Vaudon Chablis

Joseph Drouhin's Chablis operation is anchored at the Moulin de Vaudon, an 18th-century watermill estate commanding roughly 40 hectares in the Chablis appellation — a deliberate geographic commitment that separates this cuvée from négociant blends assembled at arm's length. The Kimmeridgian limestone and clay soils of Chablis, cooler and more northerly than the Côte de Beaune, drive the piercing, saline mineral tension that defines the appellation's identity. The 2022 growing season was hot and dry across Burgundy, yet Chablis' continental latitude and the appellation's characteristically low-pH soils preserved acidity, yielding whites that carry phenolic ripeness without sacrificing the chalky backbone the terroir demands. In the cellar, 100% Chardonnay undergoes slow pneumatic pressing with free-run juice separated from press fractions; alcoholic and malolactic fermentation proceed in French high-forest oak barrels with indigenous yeasts, followed by light bâtonnage during élevage and 10–25% new oak (seasoned approximately three years before coopering). What sets Drouhin apart in Chablis is the same biodynamic farming discipline — horse-ploughed soils, cover crops, ECOCERT-certified since 2009 — applied across all 100 hectares of the Burgundy estate, including these northern holdings. The 2022 delivers ripe stone fruit framed by chalk-driven tension; drink now through 2028.