2021 Domaine Moreau-Naudet Chablis Grand Cru "Valmur", Burgundy, France
ABOUT THIS WINE
The Valmur vineyard covers around 12 hectares in total and forms a small valley in the heart of the Grand Cru slope. It’s wedged between Vaudésir and Grenouilles on its left and Les Clos on its right. An extreme mesoclimate, Valmur gets very cold in winter and hotter than average in summer. It’s a site that lends itself to authoritative and intense wines of serious depth and power.
The domaine farms a 0.6-hectare parcel (worked by horse) that was planted in 1978. Situated next-door to the vines of Raveneau, Moreau’s plot is a cooler, shaded site that takes time to warm up. Combined with the steepness of the slope, this leads to the wine’s strong mineral, saline imprint, which shines through the depth and texture. Again, Moreau harvested a tiny crop this year—the vines suffered a little from the summer drought—and the wine was vinified without any oak, in three stainless steel ‘barrels’.
ABOUT THIS PRODUCER
Virginie (Mimi) Moreau is proving more than equal to the task of taking over from her husband Stéphane. Stéphane, who was influenced by Vincent Dauvissat (who recommended him to us many years ago, and who remains an influence here) was a vigneron whose star burned very brightly, and the domaine continues along the lines he set, working organically, hand-picking, aiming for optimum maturity while avoiding any botrytis influence.
The cellar-work is also masterful, using 30% barrel-élevage for all the Premier and the Grand Cru, but not in such a way that oakiness can readily be detected in the wines (all the barrels are steamed rather than charred and there is no new oak except for in the straight Chablis, and then only one barrel per 100hl in order to age it prior to using for the Premiers Crus).
Virginie is now really totally confident in her role here, and the wines here, full of racy character, textural depth and complexity, seem to be better with every vintage.
Details:
| Grape(s) | Chardonnay |
| Farming | Organic |