Romain Collet is a mad scientist in the cellar. He’s matched each of his Chablis terroirs with a specific recipe of elevage vessels – a combination of stainless steel tank, concrete egg, clay amphora, and wooden barrels of various ages. Each is designed to bring out the unique character of every plot of vines.
The most clay-rich of Collet’s terroirs is “Butteaux,” a south-east facing sector of the Montmains vineyard on Chablis’s left bank. For this cuvée, Romain ages the wine in a combination of old oak barrels (5 to 10 years). The resulting wine has a concentration and layered complexity somewhere between premier cru and grand cru.
The 2023 Butteaux is terrific, with a serious stony intensity that’s somehow both rich and bone dry. The nose shows faint pears and salt air; the mouth is vibrant and shot through with minerals and dried flower petals. The oak is essentially imperceptible. It’s long and polished, but never verges into opulence or lushness. Think of it as a particularly stony Puligny-Montrachet, at a roughly 50% discount…
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Collet Chablis 1er cru “Butteaux” 2023
bottle price: $45
