Chablis 2024

Didier has been making this single vineyard village Chablis since 2006. It sits near premier cru Vaucopins with a westerly exposition. The cool fruit here gives a flinty, mouthwatering expression. Rounder than the Vauclaire, with tension and intensity all the way to the impressive finish.

Didier Picq’s Chablis holdings are all high in limestone, giving his wines a wonderfully pithy minerality. This village Chablis shows wonderful Chablis typicity - green apple, oyster brine notes and a long, savoury length. As with all his wines, it is aged in stainless steel, so the fruit and tension are pure and precise. Outstanding value.

Didier Picq has two choice parcels in premier cru Vosgros. The vines range from 40-60 years old. It is raised entirely in stainless steel and produces a wine of intensity and cut-glass freshness.

Didier Picq has two choice parcels in premier cru Vosgros. The vines range from 40-60 years old. It is raised entirely in stainless steel and produces a wine of intensity and cut-glass freshness.

Valmur is pressed up against Les Clos; the contour of its slope, where much faces northwest, make it slightly cooler than other parts of the grand cru. The wine has a salty seaspray edge to it. The scintillating line of acidity running through its length makes it one of the most complex in the line up.

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 soils also make 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 out there, and has an army 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. The 2024 is typically floral, as great Vaillons tends to be. It’s an elegant wine with classical balance. Around 30% 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. 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 in1920.

Vaudésir sits at the top of the grand cru hill, and enjoys a steep incline, making it one of the sunnier spots. It is intense and precise, with a fine, elegant length. It’s got a great texture, with stone fruit concentration laced with grilled hazelnuts. This will drink well early, though its drinking window should not be underestimated.

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, i.e. ‘domaine’. Indeed, it’s one of the parcels he was most determined to hang onto after splitting from his family estate in 2009. It is focused and precise, with lemon zest and salty minerality running through it, and a peachy, 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.

This comes from a blend of three parcels, which are picked and vinified separately. Samuel says these three parts contribute complexity, richness, and minerality to the blend. That’s a pretty good combination for a Chablis. It has an impressive depth of fruit with a satisfying, fleshy weight, and its persistent length is clean-cut and refreshing. It’s one of our fastest sellers each year, and invariably sells out en primeur, so you need to buy early if you want any in your cellar (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 a bright and zingy entry to Samuel’s grand cru range. It is raised half in tank, half in barrel, and blended together after one year. Its fruit-forward palate has a nice open weave, with typical Chablis verve driving through on the finish.

Montmains is a cool site, and often picked later than most premiers crus. It’s a large site, with various sub-zones of note. The Fèvre example is equal parts Montmains, Forets, and Butteaux. This combination makes for a tense, ripe wine, with salinity and a beautiful chalky freshness.

Vaillons is a warm, sunny premier cru, much admired in the region. Fèvre has a substantial 3.5 hectares right in the middle of the slope. Their 55-year-old vines produce concentration and ripeness in the wine. It bursts with floral aromatics: white blossom and jasmine spice. Amplitude on the palate will only build over time.

Beauroy is a particularly lovely site located within larger Troesmes, and the Fèvre parcel is home to old vines, around 60 years old. Here is mineral structure and a floral lift. It is light on its feet, and it will be a forward drinking premier cru.

Montmains, this year, includes all the fruit from La Forêt, and has a pure, green-apple persistence and long savoury finish. There is plenty of impact here, with a density of fruit and intensity of structure producing a complete and incisive finish.

This is mineral, zingy, citrus and intense, with great drive and depth. Plenty of dry extract gives the palate a plump weight and mineral poise. This old vine cuvée takes the prize for ‘hidden gem’ of our Chablis range. It comes from 40- to 70-year-old vines scattered across seven parcels, with a variety of soil structures and exposures. It may be a wine of humble communal classification, but it deserves special attention. Under Diam closure since 2022.

Bessin-Tremblay’s Valmur is tremendous value for money. It bursts with citrus and salty aromas. It is edgy, slightly reductive, telling you it will need some time. It’s a reserved grand cru, rather than a flamboyant one, but its still waters run deep.