Petit Chablis

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The escarpment of the Côte des Bars exposes Upper Jurassic sediments, with a hard limestone named Calcaire du Barrois forming a cliff-like overhang above the slope.
• The subsoil of the slope is composed of Marnes à exogyra virgula, compact, impermeable calcareous-clay marls rich in small comma-shaped oyster fossils, corresponding to the Kimmeridgian.
• Beneath the marls, a horizon of Calcaire à Astartes forms a slight topographic break near the valley floor, where the escarpment face drops 120 to 130 metres against a maximum plateau elevation of 320 metres.
• The soils are varied but consistently calcareous, thin and very stony on the plateau, and richer in clays on the marly slope and its foothill zone.
• The oceanic climate, slightly tempered by continental influences, brings moderate annual rainfall of 650 millimetres at Auxerre and a mean annual temperature of 10.8 °C, with a fairly significant risk of winter and spring frosts.
• The geographical zone extends across the territory of 17 communes in the Yonne département, east of Auxerre, in the hills bordering the Serein valley.

• A monastery founded at Chablis in 510 was ceded in 867 to the monks of Saint-Martin de Tours, fleeing Viking raids, who are said to have developed a vineyard close to the village.
• In 1114, the Cistercians founded the Abbaye de Pontigny near Chablis and subsequently established a cellar in the town known as the «Petit Pontigny», whose buildings still stand today.
• The name «Petit Chablis» was in use from the early twentieth century, and a first growers' syndicate was formed in 1908 to combat misappropriation of the name, before the appellation was formally recognised by decree in 1944.
• The vineyard is traditionally trained using long-cane pruning known as the «taille Chablis», adapted to the challenging climatic conditions while ensuring a regular and moderate yield.

• Petit Chablis is a dry white wine described as lively and fruity, marked by its minerality and lightness on the palate.
• The wine's acidity and minerality lend it a character of freshness and make it a wine for early drinking that need not age to be enjoyable.

• The wines owe their lively, mineral character to the cool oceanic climate of the geographical zone.
• Vines situated on cool plateau sites, at the foot of slopes, or on clay-rich soils favour a controlled ripening of the grapes, guaranteeing sufficient acidity to underpin the wines' liveliness.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF)
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — BIVB — Chablis