Chablis with both muscle and cut. Sourced from 35-year-old vines in the heart of Montmains, this 2023 Premier Cru comes from a cool, blue clay and limestone slope beside the Serein River. It’s a site known for producing what many consider “textbook” Chablis, mineral-driven, structured, and finely etched, and this first Defaix bottling from the vineyard delivers exactly that.
Raised in seasoned oak for 12 months, the wine marries a vibrant, fleshy texture with the precision of its terroir. Yellow plum and tangy grapefruit are set against chalk and struck-match complexity, while a dark-stone minerality threads through to a persistent, layered finish. There’s both immediacy and depth here, the kind of duality that makes great Montmains so compelling.
It’s a wine that will sit comfortably alongside oysters and fine shellfish now, or gain further nuance over the next 5–8 years in bottle.
Chablis with both muscle and cut. Sourced from 35-year-old vines in the heart of Montmains, this 2023 Premier Cru comes from a cool, blue clay and limestone slope beside the Serein River. It’s a site known for producing what many consider “textbook” Chablis, mineral-driven, structured, and finely etched, and this first Defaix bottling from the vineyard delivers exactly that.
Raised in seasoned oak for 12 months, the wine marries a vibrant, fleshy texture with the precision of its terroir. Yellow plum and tangy grapefruit are set against chalk and struck-match complexity, while a dark-stone minerality threads through to a persistent, layered finish. There’s both immediacy and depth here, the kind of duality that makes great Montmains so compelling.
It’s a wine that will sit comfortably alongside oysters and fine shellfish now, or gain further nuance over the next 5–8 years in bottle.