The Grand Crus Of Chablis with its vineyards

The

Chablis Chablis () is a town and commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. It lies in the valley of the River Serein. Wine The village of Chablis gives its name to one of the most famous French white wines ...

region of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

is classified according to four tiers of ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'' (AOC) designation. The top two are the crus of Chablis and include the 7

Grand cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The ...

vineyards followed by the lower Premier crus. Wines made entirely from fruit from these vineyards are entitled to list their wines as ''cru classé'' Chablis on the

wine label Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Certain information is ordinarily inclu ...

. Below these tiers are the lower designations of basic

Chablis AOC Chablis () is a town and commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. It lies in the valley of the River Serein. Wine The village of Chablis gives its name to one of the most famous French white wine ...

and

Petit Chablis Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type *Petit four * Petit Gâteau *P ...

. Soil quality and hill slope play a major role in delineating the differences. Many of the Premier Crus, and all the Grand Crus vineyards, are planted along valley of the

Serein The Serein () is a river of eastern France. It is the main waterway of the Chablis wine district in Burgundy. It is long. The Serein is not navigable. Origin of the name ''Serein'' is the French word for "serene". This may reflect the placid na ...

river as it flows into the

Yonne Yonne () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight constituent departments, it is lo ...

with the best sites located on a southwest facing slope that receives the maximum amount of sun exposure. All of Chablis' Grand Cru vineyards and many of their better Premier Cru vineyards are planted on primarily Kimmeridgean soil (a composition of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and tiny

fossilized A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

shells) which is believed to impart more finesse and structure to the wines. Other areas, particularly the vast majority of Petit Chablis vineyards, are planted on slightly younger

Portlandian The Portland Group (defining the Portlandian) is a Late Jurassic ( Tithonian) lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in South East England. The name is derived from the Isle of Portland in Dorset where the strata are exposed and ...

soil.

Grand Cru vineyards

There is one Grand Cru in Chablis with seven officially delineated Grand Cru climats, covering an area of 247 acres (100 hectares), all located on one southwest facing hill overlooking the town of

. There is one vineyard, La Moutonne, located on this hill between the Grand Cru vineyards of Les Preuses and Vaudésir that is considered an "unofficial" Grand Cru and it will appear on

s. However, the ''

Institut National des Appellations d'Origine An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

'' (INAO) does not recognize La Moutonne as a Grand Cru. Chablis Grand Cru vineyards

*Les Preuses *Vaudésir *Grenouilles *Valmur *Les Clos *Blanchot *Bougros *(unofficial) La Moutonne

Premier Crus

At the turn of the 21st century, there were 40 Premier cru vineyards in Chablis. In 2009, the official list was expanded to 89 vineyards.CAHIER DES CHARGES DES APPELLATIONS D'ORIGINE CONTRÔLEES "PETIT CHABLIS", "CHABLIS", "CHABLIS GRAND CRU"
/ref> The names of many of these vineyards do not appear on wine labels because of an INAO allowance that permits the use of "umbrella names" - where smaller, lesser known vineyards are allowed to use the name of a nearby more famous Premier cru vineyard. Seventeen of the most well known "umbrella" vineyards are bolded below. Chablis premier cru

*Mont de Milieu - Vallée de Chigot *Montée de Tonnerre - Chapelot, Les Chapelots, Pied d’Aloup, Sous Pied d’Aloup, Côte de Bréchain *Fourchaume - Vaupulent, Vau Pulan, Les Vaupulans, La Fourchaume, Côte de Fontenay, Dine-Chien, L’Homme Mort, La Grande Côte, Bois Seguin, L’Ardillier, Vaulorent, Les Quatre Chemins, La Ferme Couverte, Les Couvertes *Vaillons - Sur les Vaillons, Chatains, Les Grands Chaumes, Les Chatains, Sécher, Beugnons, Les Beugnons, Les Lys, Champlain, Mélinots, Les Minos, Roncières, Les Epinottes *Montmains - Les Monts Mains, Forêts, Les Forêts, Butteaux, Les Bouts des Butteaux, Vaux Miolot, Le Milieu des Butteaux, Les Ecueillis, Vaugerlains *Côte de Léchet - Le Château *Beauroy - Sous Boroy, Vallée des Vaux, Benfer, Troësmes, Côte de Troësmes, Adroit de Vau Renard, Côte de Savant, Le Cotat-Château, Frouquelin, Le Verger *Vauligneau - Vau de Longue, Vau Girault, La Forêt, Sur la Forêt *Vaudevey - La Grande Chaume, Vaux Ragons, Vignes des Vaux Ragons *Vaucoupin - Adroit de Vaucopins *Vosgros - Adroit de Vosgros, Vaugiraut *Les Fourneaux - Morein, Côte des Près Girots, La Côte, Sur la Côte *Côte de Vaubarousse *Berdiot *Chaume de Talvat *Côte de Jouan *Les Beauregards - Hauts des Chambres du Roi, Côte de Cuissy, Les Corvées, Bec d'Oiseau, Vallée de Cuissy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chablis Crus, List of Wine regions of France Burgundy (historical region) AOCs Wine-related lists

Grand Cru vineyards

Premier Crus

See also

References