Clotilde Davenne - Bourgogne Blanc, France (2022)

 

From the village of Préhy. Hand-harvested, fermented with natural yeasts in stainless steel. 

Clotilde Davenne began making wine in 1989 with Jean-Marc Brocard, becoming head winemaker there for 17 years, before starting her own domaine in 2005, as Brocard's children took the reins of the family estate. She had planted vines in 1992 on her property in Prehy, on Kimmeridgian but just outside of the Chablis appellation. Initially selling the fruit to Brocard as a means of financing the restoration of the house, eventually these vines became the foundation of her domaine and today they are the source of the Bourgogne Blanc on offer here.

She later bought a domaine in St Bris, which included 100 year old vines of Sauvignon Blanc and 70 year old Aligote. Assembled one small parcel at a time, the domaine now comprises 18 hectares across Chablis, Cote d’Auxerre, St. Bris – les Vignes, and Petit Chablis.

In the vines, Clotilde works as naturally as possible, without the use of chemicals, and almost all of her production is harvested by hand. In the cellar all the wines undergo malolactic fermentation, a conscious decision by Clotilde as she feels it brings greater complexity to the wines, but she does not use oak for any of the wines, preferring to use stainless steel to focus on purity and terroir expression.