Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Derived from 60-year-old vines growing on a rather steep slope and vinified entirely in stainless steel, the 2023 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur is flamboyant, soaring from the glass with a deep bouquet of beeswax, grapefruit zest and pear. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, concentrated and layered, with more mid-palate amplitude than any other wine in the range, supported by vibrant acidity and concluding with a long, saline finish. It comes from a parcel just next to Raveneau’s, and like that example, it rewards patience.
Barrel Sample: 93-94 -
Vinous
The 2023 Chablis Valmur Grand Cru has an understated nose that bides its time. I want this to give more, but it steadfastly refuses! The palate is much more expressive, with a fine bead of acidity and orchard fruit mixed with hints of chamomile and white tea. This finishes with precision and a slightly oily texture. I believe the aromatics were just closed on the day. Cellar this away for three to four years because I think a fine Valmur will manifest with time. Tasted blind at the BIVB offices in Chablis.
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.
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.