Chablis

This specific bottling is from a single 1-hectare plot next to the premier cru of Vaucoupin – it can be considered a mini premier cru. In 2023, this is assertive and focused with waves of salinity running through the wine. A hint of white miso complexity on the finish with very fine white flowers and white grapefruit flavours - this is a real value pick from the range.

This Chablis from Didier represents his largest bottling from various parcels around the domaine. It is quite simply everything you might hope for in a village Chablis. Saline, focused, with fine citrus notes of white grapefruit and hints of stone fruit. It is tightly coiled and classic in style. The finish shows a subtle and enticing delicate bitter lemon note.

The village bottling of Vauclaire is a new wine for Didier, bottled separately for the first time with the 2022 vintage. This is a parcel on the left bank of the Serein River, planted in 1985 and 1986 near Vosgros and Dessus la Carrière. On the nose this is so fresh and vibrant with aromas of chalk dust, white flowers, apricot and almond blossom. A really beautiful Chablis this year.

The estate has a total of 3.5 hectares of Vosgros in two parcels. The larger parcel has vines dating back to the 1960s while the other smaller parcel was planted in the early 1980s. Exposed southwest, its soil is brown marl limestone, giving wines which open with citrus and stone fruit before a wave of salinity floods the palate. In 2023 this is quite brilliant with a mineral-etched focus.

Droin’s Vosgros is always one of the most striking and characterful wines at the domaine. It is vinified and raised exclusively in stainless steel: Benoît wants to preserve the energy and Chablisienne nature of the wine. It has a notable drive, but also an ample volume, twinned with delicious purity. It has wonderful intensity on the palate, with lemon verbena and orange pith notes.

Valmur is pressed up against Les Clos; the contour of its slope, where much faces northwest, makes it slightly cooler than other parts of the grand cru. It’s like a stiff sea breeze, laced with salt and an iodine freshness. The scintillating line of acidity running through its length is tied to some fascinating orange blossom notes, making it one of the most complex in the vintage’s line up.

Mont de Milieu, the mountain in the middle, historically marked the frontier between Burgundy and Champagne. It has a south-facing aspect - rare in Chablis - and this wine expresses the flamboyant side of Chardonnay grown in a sunny spot in a cool climate. The old vines have produced a wine bursting with apricots and peaches; it’s like the fruit has been supercharged here. On the palate there is a pronounced chalky freshness which wraps around the gourmand fruit. Intense, salty, and voluminous.

Montmains is on the same slope of the left bank as Vaillons, but has deeper clay soils, and typically produces a rounder wine with more weight. The clay in the soils makes it a cooler site, and it often gets picked last. This makes for a really quite burgundian style of wine, as in, it wouldn’t be impossible to mistake it for something from the Côte d’Or if tasting blind. But that little kick of oyster shell which whips around the fruit gives it away as Chablis.

Benoît’s village Chablis is one of the best (the best?) out there, and is always a fast seller. It has a strong following of fans who return to it year after year for its great value and high quality. It’s packed with fruit, and has an energy and persistence that propels it across the palate. There’s a nice chalky freshness and zingy lift.

This is a blend of five terroirs across the steep Vaillons premier cru (out of a possible total of eight). Blending gives Benoît the chance to introduce freshness, with higher acid fruit running through the riper parcels. This is gorgeously floral, as great Vaillons tends to be in its youth. It’s an elegant wine with classical balance. As usual 25% was fermented and aged in old oak, and though it’s hugely appealing right from the get-go, this should age beautifully as well.

As ever, this is the pinnacle of the Droin wines, and one of the finest grand cru cuvées in Chablis. Benoît says it needs 20 years to reach its peak. I’ll keep my drink dates a little earlier, though I’ve no doubt the wine could peak at 20 years if you have the patience. It is tight and nervous, with weighty power underneath. The special name of this cuvée is in celebration of Louis Droin, who bought this parcel in 1920. The three vintages of 2020, 2021, and 2022 all carry Hommage à Louis on their labels. The powers that be briefly redrew the boundaries, but have since admitted their error, and from the 2023 vintage onwards, Benoît once again has the right to label this Les Clos, although he has continued to use Hommage à Louis as well.

Vaudésir sits at the top of the grand cru hill, and enjoys a steep incline, making it one of the sunnier spots in the grand cru. This is all nutty intensity and precision, giving it density and drive on the palate. It’s got a great texture, with stone fruit concentration laced with grilled hazelnuts. This will drink well from early on, though its drinking window should not be underestimated.

Séchet is a lieu-dit within the Vaillons premier cru, which is prized for its floral, mineral, and delicate power. These old vines had belonged to Samuel’s grandmother, and many are approaching 100 years old. He never wants to put this in oak, he likes to keep the transparency of the fruit at the fore. It is tightly coiled on the nose, a little shy at first, but slowly unfurling into one of the most complex and complete wines in Samuel’s cellar.

Samuel jokes that this is ‘Petit Chablis deluxe’. It comes from a parcel just above Grand Cru Les Clos, and is a rare example of Petit Chablis grown on a high proportion of Kimmeridgian, rather than purely Portlandian, limestone. Although Samuel does not distinguish within his range, all the fruit here comes from his own vines, ie ‘domaine’. Indeed, it’s one of the parcels he was most determined to hang onto after splitting from his family estate in 2009. In 2023, it is both generous and precise, with vibrant citrus, just-ripe pineapple and stony minerality running through it, with a creamy, smooth as silk length.

Preuses is famous for its minerality, derived from its chalky soils. In Samuel’s hands it delivers this typicity in spades. It is tense and refined, with a razor-like edge to the acidity.

Samuel’s Chablis is an absolute go-to. It’s a blend of three parcels, picked and vinified separately. Together they contribute complexity, richness, and minerality: that’s a pretty good combination for a Chablis, with impressive depth of fruit and a satisfying, fleshy weight,and its persistent length is clean-cut, saline and refreshing. It’s one of our fastest sellers each year (well worth having).

Vaudésir sits high up on the grand cru hill, and is an east-facing sunny site whose steep incline catches the sun’s rays. The wine is deceptively full bodied, with power and precision driving through the finish. Oak ageing gives depth, and this wine will benefit from a few years in the cellar before approaching.

This is the most forward and flattering of Samuel’s grands crus in its youth. It has a gourmand volume on the palate, with tangy pineapple fruit on the length. It will happily go on for many years in the cellar, but it’s the easiest of his grands crus to approach in youth.

This is the most prized vineyard in Chablis, and with good reason. The wine has a level of intensity and precision that is only possible with fruit of impeccable quality. It has a whisper of smoke on the nose, and the promise of complex evolution as this ages. It carries its oak with effortless grace.

This comes from three parcels, which are spread across the top, middle, and bottom sections of the premier cru. It is straight and incisive, with a concentrated, saline flicker on the finish. There’s a nice balance between fruit and minerality in this premier cru.

Samuel’s Montée de Tonnerre is a blend of two parcels, one of which lies alongside that of Raveneau’s. It has a wonderfully spicy scent, reminiscent of ginger. The palate is savoury and taut, with a tingling freshness on the finish. 20% is raised in oak, giving the fruit further breadth.

Montmains is a cool site, and often picked later than most premier crus. It’s a large site with various sub-zones worth of note. The Fevre example is equal parts Montmains, Forêts, and Butteaux. In 2023 it is ripe with delicate grapefruit citrus, and a salinity that gives it a beautiful chalky freshness.

The Fèvre Chablis comes from 40 parcels scattered across four hectares, from vines with an average age of 50 years. Much of these are grown around Chichée, near Vosgros, and give the quality you might expect in a Premier Cru. The result is a village Chablis of brilliant precision and nice freshness with a long voluminous finish.

This comes from the parcel at the bottom of the slope, by the river. Its soils always produce wines with lots of saltiness and minerality, Didier says. The special character of this vineyard has always stood out, and it has been bottled separately from Bougros since 1998. The 2023 is tense, energetic and powerful. It has a piercing saline freshness. Outstanding.