The 2023 Chablis “Racines” from Domaine des Genèves has been awarded a “Coup de Cœur” in the 2026 Hachette Wine Guide.

This wine, the result of Stéphane Aufrère’s expertise at Fleys, embodies all the elegance and purity of the Chablis terroirs:

A clear and brilliant color, a promise of freshness.

A delicate nose with aromas of white flowers and citrus.

A taut and mineral palate, typical of Chablis, with a beautiful length.

A distinguished and authentic wine, reflecting the deep roots of its vineyard and the passion of its winemaker.

The perfect opportunity to (re)discover this exceptional Chablis, highly acclaimed by the Hachette Guide’s tasters.

More information on Chablis “Racines” (“roots”) and online purchase

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If clothes don’t make a Monk, Label doesn’t make Wine. But the information that appears there – for the most part mandatory – provides some useful information, which will help inform your purchase. Example with this red Santenay.

1. The Name

This is the fundamental – and obligatory – statement on the label. It determines, neither more nor less, the regulations to which the product was subject during its development. Three scenarios
– The wine was subject to AOC type specifications (appellation d’origine contrôlée). This is the peak in terms of requirements. We then see on the label the words “AOC” or “AOP”, or the term “controlled” or “protected”. In this case, the name of the appellation appears systematically. If applicable, Santenay. Can be accompanied by the mention premier cru or grand cru.
– The wine was subject to IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) type specifications, which are less demanding.
– The wine does not have a geographical indication, therefore no specifications. The name is then simply “Vin de France” or “Red wine”

2. The “place” or “Climate”

Frequent in Burgundy, this addition of geographical precision is not obligatory. It allows you to know with more precision where the plot or within the AOC is located. We can then learn about this terroir and try to guess the style of wine we will drink. Example here: this vintage comes from a plot in the south of Santenay, not far from Les Maranges, at the bottom of the hillside.  With this type of fairly deep soil, we can imagine a certain potential for structure and roundness… Even if the location is not everything!

3. The type of Domain

The terms “estate” and “winemaker” indicate that the winemaker worked his own grapes. While “house” or “negociant” mean that the winemaker bought the grapes.  Information for the curious, but which says absolutely nothing about the quality of the wine.

4. Alcohol level

Let’s be clear: the prejudice that the proportion of alcohol is correlated, in one direction or the other, with the quality of a wine, is false. This information will, at most, give an indication of its power and acidity. At 11%, we can legitimately expect a fresh, even lively Chardonnay, while a white at 14.5% announces roundness.

5. The statement “contains sulphites”

This is a mandatory mention when a wine includes a quantity, even minimal, of this preservative. However, yeasts produce them naturally during winemaking, so this is the case for all wines, even those claimed to be “natural”! This is therefore a mention which does not allow us to differentiate two wines.

6. “Great Burgundy Wine”

Imposed by the inter-profession, this mention only indicates that it is an AOC wine of village, premier cru or grand cru level. The regional AOCs are entitled to a simple mention “Burgundy Wine”.

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Find in particular the magnificent Christmas gift box: 2 magnificent bottles of Burgundy, a red Givry and a Chablis 1er Cru (obviously white…)

Or directly the assortment of 6 Burgundy wines in a wooden box too!

All Christmas wine boxes live on the Burgundy wine store

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The year 2024 has not been easy for Burgundy winegrowers. Spring frost, episodes of hail and unusual rainfall will have repercussions on the quantity and quality of the harvest, with very heterogeneous situations. Details.

After 2022 and 2023 vintages that were as generous as they were tasty, Burgundian winegrowers have restocked and regained morale. Fortunately, because the 2024 harvest will bring its share of complications. The harvest, which is due to start in mid-September almost everywhere in the region, will be marked by the violent weather events of the year.

After some scattered frost damage in the spring, it was hail that wreaked havoc this season. Particularly in Chablis, where half of the vineyard was affected on May 1st. In other sectors, the damage is more localized. Thus, some villages in the north of Mâconnais suffered hailstones.

A Burgundian harvest affected by mildew

But the great drama of the year remains mildew. This parasite severely attacked the Burgundy vines this year, thanks to exceptional rainfall. The situations are very disparate. Some plots are unscathed, because they are located in less sensitive areas, or because the winegrowers have been particularly successful in protecting them. But in places, the grapes were ravaged. A common situation in Côte d’Or as well as in Chablis, which is thus suffering its second calamity of the year.

Impossible to assess the harvest before the first blows of the pruning shears. But we can already say that it will be quantitatively lower than the average. On the quality side, it is also difficult to say, as the situation will be so heterogeneous. The only answer: the style will probably lean more towards finesse than the solar power of many recent vintages. And like every time a vintage presents challenges, talented and experienced winegrowers will succeed. We will find very beautiful vintages in the 2024 vintage, but less easily than in 2020, 2022 or 2023.

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Every wine lover has heard the expression “mineral” when referring to a wine, especially white. But the term is often overused. It is used (too) often to describe a digestible, fresh wine, without sweetness… In reality, minerality corresponds to very specific taste characteristics.

Minerality is in fact an aromatic family. This is the characteristic of a wine which reveals nuances of wet stone, flint, iron, oyster shell, or even iodine… An attribute that is very often found in whites from Chablis or Sancerre. But not only ! The great whites of the Côte de Beaune are particularly mineral Chardonnays, like a Meursault Perrières or a Montrachet.

The reds are not left out. We often notice salinity in the most beautiful appellations of Côte de Nuits, in Mercurey, as well as in the Beaujolais crus.

What do all these wines have in common? The influence of the terroir. Mineral aromas do not come from nowhere: they are extracted from wine-growing soils. Thus, we generally associate the aromas of oyster shell with the limestone subsoils of Chablis, while the nuances of gunflint are found in the flint terroirs of Sancerre. In Beaujolais, certain granites also bring their share of minerality.

A sine qua non condition for this terroir to find its way into the bottle: good rooting of the vines. This is where the choices of the winemaker count. But this subject deserves an article of its own…

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The world of wine loves debate, even controversy… So, when everyone agrees on a subject, we must be quick to point it out! This is the case here. Winegrowers, oenologists and sommeliers will tell you, in unison, that the best format for storing a wine is the magnum.

In these 1.5 liter bottles, the wine passes through time more easily, and evolves differently, gaining more complexity than in a 0.75cl bottle. An established fact, but which raises questions. Why these different profiles, when the basic product is the same?

The cause is relatively simple, and can even be summed up in one word: oxygen.

To understand, we have to go back to basics. After fermentation, the raw material that is the primeur wine is not at the peak of its potential. Only contact with oxygen, which in turn causes a series of chemical phenomena, can reveal the beverage and refine it. It’s breeding. But there is one subtlety, and not the least: the success of this breeding depends entirely on the speed of oxygenation.

Direct and brutal contact with oxygen destroys the wine, which becomes, at best, vinegar. But gradual contact allows you to get the most out of it. It’s like with heat: burn a beef chuck at 2000 degrees for a few minutes, and you will obtain charcoal. Cook it at 90° for hours, and you will obtain the tastiest meat. We then understand the interest of the oak barrel: the cells of the wood release tiny quantities of oxygen, allowing the wine to mature at its own pace.

Which brings us to our original topic of the magnum. Once in the bottle, the wine continues to age thanks to the micro-quantities of oxygen which pass through the cork. However, the cork of a classic bottle or a magnum is the same size, and allows as much oxygen to pass through, even though the quantity of wine is different. The magnum wine, with 1.5 liters, oxygenates more slowly, therefore more harmoniously.

A phenomenon to be aware of when offering a wine intended for long aging, as a birth gift…

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Photo-DR-Hospices-de-Beaune

The Hospices de Beaune are hitting hard this year. The 2023 charity Barrel, which will be sold this Sunday, November 19 during the traditional Beaune auctions, was designed in a most unusual wood. Its sale will be sponsored by a particularly popular French actor.

Every year, the Hospices de Beaune offer, among their hundreds of wines put up for auction, a rather special barrel: the charity piece, a 228 liter barrel sold not for the benefit of the Beaune hospital, but in favor of ‘a different charitable cause every year.

For this 2023 edition, the barrel in question was made from oak… which will be used to repair the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris! The cathedral, partially destroyed in 2019 following a fire, benefited from the donation of Bernard d’Harcourt, a forester in Sarthe, who offered one of his oak trees, more than 200 years old…

A famous French Actor to sponsor the auction
“15.5m of this tree will make it possible to rebuild the spire of the cathedral,” he announces. “But there was 3.5m left unused. We thought we had to find a use for them. This is how we offered this wood to the Hospices de Beaune, in order to make a barrel.” Following this donation of raw material, two other volunteers took over: the Barraud staveworks, in Charente, which cut from pieces of trunk into staves, and the Burgundian cooperage Cadus, which assembled these staves into barrels.

This extraordinary setting will host a wine that is no less unusual: a Mazis-Chambertin grand cru. The whole will be sold to benefit the cause of aging well, and in particular two associations: the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM) and the Research Initiative for Healthy Longevity (IRLB) association. And to host this sale, a renowned sponsor: the actor Thierry Lhermitte. To attend this sale, meet on Sunday November 19, 2023 in front of the Halles de Beaune.

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Two generous vintages in a row… An almost impossible case, the old-timers would say, and yet: the “miracle” has just happened. After a year 2022 with exceptional yields, 2023 will once again fill the cellars in Burgundy.

Although the inter-professional association has not yet communicated official figures, it is common knowledge that the year’s yields will approach peaks. It was enough to walk through the vineyards this summer to see it: clusters as numerous as they were voluminous covered the vines, even forcing certain winegrowers to practice green harvesting, which means cutting the grapes before they are ripe, in order to regulate the yield.

Year without disaster
Two main factors explain this luck. On the one hand, significant quantities of flowers in spring, all of which formed fruits. On the other, an absence of major climatic hazards this year. No frost, and almost no hail, except in a few villages like Meursault or in the Mâconnais. Finally, heat peaks are present, but with relatively limited damage thanks to regular stormy rains. Thus, the harvest has “gone to the end”. A chance that not all vineyards had this year. Let us cite the South-West victim of the ravages of mildew, or Languedoc-Roussillon, affected by drought.

Very disparate styles
On the quality side, the news is also good. If 2022 stood out for the solar and gourmet side of its wines, for 2023 things seem a little more complex. The big differences in rainfall throughout the year made the maturities very different from one plot to another. Thus, we will find types of wines that are quite fresh and others that are richer within the same village. A disparity which will reveal more than ever the particularities of the terroirs. Even if the style of the year will remain, on average, that of a hot vintage. To find out more, answer in the glass at the end of the vinification!

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Photo DR BIVB

Chablis, one of the most famous white vineyards in the world, has relatively uniform quality and typicity. However, certain nuances should be known.

Each appellation has its own style (and price)
The Chablis vineyard is divided into three appellations, with different characteristics and prices.
– Petit-Chablis: Contrary to what its name indicates, this is not a less qualitative Chablis. Petit Chablis corresponds to the vines furthest from the village of Chablis, those located on the plateaus. Compared to Chablis and Chablis grands crus, these wines are often fresher and lighter. The minerality is there. From €10 per bottle.
– Chablis and Chablis 1er cru: This is the bulk of the vineyard. The Chablis appellation corresponds to all the hillside vines in the sector, with very varied expressions, depending on the slopes and exposures. Chablis premier cru simply correspond to terroirs considered qualitatively superior within the appellation. Allow €20 for a Chablis, €30 for a Premier Cru.
– Chablis Grand Cru: the most prestigious wines from the Chablis vineyards. Representing only around a hundred hectares, all located opposite the town, these terroirs have the particularity of benefiting from excellent exposure to the sun, often facing south. These are the fullest, most complex and longest of all Chablis wines. They are often reserved for fine gastronomy, in particular fish and shellfish. Most can be kept for decades in the cellar. They are also, logically, the most expensive Chablis. Count at least €50 per bottle.

Left bank / right bank
Once these differences in appellation are known, it is the location of the terroir on the map that will make the difference. Above all, we distinguish the left bank of the Serein (the river which divides the vineyard in two) from its right bank. On the left, the wines are reputed to be fresher; on the right more powerful and ample. Question of solar exposure.
The other big geographical difference which allows us to distinguish the terroirs of Chablis is the north/south axis. The northern terroirs (Beine, Maligny, Lignorelles, etc.) are known to be cooler than their southern counterparts (communes of Fleys, Préhy, Béru, etc.)

Age question
Our imagination often reserves protection for red wines. This is false, and even more so for Chablis. These whites are among those which keep best, thanks to their acidity and their minerality in particular. So the Petit-Chablis do not fear 5 to 7 years of aging, when we can exceed 10 years for the Chablis. As for the premiers and grands crus, 15 to 20 years in the cellar do not scare them. The interest? Develop the aromatic complexity and length of these Chardonnays. In addition to the aromas of flowers, fresh fruits and minerals, over the years we gain nuances of dried fruits, sweet spices, white truffles and butter. Over time, their texture will also change, becoming more consistent.

Old and new school
Last criterion for choosing a Chablis, and not the least: the style of the winemaker. To summarize broadly, we often distinguish between the classic school and the new school. The first promotes the freshness and “purity” of the vintages thanks to medium-term aging, often in stainless steel vats. The second (often young winegrowers) seeks more deliciousness and fruity aromas thanks to longer aging and the use of oak barrels. Excellent wines, in either case. But everyone will find their preference.

TO CHABLIS WINES

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If the grands Crus and their now astronomical prices attract all the spotlight, it must be remembered that this is only a tiny part of regional production. Everywhere in Burgundy we still find affordable prices. So, what are the cheapest Burgundy wines? Our recommendations :

– Yonne. The northern department of Burgundy has of course become known for its Chablis. Despite the reputation of the village, its prices remain fair, and you can find very good Chablis for less than €20 a bottle. But for even more attractive value for money, you have to go to the neighboring villages. For prices ranging between €10 and €15, there are excellent reds in Epineuil and Coulanges la Vineuses, very pretty whites in Chitry and Saint-Bris-le-Vineux (the exception of Burgundy with its sauvignons) and beautiful crémants everywhere. We also mention Vézelay for its fleshy and mineral whites and Joigny for its famous gray wines, very fruity.

– The Mâconnais. In this vineyard in the south of Burgundy, great terroirs are legion but rarely known: it is ideal for good business. For a budget of 10-15 euros per bottle, you can find excellent fruity and mineral Chardonnays. Let us cite for example the villages of Milly-Lamartine, Igé and Lugny. On the red side, the gourmet Gamays from the Mâconnais are also worth the detour, for equivalent prices.

– The Hautes Côtes. The plateaus overlooking the famous Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits also have their wine-growing tradition, without benefiting from such an aura. For less than €20, you can find fresh, fruity and elegant pinots and chardonnays.

– The Châtillonnais. Probably the best deal in Burgundy. Virtually unknown, the small Châtillonnais vineyard, north of the Côte d’Or, dedicates its cool, limestone terroirs to Crémant de Bourgogne. And for good reason: here we border the Champagne de l’Aube. Here, great terroirs and long aging produce Crémants of great finesse. Even today, we find many below €10 a bottle.

– The Chalonnaise coast. If Mercurey, Givry and Rully are wine-growing villages that have become particularly popular in the Côte Chalonnaise (for good reasons it must be said), the rest of the vineyard evolves in semi-anonymity, which does not displease us. In Montagny, you can find whites of great purity and intense minerality for prices around €15. A little further inland, the Burgundy Côte Chalonnaise appellation offers a wide choice of reds, each as delicious and fruity as the next, often with a beautiful structure allowing for several years of aging. Budget: 10 to 15€.

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