Tag: christophe

ANOTHER RISING STAR IN CHABLIS

We’ll start with what is essentially the importer’s notes. Sebastien Christophe is a budding superstar from Chablis but is the ultimate underdog. While known for its stolid rigidity, France’s wine culture still allows for a lot of mobility. That’s how a young kid gifted just a couple of acres of average vineyard land in Chablis could rise up seemingly out of nowhere to make brilliant wine from the three most heralded Premier Crus in the region. That happened because he was also gifted with a good bit of moxie and a cranking work ethic, which will you get far anywhere.

What makes Sebastien’s wines so great? Well, as is the case in Chablis, it’s not the winemaking, which is pretty standard for the region, as the goal here is never to showcase cellar prowess, but rather the nature of the vineyard itself. Sebastien vinifies and ages wine overwhelmingly in stainless steel, as is the general practice of the region. Less than 10% of the wines see cellar aging in neutral oak barrels, providing a little textural and structural contrast to the bristly energy of stainless steel.
He started with a small half hectare parcel of Petit Chablis from his family and made a run for it. After winemaking school he started to vinify this tiny parcel and has slowly acquired small parcels of village vineyards and a lot of Petit Chablis land. He also rents parcels that he farms entirely himself. Today, he has three premier crus on the right bank of the Serein river, Fourchaume, Mont de Milieu and Montée de Tonnerre. Except for the wines designated for Paris hotspots, almost all of his wines are exported.

Chablis itself is a place that is changing. Obviously the soils and exposures remain the same. But the warming climate and consequential erratic weather have had impact. There have been unpredictable frosts that have devastated some harvest. Plus the heat can have a negative effect on acidity. But there are some plusses. You don’t get searing acidity as much these days. The problem is actually maintaining adequate acidity to support the fruit and keep the mineral laced, brisk backbone that is an important part of the region’s identity. The best winemakers like Sebastien know what to do, and Mont de Milieu is a vineyard has many faces stylistically depending on the producer, but is a perfect ‘centrist’ for today’s Chablis.

The grapes are picked by hand, pressed, settled in tank overnight, then racked off the heavy sediments after one day before beginning its low temperature fermentation. The spontaneous wild yeast fermentation lasts between 1-2 months and takes place in stainless steel (80%) and the remainder in 228-liter oak barrels (new, 1-, 2- and 3-year-old, the total new wood is approximately 7%). Battonage (lees stirring) is sometimes made, but only in the steel tanks and the frequency depends on the vintage—warm years nothing and in colder ones no more than two times.

This Christophe Chablis Mont de Milieu 2021 shows the perfect combination of the more tender fruit of these warmer times but with perfectly proportioned minerality and acidity to stay true to its origins. Apple, apricot, and lime alongside chalky minerality and some salinity, it is clean and insistent but with just the right volume. It is for Chablis drinkers to enjoy and not designed to overpower. In other words, perfectly engaging. None of the media has caught up to this vintage as yet (many are several vintages behind with this producer) so there is nothing else to add to our own enthusiastic recommendation. Well priced for the performance and pedigree.

THE NEXT CHABLIS SUPERSTAR: SEBASTIEN CHRISTOPHE

Chablis is an interesting place.  The yellow soils are unlike anything we have seen anywhere else in the wine world.  Yet for as uniform as the surface area appears, there is a great variation to the various elements of terroir and how it manifests in the hands of a broad array of producers.  While people speak of the flinty aspects imparted by the Kimmeridgian and Portlandian soils, great Chablis is more than ‘how do you like your rocks’.

Some examples lean more chalky, some more like seashell in this ancient marine area, and a lot of producers can be successful by simply playing that aspect of the terroir.  But the real differentiating factor is how the fruit plays.  It is remarkable how specific the profiles of the various Crus play out, with Les Clos having a more floral and peachy undercurrent to Grenouille with its extremely flinty, more savory profile.  We love quality Chablis in  virtually any form, but there is a particular profile that is perhaps our favorite.

We picked up on a certain aspect of fruit, for lack of a better description, sour apple, back when we were exploring a new label we were quite excited with back in the early 90s called Raveneau.  We saw a certain expression of that same apple and flint combination woven through the wines of Tomas Pico’s Pattes Loup.   We see that again as a backdrop to the wines of the still relatively unknown Sebastien Christophe.

This guy isn’t in town but on the outskirts.  His first property was a tiny parcel in Petit Chablis.  But it has been clear from the first taste that this vigneron has special skills.  His domain has expanded via rental and purchase, but if you make your bones with Petit Chablis and Chablis Villages, it may be a while before fame hits you.  This guy is destined to be a force, but we are more than happy to quietly enjoy his appley, stony, bright, precise and reasonably fleshy Chablis at normal prices while the rest of the world figures it out.

The Christophe et Fils Chablis Village 2017 is not only beautifully made but reflects the specifics of a singular spot.  The wine exhibits serious endowment of talented vineyards as most face the Grand Cru Blanchots and sit just behind the great 1er Cru Montee de Tonnerre.  The soils are almost purely Kimmeridgian stones that are unusually brittle and sharp.  It is a deeply savory and fully ripe wine that shows the greatest degree of what a Chablis “village” wine can accomplish.

In other words this does not show like an entry level Chablis, with a surprising density to the fruit that sits on top of perfectly proportioned acidity.  It is of an unexpected quality and purity for ‘villages’ level and can play with Premier Cru efforts from other producers.  We have been early to the table with a number of exceptional Chablis producers over the years, and we think this is one of those times.  For under $30, it’s a find and one that has found its way into our own drinking rotation.