Chablis: A Most Singular Drink

“What’s your favorite wine?” Every wine professional fields this question at some point or another. What sort of foolish professional would declare a particular favorite? I’m one such professional because I’ll readily confess my chosen wine is Chablis.Chablis is produced from the Chardonnay grape in the northernmost subregion of Burgundy (closer to Champagne than the rest of Burgundy.) The wines are famous for racy acidity, flinty aromas, and pronounced mineral and saline notes. They are almost always fermented in stainless steel or neutral oak and thereby rarely possess the buttery notes of Chardonnays aged in new oak. There is truly no wine in the world with the profile of Chablis thanks to a combination of winemaking style, climate, and soil.Patrick Piuze cellar in Chablis. Patrick PiuzeThe wines of Chablis are ranked according to traditional Burgundian hierarchy — from basic village wines (aka Chablis AOP) made from grapes sourced throughout the Chablis appellation to premier cru Chablis and grand Chablis wines made exclusively from grapes grown in premier cru vineyards or grand cru vineyard sites. I’ve been particularly enamored of Chablis from the 2024 vintage and have been drinking those wines as often as possible. Bright and high-toned, with a downright tingly minerality, the 2024 Chablis wines are “textbook Chablis” according to Chablis producer Patrick Piuze. They’re also some of the best wines in recent years although production was tiny due to a bad weather troika of rain, frost and mildew.The 2025 Chablis wines that have just started showing up on store shelves are from a much larger harvest, and more benign weather. But are they as good as their 2024 counterparts? I bought half a dozen wines for a tasting and contacted some producers for their thoughts. The wines that I tasted were all village wines – entry-level Chablis ranging from $25 to $33 a bottle. The price of Chablis has crept up in recent years along with the price of most Burgundies although they are still bargains compared to Chardonnays from the Côte d’Or.The quality of the wines that I purchased proved as uneven as the vintage itself. The 2025 Domaine Laroche St. Martin Chablis ($30) was clearly a success — lush yet precise with a mineral edge. Domaine Laroche winemaker Romain Chevrolat described the 2025 vintage as “ripe but balanced with a lovely freshness that livens the palate” although there were weather-related challenges during the harvest as well (heat wave, drought, heavy rains) though he noted the harvest ended mid-September under “favorable conditions.”The 2025 Domaine Laroche St. Martin Chablis. Lettie Teague Another one of my favorites was made by Chablis superstar Patrick Piuze who turns out a broad array of wines including the lively yet precise 2025 Patrick Piuze Terroir de Chablis ($33) sourced from a single vineyard parcel. While the wine was well-balanced, Mr. Piuze noted it was made under challenging conditions. The grapes were unripe then quickly turned overripe, so Mr. Piuze had a very short window in which to harvest his grapes. He described the 2025 vintage as “a restaurant vintage” — meaning the wines are approachable and easy to drink as opposed to more austere, more “cerebral” wines of 2024.The 2025 Domaine Christian Moreau Pere et Fils Chablis ($32) was another great success from another top producer — a beautifully balanced wine marked by a bright acidity though slightly more generously styled than the 2024 Moreau Chablis that I’ve stockpiled in my cellar.The 2025 Domaine Christian Moreau Pere et Fils Chablis. Lettie TeagueThe next three wines didn’t deliver the same degree of pleasure or demonstrable “Chablisness.” The 2025 Louis Jadot Chablis ($23) was solid — dependable if uninspiring while the 2025 Famille Gueguen Chablis ($30) proved rather green and tart while the 2025 Domaine Natalie and Gilles Fevre ($25) was the opposite: soft and lacking acidity.I’d buy more bottles of the wines that I’ve noted favorably (in fact, I already have) and I look forward to tasting more 2025 Chablis when they arrive in stores. In the meantime, while there are still some 2024 Chablis around, I’d counsel shopping for 2025 Chablis somewhat selectively and for 2024 wines (much) more indiscriminately.Mr. Patrick Piuze. Patrick Piuze

Chablis: A Most Singular Drink

Chablis: A Most Singular Drink

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