Benoit Droin and Christian Moreau
Our 2019 Burgundy campaign begins as ever in the north, in Chablis. Yields are low, and some cuvees are missing, but quality is sky high; there is no doubt that, despite difficulties with frost and at flowering, 2019 is a great Chablis vintage. It was a warm year. We don't tend to think of Chablis as a wine that likes too much heat, but in fact the region has lapped up the sunshine and produced some amazing wines. At the region's best addresses, the wines have managed the difficult trick of marrying rich fruit with a very Chablisienne minerality; they are vibrant and stony, intense and pure, bursting with energy.
Over the last twenty years, Benoit Droin has shown an ever more deft hand, reaffirming the place of his family domaine in the region's very top tier. With an impressive array of crus his wines constitute a fascinating flavour map of Chablis terroir. Stainless steel and oak are both used here, proportions of each depending on the individual character and power of the various crus. The premier crus all see a small amount of oak and the grand crus a little more, but it is often barely visible and always very deftly woven in. Vaillons is often the most balanced of all the premier crus, delicate and refined, both floral and flinty - very classic.
Fabien Moreau has also been at the helm of his family domaine for the last twenty years, making his name with a set of wines that are typically mineral and intense, tangy, structured, sometimes austere but always elegant. Domaine Christian Moreau has some 12 hectares of vines across some very desirable spots. Quality is always outstanding here, and the wines are singing in 2019; they are the epitome of the 'oyster shell' character habitually attributed to Chablis. /NT
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