Bernard Burtschy, David Cobbold, Jean-Pierre Peyroulou

Chablis is one of those wines, like Champagne, that both enjoys and suffers from the fact that its name has become synonymous with a style of wine that is far wider spread than the production of this small northern fragment of the Burgundian mosaic of wine villages.  The word Chablis has become so well-known the world around, that, in some countries, it signifies, for non-initiated wine-drinkers, dry white wine.  Unfortunately, the dark side of the moon in this story is that the bulk of the wines sold abusively under its name have nothing to do with the chardonnay grape grown on the 7000 hectares (around 17 thousand acres) of this northern outpost of Burgundy around the village of Chablis, and near the town of Auxerre.
                                                                                                                                           Chablis, the largest Burgundian area for the production of white wines is separated from the rest of Burgundy by the Morvan hills, and its vineyards are actually closer to the southern parts of Champagne than to the Côte d'Or.

The small town called Chablis, with its 2000 or so inhabitants, is situated between Paris and Dijon.  The vineyard goes back probably to late Roman times, and became extensively developed thanks to the Cistercian order of Benedictine monks during the 12th century.  There are still cellars that date from this period in and around Chablis.

Climate
The climate of Chablis plays a major part in determining the character of its wines, and naturally of their quality from one year to another.    
Semi-continental, it has little maritime influence to   soften its often rigorous winters.  Quantities of wine produced will vary considerably from one year to another, depending on the timing and severity of spring frosts, to which the vineyards are vulnerable between March and May.  Various techniques are used to try to limit their effect.

Although some red wine is produced in the nearby Auxerrois region, red grapes do not ripen well here every year, which is proof enough that we are very much in a cool climate for viticulture.

Vineyard, appellations and geology
The area that is classified within the four Chablis appellations covers around 7000 hectares (17,000 acres), of which over half are currently in production.  The vineyards are classified into four hierarchical levels, each of which corresponds to an appellation: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru, and Chablis Grand Cru.  The last two categories may (and usually do) specify the individual cru concerned.  Unlike the Grands Crus of the Côte dO'r, all 7 Chablis Grands Crus, as well as its 40 Premiers Crus, have their name linked to that of the village of Chablis.

In general geological terms, Chablis is on the edge of the Paris basin, with a limestone-clay mixture over a sub-soil that dates mostly from the Kimmeridgean and Portland years, which are part of the Jurassic age.  Considerable controversy arose during the 70´s over the extension of the vineyard from exclusively Kimmeridgean bedrock areas to cover also Portland bedrock. The 7 Grand Crus, and most of the 40 Premier Crus, are on Kimmeridgean sub-soils, whereas Chablis is mixed, and Petit-Chablis is Portland.

The fact that this issue was resolved was partially due to commercial pressure, but also, it must be said, as people grew to accept that although sub-soil is part of the make-up of a valid "terroir", it is not, by any means, the only factor in finding a suitable meso-climate for producing grapes for making fine wines.  A single white grape variety, Chardonnay, is the only grape authorised for all wines from any level of Chablis.

Styles of wine
The basic style of the wines is determined by the climate and soil combinations, which generally makes for bone-dry, often flinty wines with considerable acidity that can give them great cellaring capacity.  Choices in viticulture and winemaking, as well as specific vintage characteristics, will provide for variations around this theme.  The wines from the better vineyards should regularly provide greater concentration and finesse.  This means that, in theory, there should be a gradual increase in both concentration and finesse as one moves up the rungs of the ladder, from Chablis to Chablis premier Cru, and from Chablis Premier Cru to Chablis Grand Cru.

The use of oak has been a controversial issue in Chablis over recent years, and much experimentation has gone on.  Oak was initially abandoned for stainless steel because the latter is so much easier to use, but also because many producers felt that the style they felt happy with should allow the freshness and subtle flavours of Chablis to express themselves without any mask from oak barrels.  Others have never abandoned the use of oak barrels, either for fermentation or for ageing, or, more rarely, for both.  Nowadays, although there are a few rigid adepts of one or the other techniques, most wine-makers accept that the techniques have to be mixed and matched according to the quality of the grapes.  As a general rule, the use of oak is restricted to the more concentrated wines from Grands or Premiers Crus, although some straight chablis also use partial or total oak ageing, with mixed results as will be shown in our tasting.  Modern wine-making techniques have, notwithstanding the traditionalists' stance, greatly improved overall standards in Chablis, enabling those who use them intelligently to obtain the most from their grapes in terms of fruit flavours, and thereby produce wines that can be drunk with pleasure at an earlier stage.

The 1996 vintage
Although, in each of the three categories of wines that we tasted, the crop was on the average for the past five years, in terms of volume, it was reduced, compared with 1995, by two factors : poor berry set during flowering, and drought during ripening.  This, together with hot summer weather for the area, resulted in small berries and concentrated juice with high levels of acidity and sugars.  The combination of these two has produced some powerfully ripe and aromatic wines that have intense acidity that bodes well for their ageing capacity.

One could say, and this is born out by our tasting, that 1996 was a very fine, classical vintage for Chablis.  Many of the wines show a wonderful combination of ripeness and freshness that give them fabulous balance and will make them perfect candidates for long ageing.

The market for Chablis
More than 60% of Chablis is exported.  The principal markets are the UK, Germany, Japan and Holland.  The USA imports relatively small quantities of Chablis in comparison to the other fine white wines of Burgundy.  The explanation is probably to be found in the abuse of the word "Chablis" by producers of inexpensive white wines in the USA.  Although one could hope, for the sake of producers, that this situation will change, one cannot help fearing that growing demand for these wines from such markets would drive the prices up beyond their reasonable current levels.  Prices have been remarkably stable over the past five years, despite the fact that the increase in exports has been considerable over the same period, to the tune of around 50% in volume terms.

The producers and our tasting
This was a very comprehensive tasting that was carried out semi-blind.  This means that we knew the category of the wine (Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru, or Chablis Grand Cru), and naturally the vintage, but not the producer.  The samples were all tasted, with a few exceptions for late arrivals, on December 22.  As showed in our tasting, a few wines had not been finally bottled at this stage, and therefore allowance has to be made for this, particularly with regard to the colour, if cloudy, and the aromas.  The vast majority are not in this case however.

All categories of producers were represented : co-operative cellars, small growers, large owner-growers who may also have négociant activities, and négociants who may not own vineyards in the Chablis area.  Our point of view is that a wine can only be judged by tasting it, and that any prejudice, for or against a particular category of producer, is absurd.  Our tasting proved this, with the best (and the worst) wines coming from all kinds of categories.

A few star producers, such as Raveneau, did not send samples for our tasting.  Their attitude may be based on the fact that their wines are pre-sold every year, and that extra comments would be superfluous and might simply create additional frustration.  Who knows, as we were not able to taste them?  It must be said, however, that other confirmed stars of the appellation, like Vincent Dauvissat, submitted a complete rage of wines, together with quantities produced and prices, despite the fact that all his wines are also pre-sold.  It so happens that they showed particularly well, proving that his reputation is justified.  The biggest producer of Chablis is the co-operative La Chablisienne, and their range of wines is enormous.  Some of theses were amongst the best we tasted, while others were very moderate.  This underlines the necessity of careful selection within any range.

Average scale of variation for the vintage: 11,5-13,5.