Description
Region: Burgundy, France
Producer: Domaine Christophe et Fils Vintage: 2022
Grape: Chardonnay
Type: White Wine
Size: 75CL
Sebastien Christophe’s Chablis Vieille Vignes is alive with textural grit and dimension. It’s a powerhouse Chablis that comes from two parcels located in Fonetnay-près-Chablis, one parcel above the 1er Cru Fontenay and the other southeast of the village. These old vine parcels planted in 1959 by Sebastien’s grandfather render a wine that often starts rich and somewhat subtle in the nose (similar to a Saumur or Côte d’Or white when first opened) but narrows into a wine with a dense core of rich mineral impressions and begins to blossom and freshen up in the glass, unfolding one layer after another rewarding the patient drinker. The palate is dense at first but becomes lively and taut with more air. In many cases it can be equally or more compelling than Christophe’s premier cru wines.
Vinification: The grapes are picked by hand, pressed, settled in tank overnight, then racked off the heavy sediments after one day before beginning its low temperature fermentation. The spontaneous wild yeast fermentation lasts between 1-2 months and takes place in stainless steel (85-90%) and 228-liter oak barrels (10-15% in 5-6 year-old wood). Battonage (stirring) is sometimes made, but only in the steel tanks and the frequency depends on the vintage—warm years nothing and in colder ones no more than two times. The first SO2 addition is made after the press before fermentation and the second (and sometimes the last) after both fermentations have finished.
Ageing: Aged for 12 months in 10-15% old oak 228-liter barrels (5-6 years old on average) with the remainder in stainless steel. It is fined and filtered.
Tasting Notes: Mineral, Metal, Stony, Dense, Ocean Spray, Dried Citrus Peel, White Fruit Flesh.