Domaine Louis Michel "Butteaux" Chablis Premier Cru Vieilles Vignes 2022

Domaine Louis Michel & Fils :

The appellation of Chablis, in northern Burgundy, has thousands of years of viticultural history, dating back to the time of the ancient romans. When the Cistercian Monks arrived in the 11th century, they cultivated the land with precision and proficiency; the advent of harmonized winemaking in the region. Upon these very slopes, on the right bank of the Serein, where the monks first laid roots, resides Domaine Louis Michel & Fils. The centuries old, family-managed domaine continues to perpetuate the tradition of Chablis winemaking, remaining true to the philosophies of its founding fathers.Thanks to genealogical pursuits, the winemaking history of the Michel family in Chablis can be traced back to at least 1640. Generation after generation has preserved the antiquity of the region and the tradition of cultivating Chardonnay; the golden fiber which binds the region’s terroir and its inhabitants. With the goal of preserving the authenticity of each terroir and working with very pure and clean wines, the domaine places importance on having aromatically neutral vinification for each wine and its corresponding terroir. No wine has touched oak since 1969, when it was decided that all wines would be vinified in stainless steel tanks.“It was my grandfather who took the decision,” states Guillaume Michel, who now controls the domaine. To Guillaume, it is a matter of showcasing the elegance and finesse of the Chardonnay grape in its purest form, in a region where it reaches its full zenith. Untethered by artifices and with minimal human intervention, the wines reveal their true nature; a reflection of the terroir in which they were sown. The importance of the work in the vineyards cannot be overstated. Guillaume Michel is a firm believer in the philosophy that if you do a good job in the vineyard, 90 percent of the work is done when the grapes arrive at the winery.The domaine, of course, lies upon prime real-estate in the heart of Chablis. The appellation’s unique terroir, comprised of a mixture of Kimmeridgian and Portlandian subsoils, combined with marl, limestone and fossilized oysters over 150 million years old, plays an important role because it varies the aromatic complexity of the wines and brings the minerality so typical of Chablis wines. As his grandfather before him, Guillaume has developed the philosophy of terroir-driven wines, striving even further by separating the various sub-appellations when bottling the different crus and by returning to the use of natural yeast. “In a terroir as rich and unique as that of Chablis, it is in the vineyard that the wine is made. At all stages, human intervention must be as discreet as possible in order to allow nature to express itself fully,” insists Guillaume Michel.The Michel property spans a total of 25 hectares devoted to the darling grape variety, Chardonnay. Fifteen hectares of which are the source for the domaine’s eight Premier Crus, including Forets, Butteaux, Vaillons and Vaulorent, each having their own character. Six hectares of Chablis (Villages) demonstrate the signature of the Chablis terroir expressing its full typicity; finesse, freshness and minerality. Two hectares lay in Petit Chablis, where the wines develop fresh and lively personalities. The domaine’s finest gems, the Grand Crus of Les Clos, Grenouilles and Vaudesir benefit from the greatest growing conditions located only on the right bank of the Serein. These Grand Crus exemplify terroir-driven Chablis in all its glory. Some of the greatest white wines in Burgundy hail from Domaine Louis Michel & Fils. It has become synonymous with un-oaked Chablis and is touted as one of the finest domaines in the region