Chablis

France · AOC · Burgundy

Styles

Natural factors

Soils on Kimmeridgian bedrock ('Marnes à exogyra virgula'): argillaceous limestones rich in small comma-shaped fossilised oysters.
Soils consistently calcareous, thin and very stony, well drained; more clayey on the marly escarpment slope.
Cuesta 'Côte des Bars': limestone scarp in Calcaire du Barrois (Tithonian) above a marly slope, with a drop of 120 to 130 m and a maximum elevation of 320 m.
Oceanic climate with continental tendencies: 650 mm/year, mean annual temperature 10.8 °C, high risk of spring frosts aggravated by the enclosed topography. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)
17 communes in the département of the Yonne, in the lateral valleys of the Serein (a tributary of the Yonne), east of Auxerre.

Human factors

Single variety: Chardonnay B, trained using the traditional 'taille Chablis' pruning method adapted to the challenging climatic conditions.
Viticulture attested as early as 510 CE; the AOC was framed by court rulings from 1920 to 1932 and formally recognised as an AOC in 1938.

Product characteristics

Dry white wine, lively, fruity and mineral; gains in complexity and finesse with age, with acidity and minerality ensuring a persistent freshness of character.
The Premiers Crus are age-worthy wines that reach their peak after 8 to 10 years of cellaring.

Terroir / wine link

The lively, mineral character is attributed explicitly to the cool oceanic climate, further nuanced by mesoclimatic influences arising from the complex topography.

Facts drawn from the cahier's terroir-link section (Lien au terroir) by automatic interpretation — see the source.