Chablis
One of the most famous wine names in the world, Chablis has suffered from numerous imitators. Fifty years ago it comprise just 400ha of vineyards but today there are 4,900ha. Being further north than the rest of Burgundy the wines are subtly different in style, a touch more austere with a beautiful fresh minerality. Forty vineyards are classified Premier Cru, while the seven Grands Crus overlook the town of Chablis and the River Serein.
One of the most famous wine names in the world, Chablis has suffered from numerous imitators. Fifty years ago there were just 400ha of vineyards in Chablis, but today there are 4,900ha. Both the generic and Premier Cru vineyards have doubled since the early 1970s, and now include areas of Portlandian as well as traditional Kimmeridgian clay.
Being further north than the rest of Burgundy, and on a different type of limestone (the aforementioned Kimmeridgian, with some Portlandian), the wines are subtly different in style – a touch more austere with a beautiful fresh minerality that makes them so suited to seafood. Purists believe that only the Kimmeridgian soils, with their traces of marine fossils, should be used.
The outlying Portlandian vineyards are designated as Petit Chablis, although the vast majority of production is classified as Chablis, without any vineyard name. Forty vineyards are classified as Premier Cru, however several of these are grouped together to make 11 more commonly-used Premier Cru designations. The seven Grands Crus are clustered together in a group that overlooks the town of Chablis and the River Serein.
- 622 hectares of Petit Chablis.
- 3,780 hectares of Chablis and Chablis premier cru vineyards (40 in all).
The finest vineyards include: Fourchaumes, Montmains, Mont de Milieu, Montée de Tonnerre, Vaillons, Vaucoupin. - 103 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards (seven in all). Blanchots, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, Vaudésir.
- Recommended Producers: Bessin, Billaud Simon, Dauvissat, Defaix, Droin, Fèvre, Picq, Séguinot-Bordet
Prices:
Bottle
£13.65
Bottle 12 x 75cl4cs
Bottle
£15.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl2cs
The 2015 vintage in Chablis was characterised by a warm dry summer which has lent this wine a riper fruit profile than its predecessor. When we joined Thierry Mothe to select the blend we therefore took great care in choosing parcels which offered refreshing acidity and minerality in order to preserve the steely character of classic Chablis. Its aromas of citrus and oyster shell point to a predictable (but unsurpassable) pairing with shellfish.
Bottle
£15.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl196cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Volumes for 2015 are down after the pre-harvest hail but the quality here is exemplary. The father and daughter team of Laurent and Charlène Pinson, aided by other members of the family, continue to make excellent and very fairly priced wines from a range of vineyards. Part of our selection is shown below. The wines are mostly vinified in stainless steel then given a proportion of barrel ageing.
Bottle
£16.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl58cs
Bottle
£22.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl6cs
As a result this wine displays a pleasing restraint in the form of the classic iodine and oyster shell character one associates with Chablis, accompanied by the riper white peach and honeysuckle flavours of the warm vintage.
Bottle
£23.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl4cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Bottle
£23.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl4cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl21cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl43cs
Bottle
£29.90
Bottle 6 x 75cl54cs
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl50cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Visiting the domaine during the 2015 harvest, we found Margaux Laroche beaming like a cat with two tails. The storm which had dropped hail over other vineyards had merely provided much needed water for their Fourchaume vines. The grapes badly needed the extra juice which the rains provided, and the extra hang time allowed for them to assimilate the water usefully and then regain their equilibrium behind. The resulting wines are terrific.
Bottle
£32.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl178cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Domaine d’Henri is a new producer to Berry Bros. & Rudd since 2015, but one which has impressed us all with their considered and thoughtful winemaking and the use of old vines is the key here.
Vieilles Vignes is produced from vineyards planted in 1970, from one of the finest 1er Cru sites. Vinified predominately in stainless steel tanks (79%) to preserve the minerality and freshness, and in oak barrels (21%) of 228-litres so as to add more complex notes, weight and texture (you cannot taste wood). No hurry here as it will age very well until 2020 or beyond, but very lovely now.
Bottle
£33.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl16cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
We visited Benoît Droin towards the end of the 2015 harvest. “If you had seen me a week ago, straight after the hail, I was on the point of committing suicide, but actually things have turned out much better than we feared,” he told us. Yields were of course affected in several vineyards but the wines across the board are extremely fine. The proportion of wood used reflects the style rather than the seniority of each cuvée.
Bottle
£37.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl21cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Visiting the domaine during the 2015 harvest, we found Margaux Laroche beaming like a cat with two tails. The storm which had dropped hail over other vineyards had merely provided much needed water for their Fourchaume vines. The grapes badly needed the extra juice which the rains provided, and the extra hang time allowed for them to assimilate the water usefully and then regain their equilibrium behind. The resulting wines are terrific.
Bottle
£39.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl68cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director From a small parcel within Fourchaume, 75 Y.O vines. Breed, detail, structure and a pure, saline minerality. Chablis at its best!
Francis Huicq, London Shop Manager
Bottle
£43.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl23cs
This goes into 15 percent new wood and 85 percent tank for vinification, then maturation over 12 months in one-, two- and three-year-old wood. While the wood appears from time to time on the nose, the fruit soon kicks it to one side. With very significant weight on the palate, the wine shows the opulence of the year without losing its Chablis roots.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl42cs
Bottle
£45.50
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Benoît began harvesting on 26th September so almost everything was picked before the rain. Supply is down 30 percent because of the flowering but there was very little rot. It all passed off without problem during vinification and in the cellar.
Bottle
£59.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl4cs
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl55cs
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl20cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The domaine began picking on 26th September, the first to do so in Chablis and ahead of many in the Côte d’Or. It was the right decision since with their low yields and well aerated bunches the grapes were ripe enough, harvesting conditions were good, and everything was picked before the horrible weather of 5th and 6th October. As a result these are wines of exceptional intensity and potential longevity.
Methusel.
£870.00
Methusel. 1 x 600cl1cs
Beautiful bright, pale colour with a marvellously heady nose, picked before the rain. Complete and totally adorable with a magical thread of mineral acidity running through it. Really brilliant for Premier Cru Chablis. Drink 2016 - 2022+
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Taking advantage of its southerly exposure, Mont de Mileu can produce richer styles of Chablis often associated with that of Grand Cru wines. Here is an overt bouquet, expressing aromas of red apple skin, white peach & orange blossom. The palate is generously textured with a wealth of stone fruit, red apples and flicks of sweet oak. A lovely taught acidity underpins this to provide balance and retains freshness leading to a mouth-watering finish.
Chris Lamb, Private Account Manager
The Pinson family can trace their history in Chablis back to 1640, there is even a Rue Pinson in the town so named because three Pinson brothers lived in identical houses in the street.
Louis Pinson sold his first bottles in 1880 but the domaine is now in the hands of his Great Grand-Daughter alongside her Father and Uncle. Highly regarded and meticulously managed, everything is hand-harvested and the grapes are sorted both in the vineyard and at the winery. Fermentation is mostly in stainless steel using selected yeasts before being transferred to barrels to mature.
Mont de Milieu is their largest holding but they also have vines in the 1er Crus of Forêt, Fourchaume, Montmains and Vaillon as well as the Grand Cru Les Clos.
Bottle 12 x 75cl1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Picking began on 30th September, stopped for the rainy weekend, then the small amount remaining was finished afterwards. The Pinsons have been making such good wine for several years now, and 2013 certainly continues that story.
Bottle 12 x 75cl1cs
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director
Benoît Droin is the 14th generation of the family producing wine in Chablis, looking after a 25-hectare domaine with an impressive range of Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. Overall Benoît’s crop was down 15%, largely in straight Chablis after frost, and in the early ripening plots which suffered from drought. The wines are very backward this year as the prolonged cold spring inhibited the malolactic fermentation. However, it is very clear that these are wines of great concentration and real potential.
Bottle 12 x 75cl1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl1cs
(Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director)
Picking began on 20th September, earlier than many Cote d’Or estates, and most grapes were brought in quickly before the rain at the end of the week. It was necessary to sort the grapes by hand to remove botrytis from the later picked vineyards, but the resulting range is not only exceptionally powerful but also very pure. Yields are very substantially reduced here (where they are always low in any case) so prices have risen a little. Didier Séguier thinks that 2010 is a truly great Chablis vintage for the long term.
Bottle 6 x 75cl1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl1cs
Will Heslop - Buyer