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:
H/Bottle
£8.95
H/Bottle 24 x 37.5cl 8cs
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 75cl 11cs
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
Bottle
£17.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 563cs
Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate. 31st August 2016.
Bottle
£18.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 37cs
Bottle
£23.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 80cs
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com. 18th Feburary 2017.
Bottle
£23.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 123cs
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 75cl 47cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 16cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 36cs
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
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 60cs
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
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 156cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£27.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 18cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate. 28th August 2015.
Bottle
£29.90
Bottle 6 x 75cl 10cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Samuel has not only been able to take back his share of the family vineyards but he has also moved into some excellent premises which he has been refurbishing, in the heart of Chablis. It was good to find him in such a cheerful frame of mind. The long, slow vinification of his 2015s has done the wines a lot of good. We found a concentration of minerality and characteristic saline finishes.
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 48cs
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 75cl 169cs
Magnum
£81.95
Magnum 3 x 150cl 5cs
Jeroboam
£215.00
Jeroboam 1 x 300cl 4cs
Bottle
£32.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 49cs
Bottle
£33.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 32cs
Bottle
£33.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
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 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Quantity is a bit of a problem this year as the Michels suffered hail in 22 of their 25 hectares. Fortunately most of the Grands Crus were spared, but they have very little Chablis or Premier Cru. Guillaume Michel brought in most of the crop in three and a half days, so there was no deterioration of the grapes from the areas which suffered. The grapes were in fact ripe to perfection and, as with last year, this is an impressive range of wines.
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 12cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
In common with most of his colleagues, Didier Séguier was ready to harvest in early September; starting on Thursday 3rd with the vineyards which had been hit by the hail storm earlier in the week. The damage was to volume rather than quality and certainly just from tasting it was not possible to see where the hail had fallen. These are powerful wines which have nonetheless retained the qualities of classic Chablis.
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 64cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£36.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 9cs
Bottle
£37.50
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
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 75cl 59cs
Magnum
£98.95
Magnum 3 x 150cl 4cs
Jeroboam
£250.00
Jeroboam 1 x 300cl 4cs
Bottle
£42.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 21cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
In common with most of his colleagues, Didier Séguier was ready to harvest in early September; starting on Thursday 3rd with the vineyards which had been hit by the hail storm earlier in the week. The damage was to volume rather than quality and certainly just from tasting it was not possible to see where the hail had fallen. These are powerful wines which have nonetheless retained the qualities of classic Chablis.
H/Bottle 12 x 37.5cl 1cs
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 75cl 7cs
Jeroboam
£250.00
Jeroboam 1 x 300cl 2cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
In common with most of his colleagues, Didier Séguier was ready to harvest in early September; starting on Thursday 3rd with the vineyards which had been hit by the hail storm earlier in the week. The damage was to volume rather than quality and certainly just from tasting it was not possible to see where the hail had fallen. These are powerful wines which have nonetheless retained the qualities of classic Chablis.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 23cs
Will Heslop - Wine Buyer, June 2017