Petit Chablis • Chablis • Chablis 1ER Cru • Chablis grand Cru • Château g renouilles PETIT CHABLIS CHABLIS CHABLIS 1ER CRU GRAND CRU Vibrant Grande Cuvée Bougros SINCE 1923 AT CHABLIS IN BURGUNDY, THE METICULOUS CARE OF THE Pas si Petit Beauroy Blanchot VINE-GROWERS WORKING TOGETHER UNDER THE BANNER OF LA Dame Nature (organic wine) Côte de Léchet Les Clos CHABLISIENNE HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO WINES WHOSE MAGNIFICENCE Fourchaume Les Preuses IS AMPLIFIED BY THE PASSAGE OF TIME. CHABLIS Les Fourneaux Valmur Les Lys Vaudésir Le Finage L’Homme Mort La Pierrelée Mont de Milieu CHÂTEAU La Sereine Montée de Tonnerre GRENOUILLES Les Vénérables Montmains GRAND CRU Dame Nature (organic wine) Vaillons Vaulorent Vaucoupin lA chABlisienne, since 1923 The story began back in 1923. Under the leadership of Abbé Balitrand, a number of winemakers decided to join forces to better withstand the economic diffi culties of the time. Together, in the heart of the Chablis vineyard in Burgundy, they created a cooperative winery to market their wines. Until the mid 1950s, the members of the cooperative delivered their production to La Chablisienne, which was then responsible for creating the assemblages and for sales, mainly to wholesalers. However, La Chablisienne wanted to go much further and create a style of its own. So it was decided that the harvest would be delivered in the form of must, a particularity that has become the trademark of the house and gives it total control over the winemaking processes. There is a constant exchange of information between the winegrowers and the technicians, linking the quality of the must to the parcels that produced the grapes and ensuring the best possible technical guidance. La Chablisienne, in true pioneer spirit, has never ceased to confront a wide range of challenges in areas as diverse as winegrowing and winemaking, human resources and marketing. It is the meticulous work of all those involved that creates wines which constantly improve with the passage of time. -3- hAlF-wAY BeTween pAris And BeAune, chABlis is The golden gATewAY To The wines oF BurgundY. The 5,500 hecTAre vineYArd lies on BoTh BAnks oF The river serein And includes neArlY TwenTY villAges. The vineYArd The Chablis vineyard is one of the oldest in France. Over time, the exceptional reputation of its white wines, produced from Chardonnay grapes, has spread to all four corners of the world. Lying on both banks of the River Serein, the vines of the appellation encompass seventeen villages. The unique character of the wines originates in the predominantly ‘Kimmeridgian’ soil, its sediments mainly composed of large quantities of small fossilised oysters called ostrea virgula. This exceptional soil, which is found in only a few other places throughout the world, gives the terroir its minerality, fi nesse, and incomparable crystalline tonality. -5- THE CHABLIS VINEYARD ST-FLORENTIN Le Serein LIGNY-LE-CHÂTEL MALIGNY VILLY LIGNORELLES L'Homme Mort LA CHAPELLE- VAUPELTEIGNE FONTENAY- PRÈS-CHABLIS COLLAN Fourchaume RAMEAU Berdiot Vaulorent Côte de TONNERRE La colline des Vaubarousse BeauroyPOINCHY grands crus FYÉ L e Sere BEINE in Montée-de- Les Fourneaux Tonnerre CHABLIS Mont- de-Milieu PARIS MILLY FLEYS Côte de Léchet Les Lys AUXERRE VIVIERS Vau de Vey Vau Ligneau Vaucoupin Vaillons BÉRU Vosgros CHICHÉE Montmains CHEMILLY- Côte de Jouan SUR-SEREIN COURGIS POILLY-SUR-SEREIN Le Serein Les Beauregards PREHY NORD 0 1 km LYON LES PREUSES VAUDÉSIR BOUGROS CHÂTEAU GRENOUILLES VALMUR CHÂTEAU GRENOUILLES BLANCHOT CHABLIS GRAND CRU LES CLOS CHABLIS PREMIER CRU CHABLIS PETIT CHABLIS THE CHABLIS GRANDS CRUS Chablis A single, unique grape variety, Chardonnay The extraordinary renown of the Chablis wines comes from their unique grape variety: Chardonnay. And it is in Burgundy, its birthplace, where over the centuries its quality has become synonymous with the most flamboyant wines. In the Serein Valley, on the Chablis hillsides, it has developed a perfect harmony with its terroir over the years. A harmony originally imagined by the monks of Cîteaux who founded the Pontigny Abbey back in the 12th century and introduced the ancestor of today’s Chardonnay vines. The work of these monks is essential in understanding the wine of today. The lengthy selection of the best terroirs, harvest after harvest, isolating and propagating the best plants, perfecting the most appropriate winegrowing methods and experimenting with different winemaking techniques; such was the immeasurable contribution made by monastic viticulture in Burgundy. And this is exactly what we find today in La Chablisienne. Our terroir The Chablisienne terroirs mirror those of the Chablis vineyard. Predominantly Kimmeridgian, with alternating marls and marl limestone with deposits of small oyster shells, they endow the Chablisienne wines with a great personality, stamped with their characteristic minerality. Precisely located and delimited, each terroir produces unique wines, each with its own character and capacity to evolve and develop. The Petits Chablis are perfect after one to three years, Chablis needs between two and five years according to the cuvée. The Chablis Premiers Crus and the Chablis Grands Crus are wines with real ageing potential, needing five to ten years. The aspect of each parcel is of major importance in defining how each ‘climat’ (a specific parcel within a vineyard) expresses itself. -7- A legendary wine, a rare wine, a mineral wine, Chablis is above all a great wine inspired by its terroir and by its winegrowers -9- The Chablisienne is working to encourage its producers to move to sustainable methods of production. Working the soil is a priority, as is the plant itself, its selection and quality, and the way it is observed, attentively and meticulously, throughout each season. Together these actions culminate in the choice of an optimal harvest date, parcel by parcel. Harvest, the most emblematic time for our profession. An important step in the life of the cooperative and one which is awaited with great impatience every year. Heavily symbolic, it enables an initial assessment of the future cuvées. The wine harvest at La Chablisienne refl ects a moment of sharing, where solidarity and team-spirit are at the heart of each intense day. Everyone makes their own contribution, leading the grape along the road to success. Even at this early stage, the expert eye has no diffi culty in discerning the future vintages. The meticulous care taken by the winegrowers as a whole, all year long, marks the Chablisienne wines with their very unique stamp. -11- ERat AUTEM DIRitatis EIUS HOC QUOQUE INDICIUM NEC OBSCURUM NEC lateNS, QUOD LUDICRIS CRUENTIS DelectabatU ET IN CIRCO SEX VEL SEPTEM ALIQUOTIENS VETITIS CERta- MINIBUS winemAking The winemaking process is the essential step to revealing the full richness and complexity of the Chablis terroirs. After the harvest, comes the pressing, carried out by the member winegrowers. It is carried out as near as possible to the vines themselves to guarantee the optimal quality of the musts. La Chablisienne then takes over, carrying out the racking and the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. We have the best equipment, ensuring that every nuance and all the depth of the Chablis wines are preserved and revealed. The fermentation and the maturing take place either in thermoregulated stainless steel vats or in 228 litre oak barrels for our selected growths. -13- The rAnge We produce approximately thirty different cuvées for the appellation as a whole, each with its own great personality: seven Grands Crus, thirteen Premiers Crus, Chablis and Petits Chablis and the famous Château Grenouilles, a legendary Chablis wine. -15- PETIT CHABLIS This appellation is at the base of the Chablis wine hierarchy. Grown on the plateaux, in a Portlandian clay and limestone soil, the Petits Chablis are lively wines when young, with the aromas of white fleshed fruit. Two or three years after the harvest, they can prove to be mineral and subtly iodized. A key which can be precious in helping enthusiasts unlock the world of Chablis. CHABLIS The Chablis appellation is the largest of the Chablisian vineyards. Growing on the hillsides on both sides of the River Serein, in the famous Kimmeridgian soil, the Chablis wines are the expression of a terroir which combines freshness, minerality, finesse and complexity. Each cuvée is different, some can be enjoyed young, for their thirst-quenching freshness, certain specific cuvées are aged for three to eight years, and are characterised by greater complexity, minerality and are more richly aromatic. premier cru grAnd cru Produced from different terroirs, situated on The Chablis Grands Crus are known by wine the right-hand or left-hand banks of the enthusiasts the world over as the kings Serein, the Chablis Premiers Crus enable you of the appellation. Located solely on the to discover and better understand the great right-hand bank of the Serein, they are Kimmeridgian terroirs of Chablis. Produced on grown on a total of 103 hectares, with a vines planted predominantly on well-exposed predominantly south-west exposure, for south-west and south-east facing slopes, all terroirs. The Chablis Grands Crus are each wine is unique with its own individual complete wines, with strong personality, personality. As a result certain Premiers Crus and never cease improving with age. These are delicate and mineral, such as Montée de nectars with their elegant colour and strong Tonnerre or Côte de Léchet, others are softer nose are particularly racy on the palate, and more fruity such as Beauroy or floral and offering a gloriously long finish and a fleshy such as Fourchaume. They reach their remarkable keeping potential. plenitude six to eight years after harvest. -17- ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WERE SEVEN GRANDS CRUS AND ONE CHÂTEAU. LOcateD at THE FOOT OF THE GRENOUILLES HILLSIDE, IN THE HEART OF THE GRANDS CRUS, THE CHÂTEAU GRENOUILLES estate IS AN EXCEPTIONAL PROPERTY AND UNIQUE TO CHABLIS.