2020 Moreau-Naudet Chablis
WINEMAKER: Virginie Moreau-Naudet
REGION: Burgundy, FR
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
Moreau's Villages wine is drawn from 20- to 30-year-old vineyards in Préhy and Courgis, in the south of Chablis. The fruit is subject to a very gentle four-hour press, and the juice is fermented with natural yeasts (a rarity in Chablis). Like the Petit Chablis, this is raised mostly in tank--it's not until the Vieilles Vignes level and above that Moreau utilises (older) barrels in significant percentages. Even here though, the élevage was unhurried. This spent 20 months on lees--considerably longer than the vast majority of Chablis at this level.
These traditional methods--along with hand-harvesting, the quality of the terroir, low yields (circa 35 hl/ha) and the full ripeness levels at which the fruit was harvested--help to explain the fabulous texture, depth and quality that is on offer. It's a much more restrained and mineral expression than the Petit, and offers plenty of class. Expect waves of white nectarine, jasmine and verbena fruit, good texture, excellent sappy drive and a long and powdery, juicy, rocky close.
The late Stéphane Moreau was a devotee of Vincent Dauvissat, Didier Dagueneau (who helped him design his idiosyncratic labels), and Nadi Foucault (Clos Rougeard) and offered us basically everything we searched for in quality growers of white Burgundy, starting with a remarkable patrimony of old vines (many parcels 50+ years) in superb terroirs (including Forêts!). Here was a talent that had turned his family Domaine around by reintroducing the old, pre-industrial growing methods to make something truly distinctive and extraordinary.
These are not your brittle, simple ‘Chablis-by-numbers’ wines where acidity is often confused as minerality. Here, the style is borne by low yields and ripe fruit and that crunchy, citric, acid tang of generic Chablis finds itself replaced by an intense, mineral freshness interwoven through pulpy and sexy fruit. We recognise the personality of these wines. We see it in all of the finest, artisanal Burgundy. This makes sense – Moreau’s methods–which include ploughing, organic viticulture, hand harvesting, whole berry pressing, natural yeast fermentation, natural settling and long, slow élevage in large oak–sound identical to the best growers of the Côte de Beaune. Low sulphur is another key to understanding the wines. It’s all very un-Chablis.