Chablis, a flourishing Burgundy wine beating the odds – Technologist

Wine is going through a rough patch and consumption is down? Not according to Chablis vineyards, they’re doing fine. Better than fine, actually. Their commercial success has been getting increasingly evident since the 2000s. The name has even become so famous that it is often synonymous with “white wine” abroad. On January 10, the owners of Château Lafite Rothschild in Pauillac, in the Bordeaux region, bought Domaine William Fèvre from Artémis (billionaire François Pinault’s holding company). 72 hectares in the Chablis wine region, 15.9 of which are Premier Cru and 15.2 Grand Cru.

“I seized the opportunity,” explained Saskia de Rothschild, head of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite, who said she had been “impressed” by the quality of William Fèvre’s wines. She confessed that other factors also played a part in her decision to buy the property. Firstly, the good state of white wine in France – Lafite has already been increasing its share in its various properties for some years now. “But, above all, I love Chablis,” she added, referring to an appellation that is made exclusively from the Chardonnay grape variety, which has been spreading along both sides of the River Serein and crosses 17 towns communes in the Yonne department in central France. She even justified her taste: “It’s not the luxurious kind of Burgundy, but one that is winegrower and family-friendly.”

This transaction came just after the abundant 2022 and 2023 vintages, when the vines had suffered from frost the three previous years, a recurrent issue in this northern region. Over the past 30 years or so, this landscape of hills and slopes has armed itself with a variety of ways to combat this sudden severe cold, mainly in the Premier and Grand Crus, where the economic stakes are the highest: hot water sprays, electric heating wires and even heaters, installed at the most critical moments. De Rothschild asked: “Where should we draw the line with being overprotective? The environmental issue will indeed be one of our major concerns.”

Climatic hazards

La Chablisienne, Chablis’ unique and excellent cooperative winery supplied by 250 winegrowers, is a major player in this region, representing almost a quarter of the vineyards. As a result of the frost, it, too, has lost the equivalent of an entire harvest between 2019 and 2021. Hence the need to invest. “To diversify, in 2011, we bought the 70-hectare Domaine des Mouchottes in the Hautes-Côtes-de-Nuits,” explained La Chablisienne director Damien Leclerc.

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