Chablis that punches above its weight
02 November 2020

At J&B, when we look for value while replenishing our own home vinous supplies, our thoughts often turn to Chablis. Burgundy’s northernmost outpost is hard to beat as a source of wines that offer a taste of prime vineyards and artisan winemaking for under £20 per bottle, so long as you know where to look. On the pound for pleasure scale, there are few wines that match those of Moreau Naudet. Far from being run of the mill Chablis, these are wines loaded with texture, fruit and character. We have recently shipped their 2018 Chablis, a wine that punches several divisions above its weight, benefitting as it does from excellent vineyard sites and thoughtful, hands-on viticulture. Emanating from Kimmeridgian clay soils around the prime villages of Prehy and Courgis and aged in tank sur lie for 16 months, this offers a wonderfully fruity and generous expression of the 2018 vintage, but without ever forgetting its Chablisienne origins. Fluid, silky-textured yellow plum, peach, guava and citrus flavours wash calmly across the palate, leaving in their wake a tangier, more saline note of stone and oyster shell. A beautiful, heady marriage of the unctuousness that accompanies ripe vintages and the tempering minerality of classic Chablis.