Albert Bichot Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru “Bougros”

Domaine Long-Depaquit — the ~65-hectare Chablis estate at the heart of Albert Bichot's six-winery structure — holds 10 hectares of Grand Cru, farmed organically since the 2018 vintage. Bougros occupies the westernmost and steepest flank of the Grand Cru slope, where Kimmeridgian limestone-clay soils (the same Jurassic seabed strata that define Chablis' saline, oyster-shell character) sit at higher elevation than the central lieux-dits, generating a more austere, tension-driven expression than Valmur or Les Clos. Grapes are handpicked, then barrel-fermented in used French oak — the house deliberately scales new-oak percentage to appellation weight, keeping Grand Cru Chablis in predominantly used wood to let Kimmeridgian minerality speak rather than vanish under toast. Aging runs 11–16 months with gravity racking throughout, and the estate's non-interventionist philosophy means no corrective additions to mask the site's natural austerity. What sets this apart: Long-Depaquit is one of the very few Chablis Grand Cru proprietors to vinify entirely on-site in Chablis rather than trucking fruit to a centralised Beaune facility — a structural decision that preserves the cold-cellar micro-oxidation specific to the Serein valley. The 2022 vintage's hot, dry summer produced full-bodied, aromatic whites with early approachability, yet the Bougros site's elevation and clay retention provide enough structure for medium-term development through 2030–2034.