We tasted yesterday at the Domaine Gautheron in Chablis. A winemaker’s first task these days – in Burgundy, but particularly in Chablis – is to achieve freshness, and there’s nobody we know better than Cyril. Jasper Morris agrees, writing “Cyril Gautheron is a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.”
Gautheron’s 2023s are magnificent, and we can’t wait to bring them back to the states, but the 2022s are gorgeous and already in stock. Montée de Tonnerre is the best Premier Cru in Chablis – some consider it a would-be Grand Cru, and indeed it abuts the hill of Grand Crus directly. Gautheron’s 2022 is a triumph, a regal wine bursting with fruit and stones and remarkable length. He ages this cuvée half in concrete and half in old 500L barrels, which give a whisper of spice amid the dry golden fruit and bursting minerals.
This has the length and complexity of a Côte d’Or premier cru white Burgundy, but the zip of stony, chiseled minerals that could only be Chablis. Jasper Morris found it “typical…Montée de Tonnerre,” with a “succulence” and a “long generous finish.” This is serious wine from a remarkably successful producer – and at a third what it’d cost you in Puligny.
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Gautheron Chablis 1er “Montée de Tonnerre” 2022
bottle price: $48
