Tasted with Eléonore Moreau in Poilly-sur-Serein, 20 March 2019.
Domaine Eléonore Moreau
1 Route de Lichères
89310 Poilly-sur-Serein
Tel: +33 3 86 75 94 29
www.chablis-eleonoremoreau.fr
Poilly-sur-Serein is a little off the beaten track, about 15 minutes from the town of Chablis, just a little further on the road after Chemilly-sur-Serein. This domaine is not the only producer in the village, with vines that are around this beautiful village, on the south-eastern side of the Chablis appellation. Currently, this domaine is the only bottler in Poilly, all the other producers of the village don’t commercialise in bottle, rather working with the Chablisienne.
This is something of a ‘new’ domaine as Eléonore’s father planted everything. Here was previously a farm that happened to have land holdings that were classified within the AOP of Chablis and Petit Chablis. Today there are 14 hectares of vines, the oldest of-which are now 35 years old. The domaine’s cuverie was constructed in 1995 and then further extended in 2017 so that the parcels could be better separated.
Eléonore explains “My father never commercialised in bottle with our own labels, I currently commercialise about 15% of the production. But everything is vinified and bottled here, it’s just that the major part of this production is sold to the buyers of ‘unlabeled wine.’ My first vintage, with 1,000 bottles as a test, was 2011, but with the current labels – I suppose my real start – was in 2014.”
For the moment sales are exclusively in France. But the domaine has started discussions with importers in Texas and the UK. Of the most recent vintages,
Eléonore on the last vintages:
“In 2016 there was nothing – due to a mix of both frost and hail – yes, we got both! In 2017, we had worries about the frost but this time we had some luck and had a normal harvest.”
The wines…
Good wines, apart from the Petit Chablis ‘Pérégrination’ – which is a great wine!
Eléonore is using a mix of DIAM seals – 3, 5 and 10.
2017 Petit Chablis
There are 6 hectares of this. Eléonore says that she is looking for a wine that’s ‘alive and for drinking within 3 years.’
A fine freshness. Supple, plenty of minerality here. Supple, attractive, excellent shape and flavour – yum!
2017 Chablis
‘Vines all on a hillside, well exposed to the sun, limestone, limestone and rocks! I think less floral than some of the northern vineyards but with a great expression of minerality. 2 years is too young for our wine but a little more and it’s fine’
A little extra depth of aroma here. Depth of flavour here too, almost a reductive style to the deep minerality, but this is very attractive with a fine balance and texture. Really excellent.
‘The name could indicate a pilgrimage or a journey – but without the religious connotations,’ says Eléonore. ‘This is a test with a hand-harvested Petit Chablis, fermented only with natural yeast and a ‘biodynamic’ dose of sulfur.’
More width and complexity of aroma. Plenty of volume, of energy, a more complex and easier to experience complexity and ‘deliciousness’ – less depth of minerality though there’s anyway plenty. Hmm I love the line and drive of the finishing flavour – saline in the end. Great PC – bravo!
As it’s ready, why not a 2018?
2018 Petit Chablis
Just a few days in bottle – this is an early bottling, normally will wait until July and again in December for the rest. Between July and December there’s a quite big difference says Eléonore.
A little more ripe yellow fruit, a suggestion of gas on the nose – being just bottled doesn’t help. Drive, line, extra depth to the silky texture. A weight of flavour – I’m unsure of where it comes from until the mid and finishing flavours – here it’s proper Chablis – there’s still the ripeness but also a width of fine mineral flavour – easy to appreciate if a little less classic – a great finish. This is super but I prefer the 2017 from a style perspective.