Appellations
Grand Cru · Chablis
Chablis Grand Cru
white · 100
One appellation covering seven named climats on a single south-west facing slope.
Under the vines
Kimmeridgian marl: clay-limestone packed with the fossil oyster Exogyra virgula.
In the glass
Tense and saline young, broadening into something honeyed and mineral after a decade.
Why it sits here
The seven: Les Clos, Vaudésir, Valmur, Grenouilles, Blanchot, Preuses, Bougros. Les Clos is the largest and longest-lived.
Commonly misread
That Chablis is austere by nature. Warming has made ripeness normal; the old thinness belonged to a colder era.
Names worth knowing
Raveneau, Dauvissat, William Fèvre, Domaine Laroche, Louis Michel