ALL ABOUT CHABLIS
My wife’s birthday is on Saturday, and all she wants is oysters and sushi for dinner. So I’m selfishly using that as an excuse to tailor this week’s tasting to my all-time favourite wine region, and the very best pairing for oysters and sushi: CHABLIS! I’m such a fiend for minerality in wine, therefore Chablis has become my overall favourite wine region, as it produces arguably the most mineral-driven, almost saline style of wine. I keep trying to collect it, but most of it just gets drank. So this week I’m featuring a couple favourites for home delivery or pick up at the Byward Wine Market in Ottawa or Pan Chancho in Kingston. And as we’ve been doing since Lockdown started, we’ll have a Zoom tasting on Saturday night at 7pm to really dig into all the wines together. More details on that below.
If you’re less familiar, Chablis is a town and region in Northern France, roughly halfway between Champagne and the Cote d’Or of Burgundy proper (although Chablis is technically considered to be part of Burgundy). In Chablis they only make white wine, there’s no such thing as a red Chablis. And like Burgundy whites, the variety is 100% Chardonnay only. The special thing about Chablis that distinguishes it from other Burgundy whites are it’s Kimmeridgean soils. These are very old soils that once formed a seabed millions of years ago and are a combination of limestone, grey marl clay, and chalk-like decomposing limestone mixed in with the fossilized oyster shells and other crustaceans. The limestone and chalky soil (like Champagne) imparts the persistent, almost saline minerality in the wine that makes the region so famous. For a really great overview of the soils of Chablis, check out this link on my friend Jamie Goode’s blog from the UK.
It is also traditional for Chablis wines to be aged on their lees (the dead yeast cells after fermentation) which imparts a richer texture to the wine and contributes to their intense minerality. Traditionally, the wines should not be oaky at all, but it is not illegal to use oak barrels. They just use older ones that do not impart any oak flavours to the wine but just help mature it, rounding it out and giving it more texture. Production in stainless steel tanks is also very popular to enhance the un-oaked style. The general results are more richly textured wines, with crisp acidity, persistent minerality and fruit flavours that range from Granny Smith green apples, pears, and lots of lemon/lime citrus components. Textures can range from lean and steely to rich, creamy, and mineral, all of which are ideal matches for oysters, scallops, fish, chicken, and all kinds of cheeses and charcuterie. This is also the ultimate wine to change the mind of the friend who says they’ll drink “anything but Chardonnay”. There are so many different incarnations of Chardonnay, not just the stereotypical over-oaked, super-buttery California or Australia style of the 90’s and 2000’s. Chablis is the polar opposite of that. So if you’re like me and already love Chablis, or maybe in need some convincing, here’s a few selections you can’t go wrong with:
My buddy expressing his true feelings for Chablis during a visit to Defaix in 2014.
Bernard Defaix (not to be confused with Daniel or Etienne Defaix) is a 4th generation family business started on 2 hectares of land in 1959 by Bernard Defaix. Today Bernard’s two sons Sylvain and Diddier make the wine along with Diddier’s wife Helene taking care of the sales and administration. A true boutique family business with everyone contributing. The winery’s home estate vineyard is on the Premier Cru ‘Cote de Lechet’, located on the slopes of the village of Milly, and they own several other vineyards around the region. Since 2012 they are certified organic, but they’ve been farming organically for years before that. They are also using various biodynamic natural inputs to help with vineyard fertilization and vitality. They’ve been consistantly making benchmark examples of classic Chablis for decades at least, and they’re a great place to anchor the tasting. We currently stock the Chablis and the Cote de Lechet Premier Cru, both of which are masterclasses in minerality:
BERNARD DEFAIX, CHABLIS 2019
$44 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, or $39.99 x6 from Lifford Wines
The Chablis is aged in stainless steel tanks so as to respect the typicity of the appellation. It is characterized by their freshness, power and tenacity. The bouquet displays a dominance of mineral notes intermingling with delicate touches of citrus fruit (lemon and grapefruit).
BERNARD DEFAIX, CHABLIS PREMIER CRU ‘COTE DE LECHET’ 2018
$59 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, or $52.99 x6 from Lifford Wines
With 8 hectares of Cote de Lechet, this makes them the largest land owners of this Premier Cru, and they often find impressive fossilized crusteasions that had been perfectly preserved. The remarkable stony and sunny soil is captured in this powerful and complex wine. It flourishes with age and expresses mineral aromas reminiscent of gunflint. They recommend serving with fish or poultry, and richer white butter or cream sauces. This wine is wonderful now, but can last decades in the cellar (I had some outstanding 1984 and 1985’s when I last visited the domaine!).
Patrick outside his cellar door in Chablis.
Patrick is a native Quebecois who was a Sommelier at a wine bar in Montreal in the early 2000’s when he decided to leave it all behind to go try make wine himself. He had done some work in wine around the world before opening his restaurant and then he ended up making Chablis for Olivier Leflaive in Burgundy. This eventually got him a job with organic and biodynamic star Jean-Marc Brocard where he became the cellar master. Having a direct hand in making their wines, he learned a lot about biodynamics, low intervention winemaking and developed enough relationships with excellent grape growers around the region. In 2008 he decided to break off and start his own wine label: Maison Patrick Piuze. Since then he’s risen to quite a bit of fame in Chablis, with top critics like Jancis Robinson even likening him to the next Ravineau or Dauvissat (incontestably the top two producers of Chablis).
While he does not own any vineyards, he doesn’t buy any fruit or juice. He has contracts on the vineyards and looks after the viticulture himself and goes in with his own team and hand harvests everything himself. He’s identified excellent sites of old vines in various parts all over Chablis and even some vineyards outside of the Chablis zone that are on Kimmeridgean limestone. He owns an amazing cellar in the town of Chablis that winds underground throughout the town via a series of culverts, 2 stories below street level. On top of all that Patrick is a really fun guy. When I first visited the winery in 2014 we spent 2 hours going through the cellar tasting through all the barrels and back-vintages of bottles. As we thought the day was wrapping up we ended up sticking around and drinking a case of beer with Patrick in the winery for the rest of the afternoon. And our representation of his wines in Ontario came from this amazing day. All parts of Patrick’s personality and operation exude the authenticity that his wines also exhibit. They’re a bit pricier, but a definite must-try for any Chablis fan. Because we don’t often have these in stock, we don’t have a Lifford page for them, and Patrick’s website is not up to date either, so no official links for further research…but a quick Google search will certainly bring in a variety of info on them.
PATRICK PIUZE, COTE DE AUXERRE, BOURGOGNE, 2018
$45 per bottle from Byward Wine Market, Sold Out elsewhere
From hills around the city of Auxerre about 20 mins outside of the Chablis region. The vines in this area are also grown on Kimmeridgean Limestone but are not part of the Chablis zone, so it takes an overall Burgundy (Bourgogne) label. But don’t be fooled, this tastes nothing like classic Burgundy, it tastes just like great Chablis. The grapes are pressed and fermented in his cellar in Chablis with the native wild yeast and are aged along with all the rest of his wines. But as much as it tastes like it, it’s not technically Chablis…but this will make for a fun angle for this week’s tasting. Look for rich notes of creamy lees characteristics, minerals, lemon pith and zippy citrus fruit. A really interesting bottle for any Chablis fan.
PATRICK PIUZE, CHABLIS ‘DECOUVERTÉ’ 2018
$119 per bottle from Byward Wine Market, or $114.99 x3 from Lifford Wines
In my humble opinion, there’s not much more badass than a magnum of good Chablis. I bring these camping along with a case of oysters, or when I go to dinner parties, or BBQ’s, or…well you get the idea. And this is a nice one for the price too. It comes from a single vineyard right next to the Premier Cru of ‘Vaulorent’, on the north facing side of the Grand Cru hill ‘Des Couverts’. The vineyard lies in a cooler microclimate and is typically the last wine to be harvested, retaining a racey acidity that makes for an almost electric minerality.
ZOOM TASTING
As we’ve been doing each Saturday since New Year’s, I’ll be hosting another free Zoom tasting all about these wines. To participate, all you need to do is pick up any of these wines, either by the case from Lifford or by the bottle from either Byward Wine Market or Pan Chancho and send me a quick email that you want to join. Then we’ll send you the link on Saturday!
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The Byward Wine Market is fully open for in person shopping, as well as online orders offering curbside pickup or local delivery within Ottawa. And just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday case deliveries is Wednesday at 9:00am. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on Instagram for daily wine content at @bywardwinemarket and @capitalwine.ottawa!