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The Chablis vineyard is one of the oldest in France, producing some of the most prestigious wines of Burgundy. It is located 180 km away from Paris, going South and 100 km away from Dijon going North/North-West and spreads along 18 villages over 4000 hectares.
The Chablis wines are part of the "Appellation d'Origine Controllée"
(AOC) system. This appellation decomposes itself as follows :
• Petit Chablis = vineyards which are
located on top of the hillsides; planted superficy, 535 ha.
• Chablis = vineyards located on the
slopes; planted superficy, 2,797 ha.
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• Chablis 1er Cru planted
on both bank of the Serein river over a superficy of 740 hectares and composed
by 40 different climates. The most well known are : Montée de Tonnerre,
Fourchaume, Vaillons, Côte de Léchet, Mont de Milieu.
• Chablis Grand Cru, representing 100
ha of the best terroir on the right bank of the Serein, in front of the village
of Chablis. They benefit of an exposure South / South-West with an optimal
sunlight.
There are 7 Chablis Grand Cru which are :
Les
Blanchots : 13 hectares
Les
Clos : 26 hectares
Bougros
: 13 hectares
Vaudésir
: 15 hectares
Valmur
: 13 hectares
Les
Grenouilles : 9 hectares
Les
Preuses : 11 hectares
.../...
In the last century, the Chablis wines was a 800 to 900 hectares vineyard of Chardonnay vines. This vineyard was spread on about 10 villages but the 3/5 of this vineyard was on land close to Chablis and 3/4 of this vineyard belonged to wine-growers in Chablis. In 1830, these proprietors represented several hundreds vintners owning few acres and working on bigger estates for wine-merchants. The whole harvest of chablis was pressed by 26 winepresses owned by 22 families. The vintners from the bordering villages had few vineyards and harvested chardonnay grapes. These wines were bought by chablis wine-merchants and sold as chablis wines.
At that time, the total production was about 20,000 / 25,000 hectoliters/year
with Paris and England as main customers.
.../...
Besides the unique grape variety Chardonnay, the most important
technical characteristic of the Chablis vineyard is its "Terroir".
A "Terroir" is a well delimited area of land that has specific agricultural
capabilities due to its local climate and the nature of the soil.
The chablis vineyards are planted on a calcareous (limestone) soil that is
composed of kimmeridgian layers.The Kimmeridgian layers, along with the Portlandian
and Oxfordian strats, are know today as the Jurassic Superior, a geological
era that took place 240 millions years ago. Then at the end of this Secondary
era, sudden weather changes took place that lead to the disappearance of many
species like dinosaurs and the ammonites. Those species were fossilized and
this is why, in the vineyards of chablis, we find in the soil those ammonites
as well as fossilized oysters (Ostrea Virgula).
All of those factors form the unique "Terroir" of the chablis and
gives this typical minerality in the personality of the wines. That explains
why, when a notion of viticultural origin appellation appeared, the wine-growers
linked it to the kimmeridgian soils.
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After the phylloxera crisis, at the end of 19th century, the
chablis wine-growers were the first in France to ask the tribunals that the
appellation of chablis shouldn't be given to any wines. And further, any wines
cannot use the appellation if it is not made from a grape variety and production
area with legal and established customs.
Several judgements were made which allowed to create, in 1935, the French National Institute for Controlled Appellations (I.N.A.O.) and the first national decree recording legal, established customs for the appellation of origin chablis, on January 13rd 1938. This decree stopped all the sales of wines with appellation of Second Cru, Third Cru, Grand Chablis, Chablis 1er Grand Cru, etc...
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It imposes the following classification :
Grand Cru : the 7 best climates producing the best qualities
of white wines, over 100 ha.
Premier Cru : 29 climates on the both banks of the Serein.
and a generic Chablis appellation
Numerous modifications and extension were made increasing
the Chablis and 1er cru vineyards, always respecting the delimitation of the
kimmeridgian subsoil and chardonnay grape variety. Everything was then fixed
by decree, in 1967 and later modified in 1976 and 1978. In 1967 the Chablis
1er Cru appellation represented more or less 400 hectares of planted vineyard.
Nowadays it is 740 hectares.
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• the grape variety : the chablisien vineyard is only composed by one grape variety : CHARDONNAY, white grape. It has early bud break (beginning of April) so is so sensible to spring frost which can destroy the vineyard in the worst years.
Here are summarised in few words the historical and geographical data of the appellation which grant this unique character of Chablis.
Along with the Terroir, the following constitute the Chablis
characteristics:
• the climate : Chablis is located
in a temperate climate but the winters can be rigorous with negatives temperatures
between -10°C and -15°C. The Spring frosts are usual.
• the topography : the chablis vineyard is planted of steep slopes that are exposed facing South-South East and South West, all facing the river Le Serein. The altitude is of 120 to 150 meters above the sea level (395-495 feet) and sometimes can go up to 250(822 feet) meters for the plateau.
• the soil (which we have spoken about before): we can add that to the rich and porous chablisian subsoil giving a deep rooting for the grape-plant with regular water injection.
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Then the appellation Petit Chablis came. This appellation is birthed from a small Chardonnay vineyard outside of the appellation of origin Chablis. It represented about 100 hectares and was on the village of Villy, Maligny and Lignorelles, planted on sandy plateau away from the kimmeridgian subsoil of chablis. After several demands, this vineyard was integrated on November 24th 1976, in the appellation area of Petit Chablis, modifying the first decree and some of the rules making the force of the appellation.
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