The irrepressible Patrick Piuze, who has worked with Jean-Marie Guffens at Verget and Jean-Marc Brocard, has struck out on his own to found an eponymous négociant. Moreover, the quality levels he has achieved are nothing short of sensational given that 2009 is only his second vintage and that he is buying in fruit. When I inquired as to how he was managing to make such fine wines with purchased fruit, Piuze explained that his experience with Verget and Brocard exposed him to the practices of the very best growers as well as their identities. He also forcefully forswears corrections of any kind, which includes chaptalization, enzymes, acidification as well as new wood (he uses 6 to 8 year old wood at present with some stainless, depending on the wine in question). As Piuze puts it "the only thing truly original in the world of wine is the underlying terroir and I have nothing else interesting to add. Anyone can copy anyone else's techniques so what else is there to make great wines? I believe the answer is simple: Terroir. I want to work only with the fruit from old vines and even then, only old vines that are planted exclusively within the original boundaries of Chablis. If I respect these things, it will be almost impossible to make bad wine." I highly recommend trying a few examples of the Piuze wines if your taste runs to pure and completely unadorned classically styled Chablis, particularly from the 2008 vintage.  BURGHOUND