Wine Details
A Premier Cru of Light and Contour
This is Chablis drawn with a calligrapher’s hand. It opens in shades of nectarine, orange zest and white peach, touched by fennel and white blossom. Then comes the quiet drama: the steel-spined 2022 tension, the glint of flint, and a subtle struck-match shimmer that feels more like a memory than an effect, woven as delicately as great Ramonet. The long lees élevage lends a gentle warmth, like the soft crunch of a freshly baked Victoria sponge, giving texture without weight. It moves with precision, depth and a sense of stillness that feels unmistakably Premier Cru.
The Plot
La Grande Chaume sits high on the steep, southeast slopes of Vau de Vey, a secluded fold of the valley where Chardonnay has been rooted since 1980. The soils are poor, pale and stony, layered over ancient Kimmeridgian marl that shapes the wine’s mineral signature. Hand-harvested fruit, low yields and the site’s exposure all create a wine of natural tension and clarity, a style mirrored in the long lees ageing that Jérémy Arnaud favours. It is a parcel that speaks softly but precisely, carrying the light of its slope straight into the glass.
Technical
The fruit for La Grande Chaume comes from vines planted between 1980 and 1985 on a steep southeast-facing slope above Beine. The soils are clay-limestone over Upper and Middle Kimmeridgian marl, producing low yields of concentrated, finely structured Chardonnay. Harvesting is by hand. Fermentation runs with indigenous yeasts, followed by two full years of lees ageing in used barrels, with a modest proportion new oak from François Frères. The wine is unfined and unfiltered, retaining natural texture and clarity. Annual production is no more than 3,700 bottles.
