Table of Contents

Background information



NOTE: US consumers should be aware that, contrary to the statements of Vincent Dauvissat which have been repeated by various wine critics, including Burghound, the wines appearing under the R&V Dauvissat and Dauvissat-Camus labels are NOT identical. The US cuvee of the R&V Dauvissat wines (imported by Vineyard Brands) is apparently bottled at least 3 to 4 months before the european versions of the same wine and the Dauvissat-Camus labeled wines (imported by Grape Expectations and Classic Wine Imports.) The Vineyard Brands versions of the Dauvissat wines are typically bottled in November of the year following the vintage and are usually offered for sale in December of the year following the vintage. The European version of the same label and the Dauvissat-Camus wines spend an additional 3 to 4 months in oak and are usually bottled in February or March of the second calendar year following the vintage. Additionally, according to Steven Tanzer, in the past some of the Vineyard Brands' cuvees have been filtered, whereas the later bottled cuvees are generally not filtered. Be aware that the finished wines that have been reviewed in Burghound, IWC and Wine Advocate which have been tasted at the estate have had an additional 3 to 4 months in barrel (and may be unfiltered cuvees) and thus are not identical to the Dauvissat labeled wines bearing the Vineyard Brands strip labels. Whether the Vineyard Brands cuvees are better or worse than the others from a premox perspective remains to be determined. It is certainly arguable that less time in wood may mean that the wines are less likely to suffer premox in the long run. (N.B. note that the wines from Leflaive and Roulot spend only 12 months in barrel and the rest of their elevage in stainless steel). But the important point is that Vineyard Brands is not “identical” to the others. [Don Cornwell]

Wines

1985

1989

1990

1992

1995

1996


1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005


2006


2007


2008


2009

2010

2011

2012