 to 24 hours. Two thousand thirteen brought the smallest estate-wide production on record here: 38 hectoliters per hectare. “It’s not a classic vintage but it’s a good one,” said Gicqueau-Michel, adding that the grapes were very ripe and that there was almost no chaptalization. The estate started harvesting on October 2 and went very quickly. Following 37 millimeters of rain on October 5, they rented a second picking machine and finished in three days flat. “Otherwise it would have been a disaster,” said Gicqueau-Michel, who advises drinking the 2013s early “while waiting for your 2012s and 2010s.”

Incidentally, this estate began using DIAM corks for its 2013 premier crus. But they selected the DIAM 5s, which are less dense than the 10s and are guaranteed for a shorter life span, because the Louis Michel wines typically start a bit reductive and austere."