Domaine Vrignaud Chablis 2014
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Blend: 100% Chardonnay
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Wine & Spirits
Guillaume Vrignaud makes this wine from five parcels of his family’s domaine, which earned organic certification in 2013. The 25.6 acres of vines that contribute to this blend average 27 years old, their fruit fermented in stainless steel, producing a wine of blinding white limestone that seems to extend to the horizon in all directions. Underneath, there’s fierce mineral acidity, compressed flavors of yellow herbs, scents of linden and acacia. It’s tense, a powerful force of herbal chardonnay greenness that stores all the wine’s future complexity. Decant it this summer for a clambake, and be sure to cellar some for enjoyment in the years to come.
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Wine Spectator
A stony, minerally undertow marks this steely Chablis, with lemon, apple and earth flavors chiming in to lend overall harmony. The long finish shows notes of oyster and fresh-squeezed lemon. Drink now through 2020.
Other Vintages
2015-
Wilfred
Wong
Domaine Vrignaud's mission is to produce traditional Chablis that is illustrative of the terroir and crafted with as little intervention as possible—a departure from the more common industrial farming practices in the area. They firmly believe in respecting tradition and keeping an eye toward the future, not blindly using technology and chemicals. For Domaine Vrignaud this winegrowing and winemaking approach means understanding heritage, knowing every inch of one’s land and caring for it with an organic approach in order to preserve it for the future. The winery is Ecocert certified organic and they haven’t used fertilizers or any chemicals in 18 years.
Domaine Vrignaud, overseen by current proprietor, Giullaume Vrignaud, consists of 60 acres of vineyards which are situated in and around the village of Fontenay-près-Chablis. The Vrignaud family have been winegrowers for five generations in Chablis and while the oldest vines on the domaine were planted in 1955.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The source of the most racy, light and tactile, yet uniquely complex Chardonnay, Chablis, while considered part of Burgundy, actually reaches far past the most northern stretch of the Côte d’Or proper. Its vineyards cover hillsides surrounding the small village of Chablis about 100 miles north of Dijon, making it actually closer to Champagne than to Burgundy. Champagne and Chablis have a unique soil type in common called Kimmeridgian, which isn’t found anywhere else in the world except southern England. A 180 million year-old geologic formation of decomposed clay and limestone, containing tiny fossilized oyster shells, spans from the Dorset village of Kimmeridge in southern England all the way down through Champagne, and to the soils of Chablis. This soil type produces wines full of structure, austerity, minerality, salinity and finesse.
Chablis Grands Crus vineyards are all located at ideal elevations and exposition on the acclaimed Kimmeridgian soil, an ancient clay-limestone soil that lends intensity and finesse to its wines. The vineyards outside of Grands Crus are Premiers Crus, and outlying from those is Petit Chablis. Chablis Grand Cru, as well as most Premier Cru Chablis, can age for many years.