Cut Chablis a Break?

Filed in archive French Wines on May 16, 2007

So, what are your thoughts on Chablis? My first is ick, but probably because I just don't know any better. For years when I worked as a server (aka waitress) while going to college, I served many a glass of Chablis, usually to women, who all had to have their own glass. Get a carafe? Oh, no! So, I'd have to haul twelve glass of the same wine, which I had just poured out of one of those screw cap jugs, to the same darn table. And, of course, I also had to haul twelve glass of water too.

I may have been a lowly server to these women, but I knew enough to know that I didn't want to drink that crap. So, that's pretty much my Chablis experience, very limited, and all wrong according to this article, Chablis gets shabby treatment from connoisseurs:

It's important to realize one thing: French Chablis is nothing like California "chablis" or, in many cases, california chardonnay.

The wine has a commendable austerity, a crispness and a signature minerality. Even the higher-quality Chablis, sometimes aged for a time in oak, still don't seem to have the over-the-top quality so many oaked chardonnays can have.

Chablis comes from northern Burgundy, from the land around the town of Chablis. There are four quality-based appellations. In ascending order of quality, and often price, they are: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru. "Regular" Chablis makes up much of the production, according to The New Wine Lover's Companion. There are 40 vineyards with premier cru status and seven grand cru vineyards. You can spot that prime acreage easily on the map; the grand crus are located on slopes facing southwest. Geographical orientation is important because the often cool climate can affect the ripening of the grapes.

The distinctive minerality is due to chalky limestone soils.

Chablis can be among the world's best white wines, so why have so many people forgotten Chablis' appeal? Even Nora Horan, a publicist for Joseph Drouhin, the French vintner, conceded that the American consumer has forgotten the "meaning of Chablis." But she insisted that the white can "once again have a place on the tables and in the hearts" of consumers.

Frankly, Chablis still has a way to go.