I often tease my winemaker friends in Burgundy’s Côte d’or that my favorite Chardonnay is Blanc de Blancs Champagne. I get a pass on that, though sometimes with a hesitant, sideways glance or sometimes with an eye roll. What I don’t dare say is that I think the most unique expressions of Chardonnay come from Chablis…. This is precisely why Chablis is one of my favorite Chardonnay places on the planet.
Read MoreI've been visiting Guillaume for four or five years, and his wines are scintillating every time. He easily makes it into my 2018 Top 10 List. Guillaume's wines are made with as much TLC as his vines are tended. Guillaume finds the 2018 to be a "pretty vintage with good structure", adding there was no need to acidify. Moreover, he never has, not even in 2003. The wines below are listed in the order of tasting.
Read MoreSo, what about 2018 Chablis? First, there's a lot of it. Second, the excellent, the good and the "meh" abound. Winemakers had a lot to contend with in the vineyards as well as in the cellars, making making the sundry results unsurprising. Fear not. If you know your budget (and do be aware in advance of the impacts the Trump administration's implemented and pending tariffs) and have a sense of your style preferences, and you'll do just fine.
Read MoreIsabelle Raveneau hired 33% more harvest helpers to bring in her 2018 crop. For the first time since 2011, her cellar was full; the domaine's full yield potential was reached. Moreover, she called the grapes "excellent", and Isabelle is not one to embellish. Neither the warmth of the vintage nor the house style marked the wines as much as their terroirs. In a region as distinctly diverse in terroir and as laser-focused on a single variety as Chablis, I always find that thrilling.
Read More"A lot of great wine was distilled in 2018," Vincent Dauvissat lamented. Vincent had never seen a vintage like 2018 - unprecedented, high volumes coupled with top quality. (At least chez lui, I'll insert with regard to the last bit. Not everyone was as successful as he was in managing the 2018 vintage.) Quelle frustration!
Read MoreSavory, saline and yeasty, this wine absolutely earns its moniker “SEA”, reflecting the scents and tastes of the sea. As the moniker goes, “If it comes from the sea, it goes with Chablis.”
Read MoreAs I’ve written before in this column, 2016 was a rough year in Chablis. Here are a few numbers on the 2016 vintage recounted to me by Didier Picq, who oversees the winemaking at his family’s domaine….
Read MoreI’ve been visiting Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix for over half a decade. I always taste older vintages that charm and delight…but I am always in the area to taste the most recent vintage. When tasting the 2015 vintage in the region, I got a naughty pour off a tank of that vintage chez Etienne. I was PUMPED! So, when I arrived in 2017 to taste the 2016s, I was astonished to be presented (at last) a full line-up of the 2016s.
Read MoreI’ve long been a fan of the wide range offered at Chablis’ Domaine Bernard Defaix. So when Didier (son of Bernard, who with his brother Sylvain oversees the domaine’s production today) asked if I would be interested in tasting the wines of the Rully domaine that his wife, Hélène, inherited in 2002, I replied with great eagerness. I’d tasted a wine or two here or there in New York, but I didn’t know much about them.
Read MoreYou can’t beat the name Domaine du Chardonnay for an enterprise that produces 38 hectares of domaine-owned Chablis. Founded in 1987 by a trio of friends, Etienne Boileau, William Nahan and Christian Simon, they had to come up with a non-family name. Those are pretty rare for wineries in Chablis. As they say, sometimes simplest is best, and these guys nailed it for marketing purposes!
Read MoreScrew the romance of making wine and the lifestyle of wine. It’s a tough business, and some people seem to get none of the breaks. One of those is Dominique Gruhier, based in the hills of the world-famous Épineuil.
Read MoreP.S. If you do (or even if you don’t) visit the Angsts, don’t miss the Pontigny Abbey, the largest Cistercian abbey still standing in Europe. It is stunning from afar and on the inside. There are no vines around Pontigny today, but the monks did plant there. The office of the BIVB-Chablis (the marketing and promotions board of Chablis) is in a lovely building in the center of Chablis called The Petit Pontingy, and it previously served as the abbey’s vinification site.
Read MoreThere’s nothing like arranging winery visits on the road. Learning about good juice while in Milan on a Monday then visiting the winery on the Friday (especially on Bastille Day…and at 9 am) in Chablis is exciting. Meeting people on their home turf is the best way to learn about their wines. That is especially true when the winery is off-the beaten path, and there are young peeps making tasty stuff.
Read MoreI met Guillaume Vrignaud three or four years ago. He seemed shy but friendly, and he was clearly, thoroughly passionate. I really liked his wines. I learned first hand that the way to really get him going was to get him into the vineyard. I will never forget our unexpected climb up some steep and rocky slopes through his vines in Côte de Fontenay and Vaupulent (each strikingly different in many ways)…while I wore three inch heeled sandals and Guillaume sprinted about in gym shorts.
Read MoreKnocking at the door of anyone in France for professional call on Bastille Day morning can be unnerving, even when they are expecting you. Happily, this trio of Dauvissats immediately dissipated my concern.
Read MoreIrancy is one of THE most beautiful appellations in France, with a postcard perfect town snuggled into the bottom of the appellation’s bird nest shape. So, it isn’t too curious that the appellation sells about 80% of its wine from the cellar doors! It’s a popular day and weekend trip from Paris.
Read MoreChablis is rapidly changing today, and it’s all for the better. I was thrilled to visit one of the region’s new wine-producing domaines in Préhy last July. There are several new or new-ish wineries in this southwestern corner of Chablis. It’s quite a hotspot for new names.
Read MoreEvery time I pulled out that bright yellow and green pen over the course of my ten days in Chablis last year, the vigneron I was chatting with gave a nod, a point and a smile. “Ah! You’ve been to Chantemerle!” Yes, I had.
Read More“Our vineyards are on the left and right banks, all near Chichée,” said Nathalie Oudin. I immediately sensed that Nathalie might be sizing me up. Luckily, I speak “Chablisien” and understood that the family’s vines are clustered around the pretty village of Chichée, about a five-minute drive to the southeast of the town of Chablis.
Read MoreDriving up to the big, beautiful and old stone farmhouse of Laurent and Marie-Clothilde Tribut, I was impressed. It looked like quite a large operation. When no one replied to my knock at the door, I took a few pushes on the swing in the seemingly centuries old tree in the front yard while I waited for someone to arrive.
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