Jean-Paul Droin Valmur Chablis Grand Cru 1997

Father Jean–Paul and son Benoît Droin can trace their family roots as vineyard owners back to the early 17th century. Through succeeding generations they have managed to acquire a little over 26 hectares of vineyards with extensive holdings in Premier and Grand Cru sites. Their best sites and oldest wines are still harvested by hand while many of their neighbors have replaced their old vines so they could machine harvest. In 1999 Benoît began plowing his vineyard to help revitalize the microbial life in the soils and at the same time he also began to prune his vines differently to decrease yields and reduce the disease pressures in this famously inclement appellation. Harvest are conducted early – just as the grapes reach ripeness so as to preserve the natural acidity in the final wines. The new cellar, built on the edge of the sleepy village of Chablis in 1999, see a mix of modern and traditional winemaking techniques where both stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels are used to make the wines. Fermentations are conducted, after a gentle pneumatic pressing, in stainless steel tanks by natural yeasts. Most of the barrels are used with only small percentages of new barrels introduced each year, primarily for the Grand Cru wines.