Domaine Christian Moreau & Fils

The Moreau family sold their négociant company, J Moreau, to Hiram Walker in 1985, along with their vineyard holdings. However, in 1997 Christian Moreau triggered a clause which allowed them to take their vineyards back with five years’ warning. Domaine Christian Moreau’s first vintage was thus 2002. Fabien Moreau has now taken over from his father at this excellent domaine which has been certified organic since 2013, having stopped using herbicides straight away in 2002.

The vineyards are all hand-harvested, the grapes being sorted to eliminate rot. Since 2008 they have employed indigenous yeasts for fermentation, which is in stainless steel where the Petit Chablis, Chablis and part of the crus remain, with 30-50 per cent maturation in wood, from one to four years old, for the top wines. The tiny cuvée of Blanchot is all in barrel, however, as is the Clos des Hospices. The crus are usually bottled before the next harvest.

The domaine makes two versions of Vaillons and two of Les Clos.  As well as the fine regular 1er cru Vaillons there is another cuvée named for Christian’s father Guy Moreau who planted a block of vines in 1933 which is still in use. Christian Moreau has one huge block of Les Clos, though the bottom (35- year-old vines), middle (65) and top (50) parts are picked separately. In wetter years the upper part is best, whereas the lower-lying segment holds up better in drought conditions. It is regularly a great wine and I have to confess to having a sneaking preference for this Clos over the special bottling of their Clos des Hospices dans Les Clos. This comes from their share (Louis Moreau has the other half) of what had been a plot of 0.82ha bought from the Hospices de Chablis in 1904. These vines run parallel to the road rather than up and down the slope.