Birth of a new star

From Charles de Gaulle Airport north of Paris to Chablis is about two hours' drive down the A6. Having gone the wrong way around the Paris Peripherique (ring road) in the past, I pulled over just outside the airport to let the GPS get its bearings before setting out. The traffic wasn't too bad but I wouldn't like to be trying to read a map to take the various exits and links before hitting the A6. We didn't put a foot wrong (for the first time) and lobbed in the village of Courgis just after midday for a catch-up with Thomas Pico of Domaine Pattes Loup.

I imported 25 cases of Thomas's 2008 AC Chablis last year and they were snapped up by some top restaurants in Sydney and Brisbane. I'd been out of stock of Chablis (stupidly) for quite a while, but on Friday a healthy 112 cases of 2009 Pattes Loup landed at the warehouse in Sydney. Many of the 08 buyers already had reservations in for the new wine.

I tried the 09 from bottle for the first time, and it's a cracker. The best villages wine he's made, Thomas confidently declared. He works his vines organically and handpicks the grapes. They are then fermented in stainless steel and 700-litre concrete biodynamic eggs, which enable lots of lees contact for texture and extra body.

The result is a wine of intrigue. It's chardonnay with palate weight despite the absence of oak in the vinification. We also tried the three premier cru 09s. The Cote du Jouan was bottled in January and was looking sensational: fruit sweet (ripe grapefruit) and minerally, and a persistent finish. The Beauregard and Montmains (from the Butteaux section of the vineyard) might turn out even better but just a week after bottling they were reluctant to show their best.

Australia's allocation of these three wines is a miserly 34 cases in total, and they should be available in mid-May. Thomas's 2010s were in an awkward phase of development, the cold winter delaying malolactic fermentation, so we grabbed two bottles and headed off for lunch. Thomas was feeling worse for wear, his partner and newborn second child having come home just the night before to ensure he didn't get much sleep. It was a big week all round, his 30th birthday due just two days after our visit.

He drove us to the quaint old village Noyers-sur-Sereine, where many of the buildings were constructed with a combination of mud and straw between wooden beams. It's a gorgeous little place of narrow cobblestone streets, crooked houses and an imposing church, plus our destination -- Maison Paillot, a cute two-storey restaurant and store.

We scoffed down one of the local delicacies, gougeres (cheese-puff rolls), then Miriam and I launched into a salad containing rabbit liver and neck. Sensational. Miriam went for the Coq au Vin main while I scarfed the veal. Delicious and we probably didn't eat as much as we were allowed for the E19.60 lunch special.

We had the 09 Chablis and Cote du Jouan with the meal, plus a typically funky cabernet franc from the Loire. I thought the nose was a bit dirty but the palate pleasant, while Thomas thought the palate didn't deliver what the nose promised!

We drove back to Courgis to get our car, then virtually backtracked to get to the A6 and onwards to Gevrey Chambertin for our second appointment, with Didier Chevillon at Dupont-Tisserandot.