2023 Burgundy: Abundant variability
2023 Burgundy: A guide to the villages and vineyards
There are positive aspects to the 2023 vintage in Chablis, so let’s start there. Pleasant, fruity, and accessible wines, many of which will be easy to enjoy quite soon after bottling, making the premiers crus useful for the restaurant trade. It’s Chablis with a sunny disposition, which makes it a pleasing introduction to the village for novices who will not be perturbed by high acidity or mineral austerity. Nothing to scare the horses.
The 2023 is more Chardonnay than Chablis, without wanting to be too pejorative, for there certainly are proper Chablis to be found, but you’ll need to seek them out. Even among the good producers, on whom you can usually rely, there were disappointments, with some dilute wines. It’s not a bad vintage, but I was not excited by anything. It ranges from ordinary, to quite good.
Related
The issue in 2023 was yields, which could be extremely high. A divided vintage, therefore. On the one hand, rather insipid wines from producers who maxed out at harvest; on the other, wines with good concentration and terroir definition from those who contained their yields. Others hovered somewhere in the middle, even where the volume was purportedly not excessive.
Some producers who are certified organic had smaller yields due to mildew around flowering, but there is no guarantee that organic producers have produced better wines this year. 2023 is a heterogeneous vintage both for quality and for style—so, quite different from 2022, from which there is greater consistency and higher quality.
The acidity is often quite low in 2023, but the good wines make up for this with mineral intensity and plenty of it. Some of the freshest and most energetic wines had very low acidity but still packed a sapid punch. Those premiers crus that feel balanced will age perfectly well over a decade or so, maybe longer for some of the grands crus; the healthiness of the fruit in 2023 works strongly in their favor.
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In terms of style—balance and concentration—it bears comparison with 2011, which also had lower intensity and soft acidity but found a natural harmony; and maybe with the 2018s.
Stand out climats: for grand cru, Blanchot and Valmur; for premier cru, Vaucoupin on Right Bank, and Vau de Vey, Forêt, and Butteaux on the Left.
2023 Chablis: Producers’ impressions of quality and style
Isabelle Raveneau described the wines thus: “Lively, very approachable and modern Chablis. Ripe but not extravagant. Very drinkable, but not a cerebral vintage. A pleasant vintage. A party wine. Maybe we will do only magnums. It will take less time to bottle!”
For Didier Séguier at William Fèvre, “2023 is rich and mature, but with salinity and minerality. Not a cool vintage, but the freshness gets better and better. The yields were not incredible. We have concentration.”
“Rich and fully concentrated,” said Louis Gimonnet at Long-Depaquit. “The wines are quite warm, as we had good ripeness, but there was no dilution here. 2023 is not generally as good a vintage as 2022, but a few cuvées—including Forêt and Vaucoupins—are better than 2022.” I agree.
According to Julien Brocard, “It is a very aromatic vintage, but the minerality is hiding. After aging a while in bottle, this side will show more and the wines will be a bit more ‘Chablis.’” Samuel Billaud summed it up as “a concentrated, solar vintage.”
The 2023 Chablis season
During the growing season (from April to September), 114 extra hours of sunlight were recorded by the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB). Temperatures were 0.9ºC (1.6ºF) above average and there was 13% less rain than average.
As always, the producers’ recollections can be insightful. At William Fèvre, Didier Séguier’s experiences corresponded with those of many producers to whom I spoke. “The vintage started with frost, but we had no damage. Budbreak happened at the end of March, in low temperatures, but we protected with aspersion and electricity (no candles). Flowering started in the first week of June, but rain later in June brought mildew pressure in some places. With organic practices, mildew reduced the yields, but finally it was not a bad thing, since in some places yields could be too high in 2023.”
Domaine Louis Michel was affected by mildew and had modest yields. Like William Fèvre, Louis Michel has recently been certified organic. Producers working organically generally had lower yields in 2023, but yields also depended on how the vineyards had been pruned. Louis Gimonnet at Long-Depaquit said, “We controlled the yields. We always prune not to have a large yield.”
Those who used systemic sprays were set up for a generous harvest. “We had a big and good flowering,” says Marc Cameron at Domaine Servin. But where yields were not excessive, it was quite possible to make attractive, terroir-expressive wines in 2023, and Servin is a good example.
Séguier reports that the summer was “not amazing, not hot and dry; it rained regularly, and the mildew pressure persisted all through the summer. We decided to pluck some leaves in August on the north side, to give more aeration, but kept leaves on the south side for sun protection. There was great pressure from botrytis in late-August, because it was rainy and humid. We were very anxious… But the first week in September was very hot and dry, so the botrytis pressure decreased.”
At this stage of the season, everyone was anxious about sugar rising rapidly and acidity falling, but it was so hot in the vineyards that those domaines that hand-harvest generally felt it was too hot for the pickers. Moreover, the temperature of the fruit was too high without the facilities to cool it.
“The heatwave stabilized the sanitary situation, but sugar was increasing quickly, so we started harvest on September 7,” says Séguier. “But we harvested only in the morning, from 7am to 2pm. We didn’t want to harvest when the temperature was 35ºC [95ºF].” Fèvre does not have a refrigeration room, but this will change with an injection of investment from the new owner, Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite). “From September 13, the temperature decreased—it was cooler and easier—so we could resume a more normal harvest.”
Louis Gimonnet at Long-Depaquit recalls, “It was more complicated in 2023 than in 2022, because of the disease pressure resulting from the rainfall. It rained heavily, especially after flowering, in late-June, and it was hard to protect the vineyard at this point, when mildew could get into the clusters. But it was good that we at least had water for most of the summer—there was no stress in July and August, unlike 2022, so there was no blocking of véraison or ripening, and the vegetation did well. There were storms in July and August, but we were able to harvest from September 11 for ten days straight. We had high yields, which was partly the vines’ response to the very low yields in 2021—in 2022 and again in 2023—but even more because of the perfect flowering, as we lost nothing to coulure or millerandage. Our normal harvest program changed as a result—so, for example, we harvested Vau de Vey first rather than last, because the berries were smaller and it was very ripe.”
In Chablis, the harvest generally started on September 11 and ended in early October.
Vincent Dampt remarked, “In 2023 there was more humidity and more rain, while in 2022 it was very dry and there was not much juice in the berries. The 2023 was more generous in juice, and it was a challenge to keep the acidity of Chablis, with much lower levels than in a vintage like 2021. Full maturity arrived over the course of a single week, with the acidity levels dropping.”
Marc Cameron at Domaine Servin also commented on the quantity of juice in the grapes, which surprised them. “2023 is classed as a drought, but there was enough rain, so in fact we got more juice than we expected—maybe because of the deeper root systems. Even the younger vines in Chablis are 40 years old now. 2010 was the last vintage in which we saw thick skins and very little juice.”
Yields
Chablis producers are permitted to take 60hl/ha. This can be increased in generous vintages, and in 2023 the INAO accepted an increase of 12hl/ha. As a result, many domaines had 72hl/ha this year, but I heard reports of well over 100hl/ha. Anything over 72 hl/ha should be sent for distilling, but of course the rest of the juice will also be dilute. The extra 12hl/ha can be sold only if and when a subsequent vintage has correspondingly fewer hl/ha. Many are banking on such reserves (from 2022 and 2023), since the 2024 vintage is likely to be small in some places. Producers in Milly, for example, including the Dampts, who suffered from frost and hail damage, should be able to release reserves from the 2023 vintage in 2025.
Guillaume Gicqueau-Michel at Domaine Louis Michel remarked, “It is a divided vintage, with two styles—generous from high yields versus more concentrated from lower yields.” He lost 50% of the crop in Clos and Grenouilles (25hl/ha) and 30% in Montée de Tonnerre. The village Chardonnay yielded 60hl/ha. “Globally, our yields were okay, but it gives me an idea of what it would have been without the mildew.” It’s difficult to say how many producers in Chablis work organically. The BIVB has a figure only for the Yvonne as a whole—111—but in Chablis there are approximately 23.
Didier Séguier at William Fèvre had yields across the domaine ranging from 45 to 65hl/ha. “The impact of the mildew was greatest in Chablis [village]—less in the grand and premier cru parcels. At Domaine Bessin-Tremblay, yields averaged 50–55hl/ha.
So, not everyone had high yields.
Machine-harvesting
There are now some 6,000ha (15,000 acres) under vine in Chablis, and at least 80% are harvested by machine (the BIVB has no exact figures). Many producers were especially glad to have machine-harvesters in 2023. Servin has invested €350,000 for a second harvester, which allows them to pick at the optimum moment.
Guillaume Gicqueau-Michel said, “I never harvest grands crus by machine, but we have 25ha [62 acres] in total, and the harvest window is now much shorter due to global warming. We picked everything September 11 to 16—in five days—and to do this by hand we would have needed between 40 and 50 pickers, who would have needed to stop at midday.” They have two harvest machines with optical sorting machines attached (€150,000), which start at 4am. To press everything quickly, they have three presses working from soon after 4am until midnight.
Marc Cameron at Domaine Servin explained the difficulties not only of finding pickers (many of whom go to the Côte d’Or, he says) but of accommodating them in Chablis. Domaine Bessin-Tremblay rents fully modernized gîtes in local towns for their harvesters, who are largely Polish students. But Antoine Bessin explained to me that the rules for accommodating harvesters are stricter than those for tourists—for example, the ratio of window to sleeping area—which makes it very difficult to find suitable accommodation. The stringent regulations are a reaction to the poor conditions in which pickers have been accommodated in the past. It’s a hot topic of conversation in Chablis.
Winery and analysis
A headline summary to start with. These are medium-bodied wines, generally around 12–12.5% ABV for village and premier cru wines, 13–13.5% ABV for grand cru (though as always, there are exceptions). Acidity is on the low side for Chablis.
We all agree, of course, that the most important thing is how the wine tastes. But the analysis still interests me. Terroir is one thing, winemaking is another. Ideally, producers use the latter well, to achieve the best expression of the former. So, I find it frustrating when producers say they are not interested in pH and don’t measure it. In fact, I find it hard to believe them—especially with respect to white wines, where precision in the winemaking is essential.
There are various things at play in 2023. Higher yields dilute sugar, acidity, intensity, and terroir expression—the whole shebang. It’s a vintage with low acidity and high pH. Potassium will increase pH, and is more accessible for the vine’s roots when it rains. So, the producer must decide how to extract. When the pressure is high, more potassium is extracted at the end of the press cycle. Fortunately, there was no imperative to press too hard in 2023, as there was so much juice; on the contrary, it was easy to exceed the maximum yields, as many doubtless did. There are valid arguments for pressing harder to extract more phenolics, but it’s difficult to see this as an option in 2023, when yields were high.
I discussed this with Louis Gimonnet at Long-Depaquit. “Where the yield was high, it was quite hard to get full sugar-ripeness. We had 12.2–12.6% ABV naturally and didn’t ever hit 13%. But we did get phenolic ripeness. Where we had lower yields, we were in the range of 13.5–13.8% ABV.” The biggest issue was the potassium. “We have between 1,000 and 1,200mg/l of potassium in a normal vintage, but had between 1,500 and 1,800 in 2023. We saw tartrates when we started racking wine from tank. So, we lost acidity, but I didn’t want to adjust the wine. Some winemakers did acidify in 2003—and you can taste it. The profile of Chablis comes from the Kimmeridgian soil—not just from acidity.” At harvest, the pHs ranged from 3.2, to 3.35; and after fermentation, from 3.25, to 3.42 (for one tank). Louis used only very clear juice, after pressing to just 1.1–1.2 bar: “The same as in 2022. And I think the quality of the juice is better. Otherwise, the pH goes up too much at the end of the pressing.”
Didier Séguier remarked on the pH: “We always separate out the end of press, but the point at which we do that can change. In 2023, the end of the press had high levels of potassium, so we separated out between five and 10%, which we declassified to the Chablis blend. We have been doing this for 20 years.” He added, “2023 is not like 2015, but with the hot weather in September, the alcohol potential increased quickly. The pH in the juice was between 3.3 and 3.4, which is higher than normal. But we still have a good balance—not much acidity, but not too much fat either. We adopted biodynamic practices (not certified) from 2010 for all the premier and grand cru parcels, which increases freshness, precision, and terroir expression in the wines as well as improving the health of the vineyards.”
I was impressed with the range of wines from J Moreau made by Lucie Depuydt, which demonstrate that it is quite possible for a large négociant to make wines as good as, and sometimes better than, those from highly regarded small domaines. She oversees 200ha (500 acres) of vineyards for the Boisset portfolio—not only for the J Moreau label—and remarks: “I always go to each vineyard and sample the grapes in order to monitor the ripeness. But in 2023, the analysis of each parcel was more important than ever before.” She also oversees the pressing of the fruit at her growers’ wineries to ensure that they don’t take the end of the press or press too hard. I envisage her hovering over the press with a pH meter.
Lucie Depuydt is always more afraid of pyrazines than lack of acidity. Her pH levels ranged from 3.2, to 3.5. “I would never add tartaric acidity,” she insists. Rightly so, I would add. If absolutely necessary, she would adjust with lactic, “a mono acid, which helps the balance of the wine, as you can’t taste it.”
She points out that not every vintage needs high acidity. “Where there isn’t a powerful structure, you don’t need high acidity—you need a normal balance for the vintage.” In the following notes I have mentioned her Vaucoupin, which has a high pH of 3.35 and low TA of 3.5g/l (measured as sulfuric)—yet this wine is super-taut, grippy, and well-balanced. She observes, “You cannot impose the same mindset and rules for balance for every vintage.”
Vincent Dampt commented, “The pH levels are between 3.2 and 3.3 for some wines, but higher in premiers crus where, after MLF, some went to 3.35. We preferred to stay with the natural acidity. We vinify in stainless steel to focus on the freshness. I think it’s more difficult to maintain freshness in oak.”
Guillaume Gicqueau-Michel recorded TA levels around “3.11 as sulfuric (4.7 as tartaric) and pH levels around 3.3. The pHs are quite high in 2023—a warm vintage—much higher than in 2022.”
Samuel Billaud concluded, “I do not want to add tartaric acid. I didn’t like it when I added it in 2003. I did it for the health of the fermentation, but I didn’t like how it evolved.” He recorded TA levels of 4.5 (as sulfuric), pH levels of 3.2–3.3, and alcohol levels of 12.6%–14%.
When to bottle?
Many producers bottled their 2022s early—simply because they had run out of stock of the small 2021 vintage and customers demanded wine. There is not this imperative for 2023.
As for how long to keep the 2023s on lees, and when to bottle, there were two camps, with many producers favoring earlier bottling. They were preoccupied with the high pH/low acidity levels, anxious not to tire the wines and to retain freshness. Samuel Billaud told me, “Compared with 2022, I will use less lees aging—it would be too much. I will take the wines off their lees two months earlier than in 2022, to keep the minerality.”
And yet I get a feeling that longer lees aging could bring a bit more to this vintage without risk of tiring. So, I was happy to hear Lucie Depuydt say, “I do not understand why people are anxious about lees. The glutathione will help against oxidation, and if you don’t stir the lees, you don’t introduce oxygen into the wine, so you can bottle with less added sulfur.” As a result, as she pointed out, the wine will be more readily accessible soon after bottling. She bottles with less than 30ppm free SO2, which is mid-range, but with a low total SO2 of less than 60ppm. As she affirms, if you do as she does, “You don’t need too much sulfur.” More generally, levels of free SO2 should decline further as more Chablis producers adopt Diam closures.
Total SO2 levels should not be high in 2023, as the fruit was clean As Vincent Dampt observed, “The health was perfect at harvest, so the wine didn’t consume SO2. We have total SO2 levels of around 70 ppm.” Julien Brocard said, “We think we will bottle later than the ’22s.” But he also thought “This vintage needs more time in bottle than in tank. The 2023s are more aromatic than the 2022s as young wines, but with the freshness behind them, we will see even more brightness. We just have to wait.”
As in 2022, however, there will again be higher levels of CO2 at bottling—around 1,000mg/l—but you are unlikely to notice CO2 in the wine unless it rises to around 1,200mg/l.
Producers’ Chablis vintage comparisons
Isabelle Raveneau told me, “2023 is like 2011 and 2018—early harvests, juicy wines. While 2022 is more cerebral, more compact and denser.” Marc Cameron said, “The 2023s need more time than the 2022s, and they are more Chablis-like than 2018, 2019, or 2020. The BIVB pronounced on 2023 after analyzing the must and comparing it with that from the previous two vintages—they say the juice is richer and that the wines may have better longevity than ’21 or ’22.”
Virginie Moreau described 2023 as “Maybe a little like 2020 for the ripeness and the first impression. And 2020 is a good year for Chablis.” She finds 2023 more reserved and more typically Chablis than 2022. For Julien Brocard, “2023 is a mix of 2017 and 2018. It is more aromatic and lighter than 2018, and more mineral than 2017, but not exactly like either. There is no exact equivalent.” “Like 2015, as it was warm,” suggested Sébastien Dampt, while for Vincent Dampt, “It is not 2019, as the acidity is higher. 2023 has more depth than other lower-acid vintages.” Samuel Billaud asserted, “Not like 2022, 2020, or 2017. It is more like 2015 or 2018.” Didier Séguier compares it with 2006 and 2015.
Aging potential and when to drink
It will certainly be quite easy to drink this vintage young, as the acidity is soft and the wines are fruity. So, plenty of pleasure to be had in youth. Dilute wines should be drunk soon (or not at all?), but for the higher quality wines from lower yields, there is a choice.
I would suggest a drinking window from 2025/26 for village wines and Left Bank premiers crus; from late 2026/27 for the more structured premiers crus; and from late-2027 and 2028 for the grand cru wines. The best wines in each category will benefit from waiting a year or two longer, as they are glossy. I don’t think the rich fruit masks the terroir, but I think the terroir may become more expressive with some bottle age. There are a few exceptions, including the richer expression of Vaudésir, which needs to slim down over five or six years to show the minerality of this terroir.
As for aging capacity, while acidity and pH levels are not ideal, the fruit was healthy, which is quite as important for the longer term. As the youthful fruit falls away, I feel that the wines will be left with a savory saltiness. So, I’d recommend medium-term aging: eight to 12 years for premiers crus and ten to 15 for grands crus. I would drink most of them before the 2022s, which I think have more staying power.
I tried a 2015 Vaillons at William Fèvre—from a rich vintage that Didier Séguier says bears some comparison with 2023. While it was pleasant, I would have preferred it with livelier fruit. I am not sure it is beneficial to age all premiers crus, and Vaillons is certainly a contender for earlier drinking in 2023.
As for the producers’ reflections on the longevity of the wines, Isabel Raveneau replied, “Without doubt, ten to 15 years, but after that, I have no idea.” Julien Brocard considers that the aging capacity will be “less than 2022, as 2023 is more aromatic and less mineral, but this is just an early impression.” Vincent Dampt predicts, “The wines will be open early, but because the health of the grapes was good, they will also age really well.” Marc Cameron believes that “The 2023s will need more time than the 2022s,” but did not speculate on how much more time they might then have.
Louis Gimonnet admitted, “I am slightly in two minds. 2023 is so open, like 2022—it’s an early vintage and interesting to taste now. But we should not focus on the lack of acidity. If we have less acidity, it is compensated for by something else—a rich aromatic compound that can help keep the wine for several years. I am sure we can keep 2023s for ten years, but maybe, with these extra compounds, the wines will be good for longer.”
Petit Chablis and Chablis
The popularity of Petit Chablis has grown in recent years, and for 2022 it was a good bet. It is not generally the same story for 2023, but some are still worthy of your attention. Look out for Petit Chablis from Sur Les Clos and Envers de Valmur; this is the section above the grand cru climats, on the top of the hill, above the treeline. This plateau has white soils and is super-stony. As Isabelle Raveneau explains, “The vines can suffer in the spring, with the cold and wind, but in the summer, the stones preserve the heat at night, so the fruit ripens well.” The soil here is Kimmeridgian, not the Portlandian, the soil on which many Chablis and Petit Chablis are grown in outlying villages. Quite a few of the producers I visit have vineyards above the grand cru sites, and Petit Chablis from here can have good concentration and salty minerality. Lieux-dits cannot be declared for Petit Chablis—certainly not on the label, which contains all the regulatory information—but enterprising producers, including Domaine Servin, are sneaking them onto back labels.
Producing a Petit Chablis makes sense commercially, because it can be bottled and sold by producers before the next vintage. Not all producers are in favor, though. William Fèvre will be phasing out its Petit Chablis for all but a few die-hard markets; it is made with purchased must and, under the new Rothschild ownership, Didier Séguier will be able to concentrate on wines from the domaine.
On to the village wines. Parcels found on the cooler flanks of the Left Bank valleys can be a bit mean in a cold vintage, but when the summer is warm enough, they are very pleasant. Voye is rather a good spot, and it represents 70% of Sébastien Dampt’s village blend. This lieu-dit lies below premier cru Les Lys in Vaillons. Like its big brother, it has a more northerly exposure, especially in the Dampt’s section, while Laroche’s parcel below is rather flatter. Nevertheless, Laroche’s standout village wine, Vieille Voye, comes from here. Voye is savory rather than fruity, with freshness and fennel bite; properly piquant and salty from Vincent Dampt.
The cold side of the Vau de Vey valley is another good place in warmer years for village wine. The Left Bank domaines are the greatest beneficiaries of climate change, although it’s not plain sailing in the spring. The village vineyards in Vau de Vey turn toward the north, so while it may be an advantage in warms summers, these vineyards are vulnerable to frost in spring, particularly if they are on early -budding rootstock, including the widely used SO4. The Dampts spray water for frost-protection; they tell me that the lake at Beine is able to provide enough water for aspersion across 100ha (250 acres) on the Left Bank. The Dampts, Laroche, and Brocard all have substantial vineyards here.
Moving southwest of Chablis to Préhy, the village climat of Les Pargues, on the hill after Montmains, is one to look out for, although it’s not always mentioned on the label. Efforts to upgrade its status to premier cru have been unsuccessful, and maybe not all the climat is worthy, but it can certainly produce high-quality village wine. Samuel Billaud rightly includes it in his village wine, Les Grands Terroirs: “It’s a good place, with so much minerality,” he enthuses. Domaine Servin also has vines here, including some older vines from which a separate cuvée is made.
From a parcel beside Servin’s, Moreau-Naudet also makes an old-vine cuvée from Pargues, with vines planted by Virginie’s grandmother, which has an extra depth and intensity when compared with its regular Chablis. And Préhy is home to Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard. Perhaps surprisingly, Julien includes Pargues in his 300,000-bottle Cuvée Sainte Claire, a blend from 40ha (100 acres) around the village, while Malantes, a 3ha (7.5-acre) lieu-dit beside Pargues, is used to produce the glossier, more concentrated Chablis Vieilles Vignes de Sainte Claire.
Left Bank premiers crus
Beauroy is a bit too tooty-fruity, caramel-sweet for me in 2023. Dampt has a parcel in the “true” Beauroy at the mouth end of the valley, which has nice salinity at the end to balance the toffee richness. Beauroy is Chablis for those who don’t really like Chablis.
Vau de Vey: This lesser-known premier cru is fast becoming a favorite of mine in warm vintages. There is tip-top, dewy fresh Vau de Vey from Julien Brocard, part of the biodynamic range under his own name, while I felt he had picked the organically managed Vau de Vey (Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard) a bit too late; the latter was spicy, lacking edge and purity. So near and yet so far! It’s worth noting that the pHs—3.3 for Julien Brocard and 3.35 for JM Brocard—are very similar; two days difference in harvest dates and biodynamic versus organic viticulture. But something made the difference in the tasting.
Vau de Vey premier cru is east-facing, a cooler, less well-exposed slope than the well-known hillsides of the Left Bank, but of course warmer on the premier cru side than those chilly village parcels. Cool winds funnel down this valley. Sadly, the vines are suffering from court noué, so many of older vines will have to be replaced. Laroche has 11ha (27 acres) in this climat, so I’d like to see its wine from here achieving a slightly higher level.
Côte de Léchet, with its east/southeast-facing slope, typically produces wine of a fresh and citrusy profile, clipped and racy. But the slope receives sunshine for a large part of the day, and in hot vintages it can be difficult to catch the crisp citrus notes, which can slide into creamy lemon curd and candied-lemon richness. They held it together in 2022, but maybe because of lower acidity, the opulent 2023s lack edge and minerality. There are exceptions—notably a biodynamic Léchet from Julien Brocard. So, if you buy Côte de Lechet, try giving it some time to refine, if it had an early bottling before the following harvest.
Côte de Léchet and Vaillons are principally east-facing, but whereas Léchet tips a little to the northeast, Vaillons turns a little to the south. Léchet should taste fresher, but it wasn’t obvious in 2023. I may even have preferred Vaillons to Côte de Léchet in 2023.
Vaillons is charmingly rounded, appealing, and scented, more floral in 2023 than in 2022. As ever, it has an immediate harmony and balance, but its charming profile can stumble into clumsy. It depends on the lieu-dit, of which there are nine. Beware: Beugnons, bottled 3.3 for Julien Brocard on its own at Long-Depaquit, is pineapple-rich and exotic (so, not for me). But many Vaillons lieux-dits are blended. Daniel Dampt has an attractive blend of three parcels, which has a firm and chalky finish; one of the three is north-facing Les Lys—a climat that can be a lifesaver in hot vintages.
Vaillons lieu-dit Les Lys is offered as a single-vineyard wine by about five producers. Vincent Dampt describes it as a “very windy place, with air movement at the entrance to the valley. It is not white clay but deep clay, and the vines suffer less here than in other places. From this deep Kimmeridgian soil, we see the fossil power.” At Long-Depaquit, Louis Gimonnet describes Les Lys as “a discrete wine with vivacity; always very reductive from this cold exposure.” He preferred his 2022 Les Lys to his 2023.
Lucie Depuydt makes Vaillons from lieux-dits Roncières, Chatains, and Mélinots, and her 2023 is typical of the rich expression that can be found this vintage. “I like the density and concentration of Vaillons this year. Not an easy wine, but it has good depth.”
Moving on to the Côte of Montmains: I generally find the Montmains appellation more rustic than the other premier cru slopes on the Left Bank. Within this, Forêt should be the lightest, the most aromatic and upright; it should be floral, but is not always so. 2023 certainly is floral, while in 2022 I struggled to find floral notes, and it was more gunflint. I preferred Forêt 2023s to the 2022s—it’s more delicate and livelier in 2023.
The lieu-dit Montmains, the nearest to Chablis of the lieux-dits on the Montmains hillside, is where the slope is shallowest. I find it makes the earthiest wines. I preferred the 2022s, which were rather robust and punchy, whereas in 2023, Montmains can lack distinction and personality.
By contrast, Butteaux has a strong character—and it’s one I like. It’s the fullest, grippiest, sappiest, and most structured of the lieux-dits here. So, once again, Butteaux was the pick of the bunch for me. There is density and richness, with marked sapidity to balance. This lieu-dit probably has the greatest variety of aspects and soils of the three; it undulates, giving different exposures, and the rows are planted across, as well as up and down, the slopes, so there will be various expressions.
At Raveneau and Louis Michel, you can taste all three lieux-dits side by side, although at Raveneau the Montmains, from a parcel situated at the top of the vineyard, tastes more like Forêt. At Louis-Michel, Guillaume Gicqueau-Michel describes his vineyard: “Butteaux is very Kimmeridgian—the best example—clay, marl, fossils, and seashells embedded in heavy clay. It gets wet, but in dry vintages it become like concrete. There were more water reserves in 2023, because it rained, but this brought mildew pressure, while the 2022 season was drier. The wine is richer in 2022, but more powerful in 2023. The ’22 is broader and riper aromatically.” To test this, he opened a bottle of the 2022, which was expressive but didn’t have the drive on the finish of the 2023.
It seems that on parts of the Montmains hillside—Forêt and Butteaux—there are 2023s that are more attractive than their 2022 counterparts.
Right Bank premiers crus
I think that higher yields can be helpful in Fourchaume in a warm vintage; a spot of dilution may not be a bad thing here, particularly in the historic part, which can all too easily feel overly concentrated, fat and heavy.
While we are thinking about Fourchaume, it makes no sense for Vaulorent to be part of this climat. It has a different terroir and taste, and has established a (higher) reputation of its own. William Fèvre was the first estate to put Vaulorent on the label (in 1998). “People recognize and want Vaulorent,” remarks Didier Séguier. “Tastes change.”
Indeed they do. Vaucoupin is example of an erstwhile third-division premier cru that is gaining a following, appreciated these days for its energy and straight, savory palate. While it is leaner than a typical Right Bank premier cru, there’s no lack of concentration. The 35-50 degree, southwest-facing slope produces intense fruit, but the style is deep and straight rather than broad. Vaucoupin seems to distill the Kimmeridgian character. This is textbook oyster shell—graphite on the nose and smoky gunflint on the palate. The expression is rich in 2022 and 2023 but remains contained.
Louis Gimonnet finds a parallel with Vaudesir: “the slope, the Kimmeridgian soil with not much clay. So, you get full ripeness with minerality.” Long-Depaquit has 5ha (12 acres) so is the principal owner on the slope.
At J Moreau, Lucie Depuydt makes Vaucoupin from parcels on the section that tops off into a plateau. “It has very Kimmeridgian soil—you see the compact limestone. And the old massal selection gives small, golden-ripe berries.” I liked her 2022 but think her 2023 is even better. Lucie prefers to make a comparison between Vaucoupin and Valmur. I also find a correlation between the two in the sense of austerity and reserve—maybe especially so with J Moreau’s, because its parcel of Valmur is not on hot part of the slope.
Many of the vines in Vaucoupin are an old massal selection. Servin also offers a good version from old vines.
Grand cru
Here my standout wines from 2023 were Blanchot and Valmur. Of course, Les Clos is usually the most complete wine, as it should be, but Blanchot and Valmur seem to get better and better each vintage.
With the coolest exposition among the grand cru climats, Blanchot has benefited most from recent warm summers, whereas in the past it could feel a little insubstantial, lacking grand cru depth. In warmer summers it has more substance, but retains its airy, filagree charm, showing volume with lightness—and of course freshness, which is so welcome.
The most extreme, coolest example, comes from Long-Depaquit, from a parcel farthest into the valley. Its fully east-facing slice runs from the top to the bottom of the slope, where the bottom third is always shadowed by tall trees. The whole area loses sun by 2pm, and it’s all harvested at the same time, so some fruit is a bit underripe. Louis Gimonnet likes to make a stylistic comparison with Les Lys. Although the yields were only 38hl/ha in 2023, the alcohol is just 12.8%. On the other side of the climat, Raveneau’s parcel abuts Les Clos at the top of the slope. This is more firmly structured but nevertheless retains a proper sense of Blanchot’s finesse.
Valmur also does well in warmer summers, for it has the austerity, grip, and sapidity to balance the ripe fruit. It shows very well in 2023, since it doesn’t need high acidity to feel fresh and cool on the palate. I do like Valmur.
Whereas Valmur is a wide valley, often breezy—I walked here often in 2023—Vaudésir is narrow and snaking. Some slopes can be very steep, sunny, and stony, and the wines can be super-concentrated. It used to produce some of the most strikingly mineral wines of the grand cru hill, but some are now so rich, it is hard to find the minerality, and they certainly need time to slim down.
William Fèvre’s parcel is on a 40-degree, south-facing section and, although this is where Didier Séguier starts the harvest, the wine is rather exotic; it needs six or seven years. But there are colder spots in Vaudésir. Louis Michel has one of them, shaded for part of the day, and the style is more refined.
In Preuses, the character of the vintage and the terroir flow in the same direction: silky smooth, supple wines. Julien Brocard has a good example. Long-Depaquit has a parcel up on the plateau. “It’s warm here, but the wine is less concentrated than from the west-facing section,” says Louis Gimonnet, who has made a softly silky 2023.
William Fèvre and Vincent Dauvissat share a southeast-facing section that really seems to be part of the Vaudésir valley, albeit not quite as steep. At Fèvre, which is the largest owner of Preuses, Didier Séguier blends the fruit from here with parcels on the plateau. Long-Depaquit has a pocket-handkerchief parcel which it adds to the neighboring Vaudésir vines to make its Moutonne.
William Fèvre also has six of the total 12ha (30 acres) of Bougros; 4ha (10 acres) are situated on the top of the slope. “This is southwest-facing [south-ish, as it’s really rather flat], with a very clay soil,” says Séguier, who blends grapes from here with those from younger vines in Côte de Bouguerots to make a rich, full, and wide wine. “I love Bougros ’23,” he remarks. “There is richness, power, and energy in ’23, and we have freshness, too.” Yes, it is very lively and bright to finish, and it’s not fat. “Here, the impact of the heatwave was less in 2023. I feel we have made the most progress here over the past 25 years among the grands crus. It was fatter and more Côte d’Or-like in the past, but with biodynamic practices, it has increased in precision and freshness.” At Servin, Marc Cameron remarked, “Blanchot is getting richer and Bougros is becoming more friendly.”
2023 Chablis: General observations
It’s interesting that while there has been a gradual shift to domaine-bottling, this still represents only one third of the fruit grown in Chablis. The balance is sold to négociants or to La Chablisienne. The co-op has 280 members, approximately 40% of the total 700 growers, and produces 8 million bottles, which represents about 22% of the total harvest in 2023, according to the BIVB. (The area of Chablis has expanded from 550ha [1,360 acres] in the 1950s, to 5,866ha [14,495 acres] of vines in 2023. The total surface is 6,500ha [16,062 acres] but some of it can’t be planted—forests, cemeteries, pathways, etc.) The co-op was established in 1923, during the impoverished times after World War I, initially blending wines from its members into brands for the trade, but since the 1950s it has been producing wines under its own label from juice.
Also in the ’50s, a few growers started bottling their own wines—among them, François Servin’s grandfather, who exported to the US. The States are a significant market for Chablis today. In 2023, it was the leading export market by value and the second largest by volume, reaching 3 million bottles (+6.7% compared to 2022) and generating €368 million (+19% compared to 2022), of which Petit Chablis and Chablis accounted for 83%. Moreover, the share of Chablis wines in Bourgogne shipments is increasing, accounting for 26% of Bourgogne white wine sales in the States.
Irancy
Over recent warm vintages I have begun to enjoy the wines of Irancy, an appellation just 18km (11 miles) southwest of Chablis, and I feel it’s the moment to start including wines from producers within the village—not only those in Chablis who have land in Irancy or purchase fruit there. Not so long ago it was a struggle to ripen Pinot Noir, but Irancy is coming into its own with warmer seasons. There are 315ha (778 acres) of land within the appellation, of which only 220ha (544 acres) are currently planted. Prior to 1998, Irancy was classified as Bourgogne Irancy, but gained DOC status in its own right in 1998 for red wines made from Pinot Noir, which can include up to 10% of the local variety, César, which was traditionally used to add structure and tannin.
Young Martin Charriat, who is working with his parents at Domaine William Charriat, remarks, “In the ’80s and ’90s, it was difficult to get ripe grapes, but now, thanks to climate change, it is easier to ripen Pinot Noir, and César will not be too harsh.” In comparison with aristocratic Pinot Noir, César is a fairly rustic variety, but as Martin explains, “We feel that César is part of the identity of Irancy.”
Moreover, it seems they need César to allow them to continue their approach to prolonged aging. As Martin Charriat explains, “For us, Pinot Noir lacks a bit of structure to age for a long time on its own. César helps with the acidity, and we use César for structure and tannins.” I find it surprising that these producers mature their wine for such an extended period. Tasting the 2023s, I couldn’t understand why three years is necessary.
What about the 2023 season? Martin Charriat recollects, “We avoided catastrophe. We had challenges all year, but fortunately there was enough rain and just enough sun, although not as much as in 2022, and a good amount of grapes.”
Gabin Richoux of Domaine Gabin & Felix Richoux harvested from September 10. The yields were a generous 55hl/ha; indeed, the harvest in 2022 and 2023 was too large to use whole-bunch, given insufficient tank space, so the crop was largely destemmed. “In 2023, we had good ripeness, around 13% and finished at 14%,” said Gabin Richoux. Charriat remarked on the “good color—not as dark as recent years, but more typical. Alcohol was around 13 to 13.5% in 2023. And in 2020, we reached 14 to 14.5% in Irancy.”
