5 reasons to drink more chablis…
With just one colour (white), and just one grape (Chardonnay), Chablis has to be one of the most straightforward French wine regions to understand, but, in just a few sniffs and tastes, it can offer the wine student five valuable wine tasting lessons…
1.
Chablis is made from Chardonnay, one of the world's most widely planted and most famous grape varieties. It comes in many styles, but by drinking more Chablis, you can learn the fruit aroma and flavour characteristics of Chardonnay, typically green fruit and citrus, specifically apple, pear, lemon and grapefruit.
2.
Chablis is a wine region in France, in the far north of Burgundy, close to Champagne. It has a cool climate. Therefore, Chablis gives the wine student an excellent example of how a cool climate impacts wine style, particularly the resulting high acidity levels. By drinking more Chablis, you will learn to recognise a high-acid wine when tasting.
3.
Chablis is typically fermented in neutral vessels such as stainless steel tanks and rarely fermented or matured in oak. It is, therefore, an excellent example of how unoaked Chardonnay tastes, light, crisp, and lively.
4.
Winemakers in Chablis employ malolactic conversion and lees (the dead yeast) contact and stirring to help add aroma, flavour, texture and body to the wine. Malolactic conversion adds dairy flavours. In Chablis, this is recognisable as a mild sour yoghurt flavour and creamy texture. Lees contact and stirring, add a note of fresh sourdough bread to the nose and palate.
5.
The wines from Chablis are labelled differently depending on where they come from, Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru, a system that links origin with quality. By comparing these wines, you will soon learn how to recognise quality. A Chablis Grand Cru will have greater concentration, a longer finish and more complexity than a Petit Chablis. Look out for the names of the Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards on the labels.