A wet and windy good morning to you all,
 
Simon’s Wine of the Week is Petit Chablis J. Moreau
 
This week’s Wine of the Week is an absolute all-time classic of the wine world, Chablis. Found in the finest of white tablecloth dining, to the localist of locals, it’s a wine that has graced wine lists up and down the country. So why have I chosen a wine that’s so well-known when Wine of the Week is meant to be expanding your vinous horizons? Well, I tasted this with a new customer last week and I was absolutely blown away. Because this isn’t your standard Chablis,  this is a Petit Chablis. A little Chablis. A lesser Chablis. And it really shouldn’t be this good!
 
So, let’s talk about Chablis first. There are three main facts you need to about the region:
 
It is made of Chardonnay. For some reason people get confused about this. “Chablis? Made of Chardonnay? But it doesn’t taste like Chardonnay. It’s not tropical, oaky, or cloying like those Chardonnay from the early nineties! How can Chablis be made of Chardonnay?” Well, it is. And the main reason it tastes like it does and isn’t a tropical fruit bomb is because of where it is grown. Which brings us to fact number two:
Chablis is one of the Northernmost wine growing regions of France. This means that the grapes are grown in a cool climate. And when Chardonnay is grown in a cool climate you get a lean, steely, crisp wine with lemon, green apple and mineral notes, a hundred miles away from the tropical style Chardonnay you remember.

Chablis has a very strict hierarchy of wines. There are four tiers:
 
Chablis - standard Chablis is wine made from generic vineyards on Kimmeridgian soil. This soil is very important, and, if you grew up in Dorset like me, you’ll know that it is named after the village of Kimmeridge on the Jurassic Coast. There is a lot of Chablis made.
Premier Cru Chablis - These vineyards tend to be facing more towards the sun and have more limestone marl soil. They tend to be a little bit fuller and richer than standard Chablis and are more expensive.
Grand Cru Chablis – The pinnacle of Chablis. A single slope of southwest facing vineyards with perfect clay marl soils that allow the grapes to ripen perfectly. These wines are a lot richer, can be oaked and always need time in the bottle to develop. Very expensive! I once was lucky enough to drink Grand Cru La Moutonne sat in the Grand Cru vineyard with the winemaker. I recommend it.
Petit Chablis – down at the bottom of the pile we have Petit Chablis. Grown on sites with less sun and on Portlandian soils (yep, named after Portland in Dorset). These wines tend to be much lighter, more austere, and cheaper.
 
Now I’ve had some pretty ropey Petit Chablis in the past. Wines that are so acidic they strip the enamel off your teeth. That are so light that you could almost be drinking water with a bit of lemon juice added. So, imagine my utter surprise when I tasted this last week and was shocked. Properly shocked by how good it was. One of the reasons these wines are suddenly getting better and better is the effect of climate change. The vineyards are getting warmer so the grapes on these lesser sites are getting riper. Whilst on paper this may look like a good thing for Chablis, freak weather events brought on by climate change are wreaking havoc at the same time. Late frosts in 2021 devastated the crop and across the region yields were down 80%. That’s a lot less wine.
 
So, to the tasting note. In the glass it is a lovely pale green/gold colour. The nose is surprisingly intense with distinct cream and butter notes overlaying lemon, green apple, wet slate, and pear. The palate is again surprisingly intense with more cream and butter notes on top of more classic apple, citrus and mineral. I really enjoyed this wine and will definitely be getting some for myself.
 
The ‘Petit’ bit may put some people off, but this wine would grace any wine list; as the top wine of a local pub, or a mid-range of a good restaurant or gastropub.
 
Have a great week,
 
Simon