Screwcap. Defaix’s village Chablis is drawn from four parcels of mature, 30-plus-year-old vines situated around Milly and Poinchy on the left bank of the Serein River. The wine ferments spontaneously and ages on fine lees for 10 months in glass-lined tanks. Compared to the wine above, the older vines translate to more character, depth and classical restraint—not to mention supersized minerality and ozone salinity. It’s a ripe, poised and vibrantly fresh Chablis with juicy nectarine, mixed citrus fruit and stony, pithy freshness running the length of the palate. A terrific, super seductive Chablis and another outstanding-value wine from Domaine Bernard Defaix. We encourage you to take Jasper’s advice! 

Tiny volume, ultra-clean fruit and precise, bespoke winemaking are the keys to this delicious, limited-edition zero-sulphur label. The wine originates from a small parcel of 40-year-old vines in Milly, close to the cellar. Didier explains that this section of the vineyard always produces grapes with good structure, which works well for this winemaking style. Natural fermentation in stainless steel with minimal handling and bottling without fining or filtration form the rudiments of the approach in the cellar. Defaix also bottles the wine with more carbon dioxide than usual, which acts as a preservative.

How does this wine differ from the regular Chablis botting? It’s super pulpy with more fuzzy, lemony citric tang than the Chablis proper. It’s also rounder and juicier—less linear if you like. Then you get those soft-focus yeasty traces of fermentation you don’t find in the mainline Chablis. So, you gain something and lose something—but it is all good! We should mention that the wine pours slightly cloudy and with initial spritz, so mild aeration is recommended. The Defaix family recommend drinking within a few years. Some will prefer this wine to the Chablis above and vice versa. It’s a delicious, pristine Chablis, but not as we know it. 

Diam. Much like the rest of Burgundy, Chablis’ finest vineyards have, for better or worse, become synonymous with a symbolic grower. This is the case with the Côte de Léchet and Domaine Bernard Defaix. With nine hectares of vines overlooking the village of Milly, the domaine is the largest single holder within this 1er Cru, and its cellars sit at the base of the Léchet hill. Didier Defaix is, therefore, the vineyard’s emblematic vigneron—as well as the site’s only certified-organic grower.

Perfectly exposed to the southeast, Jasper Morris MW describes an archetypal wine from Léchet, pictured above, as “Entirely white fruited in style …not dissimilar to Beauroy, but with more intensity”, while Andrew Jefford suggested the hill gifts “some of the most 'mineral' Chablis of all”. In 2022, you get the best of all these, even if there is an extra dollop of fruit sweetness compared to a classical vintage. Taking advantage of the vineyard’s intensity and to build complexity, Didier Defaix ferments a quarter of this wine in old, neutral barrels which previously housed Defaix’s old-vine Reserve Léchet bottling. It’s a fleshy and seamless Côte de Léchet with oodles of mixed citrus, briny drive and impressive tension between waves of fruit and the vibrant, chalky freshness that this site always delivers in spades. Doggone delicious and a bargain in the scheme of things. 

Screwcap. Much like the rest of Burgundy, Chablis’ finest vineyards have (for better or worse) become synonymous with a symbolic grower. This is the case with the Côte de Léchet and Domaine Bernard Defaix. With eight hectares of vines, the domaine is the largest holder within this 1er Cru, and its cellars sit at the base of the Léchet hill. Didier Defaix is, therefore, the vineyard’s emblematic vigneron (and the site’s only certified-organic grower). A quarter of the fruit fermented and matured in old, neutral barrels (which previously housed Defaix’s old-vine Reserve Léchet bottling).

Much like the rest of Burgundy, Chablis’ finest vineyards have, for better or worse, become synonymous with a symbolic grower. This is the case with the Côte de Léchet and Domaine Bernard Defaix. With nine hectares of vines overlooking the village of Milly, the domaine is the largest single holder within this 1er Cru, and its cellars sit at the base of the Léchet hill. Didier Defaix is, therefore, the vineyard’s emblematic vigneron—as well as the site’s only certified-organic grower. 

Alongside the 1er Cru Côte de Léchet proper, Defaix also bottles this selection from a single hectare of almost 70-year-old vines on the mid-slope. The idea is to showcase the old vines’ ability to produce a more layered, hedonistic, seductive wine than the standard Côte de Léchet cuvée.

Diam. Located in the northwest corner of the Grand Cru slope below Preuses, Bougros has a notable south-easterly exposure and the steepest gradient of all the Chablis Grand Cru vineyards. We like Jasper Morris’s evocative description of the Bougros style: "like being smothered in a great big woolly jumper—big, fat, soft and round”. This speaks to the texture of the wines from here. Morris goes on to describe the top of the vineyard—the sector from which this wine hails—as displaying the classical minerality of Chablis. The wine ferments and ages in oak barrels with regular bâtonnage and is bottled after 18 months.