2 THE VINEYARDS: DEFINED,
CLASSIFIED AND EXPANDED
‘All sorts of wines harvested above the bridge at Sens, as much those of the Auxerrois as those of the Beaunois … which travel on the Yonne river shall be called Vins de Bourgogne.’ This, perhaps the first delimitation of a wine-producing area, came in a law of Charles VI in 1416, confirmed by François I in 1527. But the need to protect the integrity of a wine region was already established. As early as 1395, Philippe le Hardi, Duke of Burgundy, ordered the uprooting of the Gamay vine from the vineyards of Dijon, Beaune and Chalon. The ‘très mauvais et très déloyaux plante nommé gamay’ was banned from these vineyards on account of its poor quality.
By the nineteenth century more than eighty villages were selling their wine – made from numerous different grape varieties, not just Chardonnay – under the umbrella name of Chablis. Worse still, there is evidence that in 1898 a négociant from Chablis bought considerable quantities of ‘vin blanc de la Manche [la Mancha], 12º à raison de 30 francs l’hectolitre nu pris à Cette [Sète]’. Not surprisingly there is no mention of any subsequent sale of Spanish wine. The need for a definition of the Chablis vineyards was clearly vital. If the reputation of the wines produced there was to be preserved, it was essential to distinguish them from the wines produced in neighbouring villages.
the river, that they call the Côte de Bouguerots. For Didier Seguier, this is one of the great terroirs of Chablis. Here the grapes ripen later, and again the two plots complement each other, so that the underlying style is quite rich and rounded. Plain Bougros seems softer in comparison. Didier Defaix contrasts the more powerful Bougros with the elegance of Vaudésir.
At the other end of the slope, next to Les Clos, the twelve hectares of Blanchots (of which Domaine Laroche owns four) with soil consisting mainly of clay and marl, make more feminine and elegant wines, yet with a firm backbone. The clay soil retains water, so the vines here fare better than most in a hot summer.
THE PREMIERS CRUS
In broad terms the premiers crus can be distinguished as to whether they are on the right bank, and adjacent to the slope of the grands crus, or on the left bank and facing the grands crus across the valley. For Edouard Vocoret the wines of the right bank, even the village Chablis, are fatter, and more rounded, whereas the Chablis of the left bank are more citrus, sharper, ciselé.
Then there are the newer, outlying premiers crus, that are further from the heart of the vineyards. Another generalization came from Jérôme Garnier that the wines in the northern part of the appellation are softer, with more clay, whereas the vineyards of the south with more limestone, make for more incisive wines. He thinks it is easier to obtain riper grapes in the north, making for more gourmand wine, but that is all relative. Chablis will never ever be as gourmand as the wines of the Côte d’Or and it will always retain a memory of the sea with saline, iodine notes.
The right-bank vineyards are Montée de Tonnerre and Mont de Milieu, to the east of the grands crus, with Vaucoupin closer to the village of Chichée, and Fourchaume to the north-west of the grands crus, stretching towards Maligny.
Separated from the grands crus by the narrow road leading to Fyé, Montée de Tonnerre includes the rarely seen Pied d’Aloup and Côte de Bréchain, as well as Chapelot, which is at its most expressive in the hands of Isabelle Raveneau. It has a very similar aspect to the grands crus, with more weight, depth and power than the premiers crus on the opposite side of the valley. It can be quite austere in its youth, but essentially it is considered to represent elegance and minerality. Samuel
Billaud called it le petit grand cru, or le grand premier cru, with its southeast aspect, just like Les Clos.
Mont de Milieu is inevitably compared with Montée de Tonnerre. Lilian Duplessis has just taken over a plot of Mont de Milieu, which he thought would have the depth of Montée de Tonnerre, but in fact he finds it more aérien and floral, and more akin to Vaillons than to Montée de Tonnerre. Philippe Rossignol from Régnard considers Mont de Milieu to be more masculine, whereas Fourchaume has elegance. For Hervé Tucki of La Chablisienne, with a south-facing plot with one of the best aspects of Chablis, Mont de Milieu is steely and incisive, with energy. Samuel Billaud has three different plots of Mont de Milieu, two that are 70 years old, at the top and the bottom of the slope, and in the middle, a plot of 35-year-old vines. They are picked at different times, and although there are nuances of difference, the wines are blended into one cuvée.
Fourchaume is the very largest of the premiers crus, significantly bigger than the whole slope of the grands crus, totalling at least 130 hectares, with more than thirty producers. Exact figures of ownership are difficult, as more than one member of the same family may own the vines of a particular estate. Fourchaume extends from the road to Fontenay along the valley slope towards Maligny. The soil is deeper than in some vineyards, and the wines may have less ageing potential. There are several other names that come under the all-encompassing umbrella name of Fourchaume, namely Vaupulent, Côte de Fontenay and L’Homme Mort. Vaulorent too, on the other side of the road to Fontenay, is grouped under Fourchaume. Fourchaume tends to be quite supple; Gérard Tremblay talked of white flowers, while for Hervé Tucki it is the epitome of finesse.
Adhémar Boudin was the first to separate his L’Homme Mort from his Fourchaume. L’Homme Mort is close to Maligny, whereas the heart of Fourchaume is near Fontenay, and the soil is different; L’Homme Mort is very stony, and the vines are at a slightly higher altitude, and on steeper slopes whereas there is more clay in Fourchaume. Others have since followed Adhémar’s example, with L’Homme Mort now produced by Jean Durup, La Chablisienne and Yvon Vocoret, amongst others. Francis Boudin, Adhémar’s son, explained the difference that he sees between the two wines: Fourchaume is more supple and feminine, while L’Homme Mort is more mineral, with more pierre à fusil, and requires bottle age.
For Didier Seguier, the best part of Fourchaume is Vaulorent, as it touches Preuses and has the same aspect as Vaudésir, and consequently
the other Moreaus in Chablis; his grandfather arrived there from Brittany during the Second World War and married a Mlle Naudet, whose family had vines. I remember their old cellars in the rue des Fossés, by the medieval ramparts (where Samuel Billaud now has his cellar), but the wine is now made in a large modern cellar on the outskirts of Chablis. Virginie’s parents ran Le Soufflot, the village restaurant in Irancy, and she worked in the sports world before becoming a vigneronne with Stéphane. She now looks after the 25-hectare estate for her young daughters.
I had a very enjoyable tasting with Virginie, who is bright and vivacious and made pertinent observations as we tasted our way through a range of 2016s. She uses indigenous yeast. Petit Chablis is given an élevage on fine lees, but no bâtonnage, making for some textured fruit, from 30–50-year-old vines. Chablis had more depth, while Chablis Caractère les Pargues comes from old vines, 60–70 years old, and is aged partially in old wood. None was made in 2016. The premiers crus were not yet bottled, so we tasted from vat, knowing that they would be blended with about one third of barrel-aged wine just before bottling. The Vaillons includes 60 ares of 70-year-old Sécher, making for good concentration; the Montmains has ripe fruit, and Fourchaume is more restrained. Montée de Tonnerre was also restrained and elegant, and Valmur concentrated, with good acidity. Virginie is helped by her consultant oenologist, Jacques Lesimple, but I felt that she has successfully shouldered the responsibility that was thrust upon her, and deserves to do well in her own right.
Domaine Pinson
5 quai Voltaire
www.domaine-pinson.com
There were Pinsons – ‘chaffinch’ in French – in Chablis at the time of Napoleon I and probably even before that. In the early 1980s it was Louis Pinson and his wife, France, who welcomed visitors. Louis took over his father’s three hectares in 1942 and by 1950 had increased them to five. He remained content with a small holding of some of the best crus, Les Clos, Forêt, Montmains and Montée de Tonnerre. A generation was skipped when Louis handed things over to his two grandsons, Laurent and Christophe, in 1988. Both studied at Beaune but followed different paths, with Laurent the winemaker of the pair and Christophe responsible for the vineyards. These days as well as Laurent, you are just
as likely to meet his daughter Charlène, who is following in her father’s footsteps, and made her first wines in 2008, after studies in Beaune and a stage with Yves Cuilleron in Côte Rôtie. She has come a long way since the time she recalls as a stagiare losing her bucket full of grapes down the steep hill of vineyards outside Ampuis!
On my last visit, it was Charlène who welcomed us into the smart tasting caveau on the quai Voltaire. She is vivacious and elegant and talks about her wines with enthusiasm and perception. Since 2014 they have bought grapes for Petit Chablis, Chablis and Montée de Tonnerre, to make a separate range of wines under the label Charlène et Laurent Pinson, for the simple reason that they did not have enough wine. They pick the grapes themselves and work with viticulteurs who share their philosophy, with the same esprit. Domaine Pinson now comprises nearly 14 hectares, including four hectares of Chablis, a hectare of Fourchaume, four hectares of Mont de Milieu, their biggest premier cru, and some Vaillons, Vaugiraut, Forêt and Montée de Tonnerre. Since 2014 they have only used indigenous yeast, after some initial experiments, and no longer do any bâtonnage. Charlène explained that natural yeasts make for richer, more concentrated wines, so that bâtonnage is no longer necessary. They are moving towards longer élevages in barrel. Temperature control is another critical factor.
In the vineyard, they practise lutte raisonnée, as they consider the climate too complicated for organic viticulture, but they treat as little as possible and use no insecticides or herbicides. Pheromones work well against the vers de la grappe. Work in the vineyard is critical (the axe principal, as Charlène put it) and they are very attached to handpicking. You work hard all year, so you do not want to spoil the grapes at the end, and with 14 hectares it is feasible, with 40–50 people working over about ten days. They are fed at lunchtime, but no longer lodged. They make three Chablis: Charlène and Laurent Pinson, which is light and leesy, a more concentrated Domaine Pinson and a more finely tuned Chablis Cuvée Mademoiselle. Sadly, as a result of the frost in 2016, there was none to taste on my last visit. For me Forêt is one of their flagship wines; they keep it separate from Montmains, even though they can be the same premier cru, but Forêt is more calcaire, with Montmains more humid with more blue clay. A gentle élevage in oak is the hallmark of the crus, both grands and premiers, but with an emphasis on the individuality of each vineyard.
Domaine Guy Robin
13 rue Marcelin Berthelot www.domaineguyrobin.com
There has been a generation change since my last visit to Domaine Robin. Marie-Ange Robin came back to Chablis to help her parents in 2007, leaving behind a successful career with a Paris auction house. Sadly, Guy died in 2015, just as the harvest was starting, but Marie-Ange’s mother Denise survives him. Guy’s first vintage was in 1947, and when his father died in 1950, he withdrew his share of the family vines from the cooperative and began making his own wine. His very first bottling was in 1956, and his winemaking was very much of the ‘wine makes itself’ school. Nothing much changed over the years.
The cellars are in the rue Marcelin Berthelot, attached to an imposing house built by a former wine merchant to be close to the railway, so that wine could be loaded directly onto the train. The old railway station has now been replaced by the fire station. Trains once ran between Laroche-Migennes and Avallon, stopping at every little village on the way, so that Maligny, Poinchy and Chichée all had their own station until 1951.
Domaine Robin comprises 20 hectares of Petit Chablis, Chablis, including some old vines and a selection of crus that is the envy of many estates in Chablis, including Mont de Milieu, Montmains, Vaillons, Valmur, Les Clos, Vaudésir, Blanchots and Bougros. Marie-Ange admitted that Guy was also offered some Grenouilles but had to decline, as he had just bought the plot of Valmur, and could not afford both. This was the time when there was no demand for vineyard land and it was easy to find and buy vineyards. How things have changed. Most of the vines date from the 1960s and 1970s. Marie-Ange remembers her parents grafting cuttings onto rootstock, with the smell of the hot wax used to protect the graft.
Methods are still quite straightforward. The grapes are handpicked, with the same team returning each year, and yeasts are indigenous. Marie-Ange has invested in a pneumatic press and presses whole bunches. The next investment will be a new cuverie. The crus spend ten months in barrel. She would describe her winemaking as ‘une vinification à l’ancienne,’ but essentially she had to learn everything from scratch, with advice from Jacques Lesimple. She treated me to a selection of 2016s, with a taut Chablis and a cuvée Chablis Marie-Ange Robin from a plot of old vines near Vaillons, that is aged in oak, with
more structure. The various crus promised well, with youthful structure and depth, wines that needed time to develop in bottle.
Marie-Ange has the most extraordinary courage. It cannot have been easy to return to living in a small parochial town, when you have enjoyed the horizons of a larger world and a different professional life.
Domaine Servin 20 avenue d’Oberwesel www.servin.fr
Owner François Servin is the sixth generation of Servins in Chablis. On my last visit, I saw Marc Cameron, a genial Australian who makes the wine here. Happenstance brought him to Chablis; he was backpacking through Africa and while in the southern Sudan met the Auxerrois woman who was to become his wife. They came back to France and Marc joined François in 1997, initially for some work experience, and has simply stayed, and now has his own vines in Epineuil and Tonnerre. Meanwhile François’ son Raphael joined the business in 2017, after a stage in Chile, and is responsible for the vineyards, of which there are now 37 hectares. They have recently acquired small holdings of Mont de Milieu and Vaucoupin from a grower in Fleys who did not want to sell his vines to anyone in Fleys; such are village politics, or histoire de clochers! For premiers crus they also have Montée de Tonnerre, Vaillons, Forêt and Butteaux and for grands crus, small plots, all less than a hectare, of Blanchots, Bougros, Les Clos and Preuses. Chablis forms the bulk of the vineyard, including a plot of massal selection, vines planted by François’ grandfather, who did not believe in clonal selection. They also have some of the Pargues vineyard in Préhy, but you are not allowed to use the name on the label. The wine has the characteristics of a premier cru, rather than a simple Chablis, with richness and acidity. Marc talked about changes in the cellar, more like fine-tuning really. A proportion of some cuvées are aged in old oak – part of Preuses, and all of Bougros and Les Clos, but not Blanchots – and they bottle as late as possible, with 24 months of ageing for the 2015s. They lost so much crop in 2016 that the 2017s were inevitably bottled much earlier than usual. They have invested in temperature control, with a very refined press that almost thinks for itself, weighing the grapes and calculating how much juice they will produce. Too hard a pressing, and you obtain bitter bourbes, so everything is very gentle. They want clean lees. And the fermentation temperature is now lower at 20°C, making for more precise fruit definition.
César, Picorneau, Epicier or Gois, Gamay à Grains Ronds and Gamay à Grains Ovales. Their yields were double those of the Pinots, at 40 hectolitres per hectare, and their price was half, 25 francs per hectolitre, as opposed to 50 francs per hectolitre for the Pinots.
The vine at that time accounted for a third of the agricultural production of the Yonne and 38,000 families, about half the population of the department, were involved in viticulture. Guyot then added rather sombrely that ‘the fine growths of Lower Burgundy, except for Chablis, are nearly all in desperate straits, especially in Tonnerre and the Auxerrois’. Sadly, during the nineteenth century, an increasing number of high-yielding, low-quality vines were planted to meet the demand from Paris for cheap wine. As early as 1816 Jullien observed that ‘it would be desirable to renew the decree of Charles IX, who forbade the planting of the infamous Gamay in the vineyards which were producing fine wines.’ He was referring to an attempt in the late sixteenth century to restore some order to the vineyards of the Côte d’Or. But the damage had been done. Inferior varieties, such as Lombard, Gois and Damery became established in vineyards that were rapidly losing their quality and reputation.
The vineyards were then attacked by mildew and ravaged by phylloxera, which first appeared in the Yonne in 1887. Although the remedy for phylloxera of grafting French vines onto American rootstock had been suggested as early as 1869 and was becoming more widely accepted by the end of the 1880s, the first graftings were not made in the Yonne until 1897 and many vineyards were never replanted after phylloxera. When a few years later the First World War decimated the local population, causing a severe shortage of manpower, it created a further disincentive to replant the vineyards.
Again, as in Chablis, the lure of the capital caused further rural depopulation, and combined with the unequal struggle to compete with the cheaper wines of the Midi, the incentive to replant and restore the vineyards was gone. By 1930 the 40,000 hectares of the 1880s had fallen to 8,950 hectares. Vineyards like Irancy and Coulanges-la-Vineuse fell into further disrepute in the 1930s and 1940s, when hybrid varieties were grown, simply for the benefit of the local population.
During the 1960s and 1970s there were signs of the gentle stirring of a renaissance, with vines being planted on the slopes of Vézelay at St Père, Vézelay and Fontette. At Epineuil there were definite signs of a revival, fuelled partly by the enthusiasm of one man. At Joigny one family
continued to maintain the town’s vinous traditions and Coulanges-laVineuse gradually returned to Pinot Noir, while the red wines of Irancy and the white wines of Saint Bris-le-Vineux and Chitry-le-Fort began to flourish. In Auxerre, however, all that remained of the once famous Grande Côte was the protected vineyard of La Chainette. By 1980 there were 3,300 hectares of vines in production in the Yonne, of which 2,324 hectares produced wines of appellation or Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure quality, of which Chablis formed the greater part. The remaining 976 hectares were for mere vin de table, the everyday drinking wine of the families who made them. Happily, the ensuing forty years have seen a steady and in some cases quite dramatic increase in the area of vines, with a feeling of optimism pervading many of the wine villages, as a steady revival brings once forgotten vineyards back to life. As will be seen, many now have their own individual appellation, as opposed to being grouped under the umbrella appellation of Bourgogne without any further distinction. The men and women making these wines are deeply committed to their individual village or area.
Caves Bailly-Lapierre
3 quai de l’Yonne, Bailly, St Bris-le-Vineux www.bailly-lapierre.com
The early 1970s saw the creation of an organization that even today continues to provide an important economic lifeline to the region, namely the Société d’Interêt Collectif du Vignoble Auxerrois, or SICAVA, as it was more commonly called. There had long been a tradition of sparkling wine in the Auxerrois, made from both Sacy and Aligoté, which, with their high acidity and low alcohol, make ideal base wines. Before the days of appellation contrôlée it was not uncommon for some of this wine to find its way to Epernay and Reims, as indeed did some Chablis. Then it found its outlet in Germany and was bought by companies such as Henkell for the production of Sekt. However, with the floating of the Deutschmark in 1970, the demand from Germany fell dramatically and many of the wine growers had to find an alternative outlet for their wine – hence the creation of the SICAVA in 1972. One of the principal wine growers of the region, Michel Esclavy from St Bris-le-Vineux, was the prime instigator and remained president of the organization for a number of years. Its premises are at Bailly, a tiny hamlet on the banks of the Yonne where there are enormous caves covering four hectares in the hillside. These were originally quarried to provide stone for the Panthéon
quite simply ‘j’accompagne’ – I accompany the wine. Like most of the vignerons of Irancy he is working very much on sélection parcellaire, and considering César as a single variety. In 2012, he vinified the grapes from just 10 ares of César. They were destalked and macerated for ten days in a closed vat; the berries burst, making for an infusion, and then the wine spent time in demi-muids. It was bottled in 2015, and in 2018 it tasted ripe and dense, rich, concentrated and tannic.
Tasting the different vineyards of Irancy was intriguing. Les Mazelots was the cru they distinguished first, in 2005, and the flavours were quite intense with red fruit, while Veaupessiot, made for the first time in 2006, included just 2 per cent of César and was perfumed with structure and a sturdy streak of tannin. The village Irancy includes some Les Mazelots and Le Paradis, with the percentage of élevage in wood depending on the vintage; there was none in the 2016 that I tasted, and the flavours were fresh and ripe. The length of élevage depends on the quantity of the vintage, usually 18 to 24 months, but not necessarily in wood. Our tasting finished with 2012 Palotte. It included some César, and had been given a ten-day maceration with some pigeages and remontages, and then aged demi-muids. It had a deep colour, with a sturdy note from the César, balanced by the perfumed fruit of the Pinot Noir, making a lovely glass of wine. You sense that nothing will stand still for David. He would like to try his hand at St Bris and Chablis and I think he will go far.
Domaine Gabin et Félix Richoux
73 rue Soufflot
irancy.richoux@orange.fr
Thierry Richoux’s two sons Félix and Gabin now work with their father. I spent a convivial hour or so tasting with Félix in their welcoming cellar. He is very much his father’s son, with the same strong commitment to work in the vineyard, and the same penchant for an exotic hairstyle. He studied in Beaune and worked a harvest in South Africa, in Stellenbosch, where he admitted to being surprised by the choice of grape varieties, and also by the quality of the wine, commenting that there is much less vintage effect than in Irancy.
The estate now totals 23 hectares, which have been farmed organically for the last decade, completing the conversion process in 2012, and working biodynamically since 2011. Félix observed that organic viticulture entails much more detailed work in the vineyards, but the results are so much better, emphasizing the effect of the vintage and the place.
They now make what he called Irancy Classique, a blend of several plots scattered all over the appellation, and in addition they have Veaupessiot and Les Cailles. They have produced Palotte in the past and will do so again, but there are other lieu-dits that are as interesting. Everything is handpicked, destemmed and given a prefermentation cool maceration for about five days. They use indigenous yeast. It is all very simple; ‘winemaking is lots of little details,’ observed Félix. The malolactic fermentation takes place in vat, and then the wine goes into wood, pièces or 70–80 hectolitre foudres for twelve months or so. For Veaupessiot they use 600-litre barrels for at least 18 months and for Les Cailles – the name derives from cailloux, pebbles, and aptly describes the vineyards – the vinification is the same, with an élevage in oak, but none new. It is firm and sturdy, while Veaupessiot seemed more elegant. They do not have any César, for the simple reason that they do not like it.
In addition, they have some Crémant made at Les Caves BaillyLapierre from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Aligoté grown in less favourable vineyards. They also make some rosé, picking grapes that are fairly ripe, so that the juice colours quickly. The flavour is ripe and vinous with good acidity.
For Félix, Pinot Noir works best in the slow and late years. A year like 2009, for instance, was too early and too warm. The year before that, 2008, was much better, as it displayed the character of the appellation, with the wines developing slowly and retaining their freshness. He then opened a bottle of 1998 Palotte; it was one of the highlights of my day in Irancy, with beautifully mature fruit, but still fresh and elegant.
Domaine Stéphanie Colinot
1 rue St Etienne, Villy 89800 www.stephanie-colinot.fr
Stéphanie comes from one of the old winemaking families of Irancy – I wrote about her father, Jean-Pierre Colinot, in an earlier book. However, for family reasons, with the support of her husband, Jean-Paul Durup, she has separated her 3 hectares of vines from those of her parents, making her first wine in her own name in 2018. Her first harvest on the family estate was in 2001, after studies in Beaune. In addition to Irancy, she produces a range of red wines from the Yonne, as a négociant, including Epineuil and Côtes d’Auxerre.
I tasted Stéphanie’s vat samples in her cellar in the village of Villy, four vats, each from a different terroir. They promised well, with a deep
twenty-four hour torrential storm during the harvest caused considerable problems with rot, to which the fragile skins of the very ripe grapes were particularly susceptible. However, the best wines were indeed excellent. A bottle of La Moutonne drunk in November 1988 was toasted and honeyed, and redolent of pain grillé.
1963: This was a large vintage for the period. Many of the growers had to store their wine in old feuillettes that had not been properly prepared, with some disastrous results. Nor was the quality helped by a poor summer.
1962: Overshadowed by the excellent 1961, 1962 was at first decried, but in fact the quality was excellent, with fine, elegant wines in good quantity.
1961: There was frost in Poinchy as late as 28 May, but fortunately not much harm was done. Classic Chablis was made, some excellent wines with austerity and finesse. A 1961 Chablis, Clos des Hospices, drunk in June 1982, was showing all the quality and style of a mature Chablis.
1960: A year of devastating frost, but even so, some good wine was made.
1959: A very hot summer, but producing wines of better balance, with less alcohol than the very rich 1947s. The quantity was small, but the quality excellent so that it is remembered as a great Chablis vintage. I was lucky enough to drink a village Chablis from Louis Petit when it was nearly forty years old. It had a delicately nutty, concentrated flavour, and when I asked about the malolactic fermentation, his reply was: ‘il ne faut pas s’occuper des ces conneries-là; en plus je le goûtais assez souvent.’ In other words, don’t worry about all that rubbish, and I was keeping an eye on it, tasting it quite often.
1958: Mediocre quality, caused by problems with hail and mildew.
1957: The damage from frost was catastrophic. The vegetation was already advanced by 10 April when the first frosts came, and the vines had started to grow again when the second frosts came on 1 May. After that the vines gave up the unequal struggle and consequently hardly any
wine was made. Robert Vocoret, for example, managed just three pièces. Michel Rémon, who was running A. Régnard at the time, described the quality as ‘execrable’.
1956: 1956 was the severest of winters. The temperature at the beginning of February fell as low as -30°C. It was impossible to work. Guy Moreau, father of Christian, remembered having 120 demi-muids of wine at Lignorelles that were completely frozen. The summer of 1956 was not much better and the resulting wines were mediocre, with the INAO declassifying the entire crop of grands crus, deeming the quality to be unacceptable.
1955: A year of excellent quality, with a little frost damage.
1954: Wine in abundant quantity and of average quality.
1953: Wines of good quality, but reduced in quantity by frost. Madeleine Coquard remembered that it hailed in Poinchy on 2 June, the day Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, but that not much damage was caused.
1952: A year of average quality and quantity.
1951: The little wine that was made was good, but frost took its toll and the crop at Poinchy was decimated by hail.
1950: Quite a good year, with what was then considered to be a large yield of 60 hectolitres per hectare. Pleasantly fruity wines, but without any staying power. That said, there are exceptions to every rule and a simple 1950 Chablis which had only left the cellars of Chablis a week earlier was drunk at a fiftieth birthday celebration in Paris in June 2000. We were simply surprised at its freshness, combined with classic mineral flavours. In fact, it showed much better than a rather evolved and unspecified grand cru from Albert Bichot, of the same vintage.
1949: Excellent wines; classic Chablis. I have only ever drunk the vintage once, with Daniel Defaix in the spring of 1998. It was a Les Lys, made by his grandfather in a cement tank, and at almost 50 years of age, was rich and nutty, with a firm backbone of acidity.
Serres, Olivier de 265
Servin, François 96, 135
Servin, Raphael 135
Sicard, M. 212
SICAVA 207–8, 252
Sichel, Peter 96
Simmonet, Laurent 136
Simmonet-Febvre 21, 92
Simon, André 86–7
Simonnet, M. 136
Simonnet-Febvre 21, 89, 92, 109, 136–7, 249, 269
single Guyot 62 skin contact 81
Société d’Amenagement Foncier d’Etablissement Rural (SAFER) 93, 277, 279
Société d’Interêt Collectif du Vignoble
Auxerrois (SICAVA) 207–8, 252 soil 51, 52 rootstock 61
viticultural methods 63, 64-5
see also Kimmeridgian soil; Portlandian soil sorting tables (tables de tri) 73, 74
Sotty, Maitre 98
Soufflot, Jacques German 219
Soupé, Frédéric 138
Soupé, Jean-Michel 138
Spain 87
Station Agronomique d’Auxerre 317
Stockinger 80, 117 succession 94 sunshine 53, 55–6
Syndicat de la Défense de l’Appellation de Chablis, Le 36, 114
Syndicat des Viticuleurs de Chablis 317
Syndicat du Commerce en gros des Vins de l’Yonne 31
Syrah 271
tables de tri (sorting tables) 73, 74
tasting terms 324 temperatures climatic 53, 55 control 73 fermentation 76
Ternynck, Laurent 82, 198, 199
Ternynck, Noëlle 198
Terra Vitis 145 terroir 37
Testus, Cyril 42, 138–9, 289
têtes premiers crus 31
Thiéblemont, Lucie 48, 164, 165
Thomessin family 18
Thompson Seedless 88
Tisserand, M. 136
Tissey 23
Tonnelier de Mercurey 79
tonneliers (coopers) 77, 80, 141, 143
Tonnellerie de Chablis 141
Tonnerre 204, 205, 266–78
tourism 100, 209, 266
Tours 10
Tovey, Charles 86 tractors 63, 64, 65
Trameurs 254
travels of wine growers 71–2
Tremblay, André 107, 121, 194
Tremblay, Bernard 194
Tremblay, Eléonore 194
Tremblay, Evelyne 150
Tremblay, Gérard 45, 59, 76, 81–2, 83, 194, 298
Tremblay, Jacques 194, 230
Tremblay, Joëlle 107
Tremblay, Raymond 194
Tremblay, Simone 152
Tremblay, Vincent 194
Tremblay family 107, 194
Tressot (Verrot) 205, 221, 232, 260, 261, 262, 263, 267
Tribunal d’Auxerre 31, 32, 251
Tribunal de Tonnerre 30, 32
Tribut, Laurent 69, 80, 195
Tribut, Solange 93, 195
Tricon, Claude 139
Tricon, Jean-Pierre 139
Tricon, Olivier 139–40
Trimaille, Cécilia 120–1 Trinidad 85
Troême (Troesmes) 23, 29, 34, 48, 49, 117, 163, 164, 193
Trois Bourgeons, Les 6
troisièmes crus 31
Troyes, Chrétien de 210–11
Tschieret, Florent 141, 143
Tucki, Françoise 151
Tucki, Hervé 45, 46, 102, 103, 292
Tucki, Jean-Michel 102, 151
Union des Grands Crus de Chablis 69, 95–6
Union des Propriétaires-Vignerons de Chablis
28–9
United Kingdom 15, 87, 95, 96, 267
United States 87–8, 95, 96
Vaillons 3, 34, 46, 47–8
Beine 145, 146
Chablis (town)
Domaine Besson 104
Domaine Billaud-Simon 105
Domaine Christian Moreau Père & Fils 124, 125
Domaine Collet 109
Domaine Gérard Duplessis 113
Domaine Guy Robin 134
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin 111, 112
Domaine Long-Depaquit 120, 121
Domaine Louis Michel & Fils 123
Domaine Moreau-Naudet 128
Domaine Pinson 129
Domaine Raveneau 131
Domaine Samuel Billaud 107
Domaine Servin 135
Domaine Soupé 138
Domaine Testut 138, 139
Domaine Vincent Dauvissat 110
Domaine Vocoret et Fils 141
Chemilly-sur-Serein 154
Chichée 155
Courgis 162
Maligny 179, 180, 181
Milly 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188
Préhy 198
Valmur 23, 34, 42, 56
Beine 145, 146
Chablis (town) 106, 109, 111, 112, 127, 128, 131, 134
Chapelle Vaupelteigne 150, 151
Préhy 198
Valour 124
Valour, Arnaud 6
Vandermoere, Odile 196
vats 77, 79, 80, 81, 82
Vau Ragons 49
Vauceuses 276
Vaucoupin (Vaucopain) 23, 34, 38, 44
Béru 149
Chablis (town) 111, 120, 121, 127, 130, 131, 135, 136, 138
Chichée 156, 157
Collan 159
Fleys 163–4, 166
Fontenay-près-Chablis 166, 167
Préhy 198, 199, 200
Viviers 201
Vaudécorse 157
Vaudésir 23, 34, 42–3
Beine 145
Chablis (town)
Domaine Besson 104
Domaine Billaud-Simon 106
Domaine Christian Moreau Père & Fils 124, 125
Domaine des Malandes 122
Domaine Guy Robin 134
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin 111, 112
Domaine Long-Depaquit 119, 120, 121
Domaine Louis Michel & Fils 123
Domaine Samuel Billaud 107
La Moutonne 119, 120
Chichée 154
Lignorelles 175
Ligny-le-Châtel 172
Maligny 176, 179, 181
Milly 186
Poinchy 194
Viviers 201
Vaudevey 38, 49, 89, 93
Chablis (town) 121
Courgis 160
Epineuil and Tonnerre 274, 275, 277
Lignorelles 175
Maligny 176
Montigny-la-Resle 191, 192
Préhy 196, 199
Vaugiraut 48, 113, 129, 156
Vauligneau 38, 49, 144, 145, 147, 174, 175, 190, 191
Vaulorent 23, 34, 45–6, 103, 112, 116, 168, 169
Vauprin 175
Vaupulent 34, 45
Vauvilieu 23
Vaux 215
Vaux-Gaudins 266
Veaupessiot 221, 222, 225, 228, 229
Veaupiary 250
Vendôme, César de 176
