2020 Domaine Vincent Dauvissat Chablis

Along with François Raveneau — his father René's brother-in-law — Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat is one of the two undisputed reference points for great Chablis.

The family has estate-bottled under its own name since 1931, when Robert Dauvissat became one of the appellation's first domaine-bottlers in an era dominated by bulk wine. René built the reputation; Vincent joined in 1976 and took over in 1989, and the fourth generation, Ghislain and Étiennette, came aboard in 2013. Across roughly eleven hectares spanning every Chablis tier, Vincent has farmed biodynamically since around 2002, quietly and without seeking certification.

The cellar work is famously traditional: hand-harvested fruit, whole-bunch pressing with no destemming, indigenous-yeast fermentation split between enameled steel and wood, and spontaneous malolactic.

The wines then age in 6-to-8-year-old oak barrels — never new — so the oak lends body and structure without imposing its own flavor. There's no lees stirring and no fining; only the winter cold settles the wine, letting Kimmeridgian terroir lead.

This is the domaine's "entry" Chablis in name only. The fruit comes from a parcel sitting directly across a small valley from Dauvissat's acclaimed La Forêt Premier Cru, sharing the same Kimmeridgian clay-limestone — which is why this village wine routinely shows the density and aging potential of a cru.

The 2020, an early and dry vintage that Vincent still considers classic in balance, is taut and racy, with crisp green apple, white flowers, wet stone and oyster shell over a deep, incisive, intensely mineral finish. Widely regarded as the benchmark for the appellation, it's a wine to enjoy over the coming decade.