Domaine Grand Roche

Domaine Grand Roche makes Chablis in the Yonne, the northernmost outpost of Burgundy and a place where growing Chardonnay is a genuine act of faith.

Chablis sits closer to Champagne than to the Côte d'Or, and its identity comes from the ground: Kimmeridgian marl, a Jurassic seabed laid down 150 million years ago and packed with the fossilised oyster shell that gives the wines their chalky, saline cut. Nowhere else in Burgundy has it in the same measure.

Spring frost is the perpetual risk, and the sight of candles and sprinklers among the vines in April is part of the region's character. Chablis is made almost entirely without new oak, which is the point: the wine is meant to taste of the place rather than the barrel.