Domaine Christophe Chablis 1er cru Mont de Milieu 2020

Christophe et Fils is basically a one man show. There’s no sign post chez Sébastien Christophe. He doesn’t need it. His wines aren’t to be found in the local restaurants and no bottles are spared for the expert reviewers. Every year – his entire production is completely pre-sold – mostly to well-heeled private collectors in Britain and a few of the top restaurants in the world.

To hear Sébastien tell it, you don’t even get the impression that he fashions himself a winemaker – he might be more comfortable with the moniker – ‘winegrower’ as he’s really more of a passionate farmer.

Perhaps that’s just in his blood. For the record, Sébastien is an incredible winemaker but he also has a bit of luck on his side. He was lucky enough to inherit some extremely valuable parcels (some his grandfather himself planted back 1959!) located behind the Grand cru slope and Premier crus of the Serein river’s right bank.

The good news is that this is seriously good, proper Chablis grown on precious Kimmeridgian soil facing Les Blanchots, west of Montée de Tonnerre.  It’s less deep than its illustrious neighbor to the north, but far deeper than most of the left bank vineyards of Chablis. The complexity and depth to this wine is seriously impressive. This is 1er cru Chablis all the way.