Tasted in Fyé with Sébastien Christophe, 16 January 2023.
Domaine Christophe et Fils
Ferme des Carrieres
89800 Fyé
Tel: +33 3 86 55 02 83
More reports with Domaine Christophe et Fils
Sébastien on 2022:
“We made a bit more Chablis a bit less Petit Chablis because of the spring frost – because the buds were ahead here – but they recovered very well and still had a good grape ‘sortie.’ One sector above Mont de Milieu got hit by hail but we still got a not-too-bad harvest here. The rest was a bit later with a later pruning so we had okay volumes. The fermentations were a little longer and some malos finished before all the sugars but fortunately, we don’t have any extra volatiles. Just one tank of Petit Chablis stopped so was later inoculated and went to dry in a week. We’ll do some earlier bottling with the 22s – the PC – as we have no wine, the 22s tasted great right from the start – which is unusual at this stage. The 21s, largely, have a bit more tension.”
Sébastien on 2021:
“It was about 40% of the number of bottles previewed for 2022. In terms of volume and maladies, it wasn’t a very easy year. It’s the lowest volume I’ve ever seen. The bottom of the valleys was not bad but as you rose the frost got stronger and stronger. The premiers were okay but there was less in Chablis and even less in Petit Chablis – only about 8 hl/ha… And this was the vintage that we started our conversion to organic – but everything was ready… The fortunate thing is that the wood is in great shape for the pruning for 2022…”
The wines…
This has become a super-coherent range – the PC was always delicious but the others have really found their place too. Super-classic wines here in 21 – if you can find them!
Currently the wines are sealed with cork for the old-vine cuvée and the 1er crus, DIAM-style for the Petit Chablis and actual DIAM for the Chablis:
Bottled end March/start April
Hmm – good freshness and attack, slightly floral too. Hmm, vibrantly energetic – fine agrume with intensity – that’s a chiselled, chalky and frankly great PC! More saline right at the end of the long finish.
2021 Chablis
Like the last, with all tank elevage.
More depth and an extra ripeness to this fruit. More direct, structural and saline – proper Chablis shape and definition. That’s another beauty and I’d wait 1-2 years before starting these bottles.
2021 Chablis Vieilles-Vignes
Vines planted by grandfather in 1959 – 10-15% barrel – 228s and then blended with the rest that has tank elevage just before bottling. Have a new parcel neighbouring that’s coming in 2023 from grandmother’s side – 36 yo vines – a nice extra 30 hl says Christophe.
More compact aromatics but no less clean and pure, faintly fumé almost silex. Fuller, more generous, again with a small extra salinity. There’s middle and finishing concentration and an extra suggestion of the mineral here. Finishing low-key but long!
The 1ers as usual with nearly 20% barrel elevage – exactly the same elevage for these – a bottling that’s normally 12 months but was slightly earlier due to the early 2022 harvest:
2021 Chablis 1er Fourchaume
Hmm – there’s more aromatic packing out this wine – that’s nice – almost a faint noisette. Broad, a first slight herb then more intensity and always impressive width. Properly intense and another with lots of salinity – super – again, a wine that very slowly fades in the finish…
2021 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
More direct and more floral aromatics – very fine clarity. Great shape in the mouth – mouth-filling but quite fluid in style – very mineral, mobile and with super energy – I really like this. Holding a saline agrume width – oh yes – really excellent MdM!
Almost as floral as the MdM here with a hint more mineral depth and an accent of the barrel – which will be gone in 6 months. Mouth-filling like the MdMilieu but here with a more obvious structure – melting with sweet-sour citrus and mineral – and direct in the finish – a beam of finishing intensity here – extra-long – perhaps different rather than better – but potentially a great wine here.
2021 Chablis Les Preuses
A contract for grapes, 40% barrel elevage, bottled same time as the 1ers in this vintage.
A faint width of spice – this nose not fully open – but still some warmer, riper yellow citrus. Generous, concentrated but growing in intensity too – the wood is very well hidden/absorbed – fine texture. Give it a few years in the cellar only to bring a little more direction – perhaps. Delicious, generous but still balanced, just a little less energy compared to the rest of the range.