Christian Moreau Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru 2017
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Pale gold in colour, this commanding Chablis Grand Cru from the great site of Les Clos is everything Chablis-lovers could want. The site is so good, indeed, that its wines often take some time to evolve both aromatically and on the palate, but the supple, summer-meadow warmth of the aromas of this wine and its width and amplitude in the mouth suggest it has already set out satisfyingly down the evolutionary track. The balance with the wine's inherently stony tension, though, is impressively achieved, too: a complete yet approachable Les Clos. Drink 2019-2028
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James Suckling
The white peaches and nectarines are underpinned by lemons and yellow grapefruit on the nose. The palate has a very rich and attractive feel with a fleshy and layered ascent to the long, full and fluid finish. The fruit holds and holds. The minerals come eventually. This is exceptional. Try from 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Even with the advantage of frost protection, Moreau only achieved yields of 18 hectoliters per hectare with his 2017 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos, but it was enough to mature half of the cuvée in tank and half in barrel. The wine unwinds slowly in the glass with aromas of wheat toast, beeswax, green apple, ripe citrus fruits and almond paste, followed by a full-bodied, satiny and racy palate that's quite taut and fine-boned, with a penetrating, chalky finish.
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Christian Moreau, one of the leading figures in Chablis, is producing the wines he loves under his own name. Free of any personal involvement with the negociant company that his family founded and sold, with his son Fabien they founded Domaine Christian Moreau Pére et Fils in 2001 and set up their winemaking operation in the very heart of the Chablis country, at the foot of its famous Grands Cru vineyards.
The Domaine holdings are located in the best oriented parcels, and bottlings include Grand Crus Les Clos, Valmur, Vaudésir, Blanchot, and Les Clos des Hospices (a Monopole from the Moreau family), Premier Cru Vaillon, as well as Chablis AC, and some Petit Chablis. Every parcel is harvested by hand to bring out the very best from each vineyard. The Moreau's winemaking philosophy is non-interventionist at its core, entailing biodynamic practices aimed toward creating low-yield, high-quality harvests. Additionally, grapes for every wine from the Chablis AC to the Les Clos Grand Cru are hand-picked.
Fabien Moreau became the winemaker with the 2002 vintage, and is already producing remarkable results. With previous experience in New Zealand, Fabien is a visionary young winemaker who is a sincere adherent to the tenants of terroir. As such, the wines of Christian Moreau Pere et Fils are remarkable for their authenticity, distinctiveness, and exquisite quality.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The source of the most racy, light and tactile, yet uniquely complex Chardonnay, Chablis, while considered part of Burgundy, actually reaches far past the most northern stretch of the Côte d’Or proper. Its vineyards cover hillsides surrounding the small village of Chablis about 100 miles north of Dijon, making it actually closer to Champagne than to Burgundy. Champagne and Chablis have a unique soil type in common called Kimmeridgian, which isn’t found anywhere else in the world except southern England. A 180 million year-old geologic formation of decomposed clay and limestone, containing tiny fossilized oyster shells, spans from the Dorset village of Kimmeridge in southern England all the way down through Champagne, and to the soils of Chablis. This soil type produces wines full of structure, austerity, minerality, salinity and finesse.
Chablis Grands Crus vineyards are all located at ideal elevations and exposition on the acclaimed Kimmeridgian soil, an ancient clay-limestone soil that lends intensity and finesse to its wines. The vineyards outside of Grands Crus are Premiers Crus, and outlying from those is Petit Chablis. Chablis Grand Cru, as well as most Premier Cru Chablis, can age for many years.