2020 Moreau-Naudet Chablis 1er Cru Forêts
WINEMAKER: Virginie Moreau-Naudet
REGION: Burgundy, FR
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
Stéphane Moreau used to call Forêts “...one of the greatest terroirs of Chablis.” It’s a historical sub-plot within the 1er Cru Montmains, located high up the slope and facing southeast. It can certainly produce Chablis of the highest order, as both Dauvissat and Moreau have shown many times (Raveneau also has a small parcel). Moreau farms two plots of vines here, with a total area of just under two hectares. The first plot is alongside the vineyard of Vincent Dauvissat, and the vines are the same age at approximately 60 years. The second (with 25-year-old vines) sits next to the Raveneau parcel. As with all the 1er Cru wines (apart from Montmains), the wine was aged and fermented in both steel tank and used barrels (30%) of various sizes. The maturation now extends to two years. The flavours of the 2020 suggest fresh lemon, mandarin and saffron and the palate closes with terrific freshness and tension and a twist of phenolic bite. It needs a good five years to unpack, yet in terms of sheer deliciousness, it’s already firing on all cylinders.
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.