2023 Gilbert Picq & ses Fils Picq Chablis Vauclaire

About the producer:

Brothers Didier and Pascal quickly established themselves as rigorous growers after taking over this 32-acre domaine from their father in 1976. They prune severely in winter and de-bud twice in spring for low yields. They farm according to the ecological but pragmatic principles of lutte raisonnée, or reasoned fight. They do alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in steel, and age the wine in steel. For a while, their Japanese importer demanded that they make a cuvée in barrel for him, but eventually he saw the light and gave it up. They look for elegance, length, purity and minerality in their wines, while aiming for age-worthiness and moderate levels of alcohol. It’s kind of a nice throwback.

The domaine and its vineyards are in the commune of Chichée, upstream from the town of Chablis and the grand crus in the Serein River Valley. The hills are steep here and are graced with two noble premier crus on either side of the river: Vosgros and Vaucoupin. The latter is especially noteworthy, for Vaucoupin occupies the same contours as the grand crus on the right bank and is considered to be one of the best premier crus in Chablis.

The big change of late here happened with the 2006 vintage, when the brothers got a sorting table. This enabled them to control their grape selections to the point where they elected to forgo yeast inoculations. Didier admits to a number of sleepless nights because the fermentations were consequently much slower than normal, but this resulted in better textures, and so he has continued working with indigenous yeast in subsequent vintages.