Joseph Drouhin Chablis Vaudesir Grand Cru 2023

Founded in Beaune in 1880, Joseph Drouhin farms across Burgundy and holds a cellar at the Moulin de Vaudon in Chablis. Vaudesir is one of the seven Grand Cru climats, set on the steep, south-facing slope above the town. The soils are Kimmeridgian, a chalky clay-limestone packed with fossilised oyster shells that gives Chablis its saline minerality and drives the depth found only at Grand Cru level. The vines are farmed biodynamically, and the wine is aged for twelve months in French oak. That barrel ageing, along with lees contact and the malolactic conversion of sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid, rounds the wine and layers in a creamy, nutty complexity without masking the underlying stone. The colour is bright gold. The nose combines lemon and white peach with oak spice, hazelnut and toasted bread. The palate is broad and concentrated, the ripe citrus and orchard fruit carried on a taut mineral line, with honey and a salty, chalky grip on a long finish. Serve at 12 to 14 degrees in a large glass.