Winemaker Notes
120 families work the plantings that go to make up these vineyards, perpetuating the techniques of their forefathers. Thanks to the fruit of their labours, the passion for their profession and their deep attachment to the soil, these winegrowers have managed to bring out all the character of their land in their wines.
The growing and harvesting of the grapes is rigorously monitored and controlled. And so the team of specialists using modern grape-growing and wine-making techniques can rely on their perfect knowledge of what is going on in the field to develop authentic wines which capture the taste of the land of the Cote Chalonnaise, Maconnais and Chablis.
The Cave des Vignerons de Buxy is the result of collective enterprise and the work of 120 wine-growers and 40 employees, and sells 6 million bottles per year for a turnover of 23 million euros. Thanks to its local, national and international renown the la Cave des Vignerons de Buxy has become the ambassador for the wines of Burgundy.
The source of the most racy, light and tactile, yet uniquely complex Chardonnay, Chablis, while considered part of Burgundy, actually reaches far past the most northern stretch of the Côte d’Or proper. Its vineyards cover hillsides surrounding the small village of Chablis about 100 miles north of Dijon, making it actually closer to Champagne than to Burgundy. Champagne and Chablis have a unique soil type in common called Kimmeridgian, which isn’t found anywhere else in the world except southern England. A 180 million year-old geologic formation of decomposed clay and limestone, containing tiny fossilized oyster shells, spans from the Dorset village of Kimmeridge in southern England all the way down through Champagne, and to the soils of Chablis. This soil type produces wines full of structure, austerity, minerality, salinity and finesse.
Chablis Grands Crus vineyards are all located at ideal elevations and exposition on the acclaimed Kimmeridgian soil, an ancient clay-limestone soil that lends intensity and finesse to its wines. The vineyards outside of Grands Crus are Premiers Crus, and outlying from those is Petit Chablis. Chablis Grand Cru, as well as most Premier Cru Chablis, can age for many years.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.