Domaine d’Elise

Village:
Milly
Appellation:
13ha
Chablis
Petit Chablis
Grower:
Frédéric Prain
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Wine has been produced around Chablis since at least the ninth century. For the last hundred years the area of cultivation authorized to use the name Chablis has had controversial and shifting boundaries. The controversy centers around the area’s two geological formations of limestone deposits; the Kimmeridgian and the Portlandian.The Kimmeridgian soils which are soft and marly, are found mostly on the slopes while the Portlandian soils are hard and rocky and are found mostly on top of the hills. The question is whether to restrict the appellation to vineyards on Kimmeridgian soils. There are many opinions on the subject, but no two seem to agree. There is great overlapping of the soils and thus a geological answer is not clear cut and there is also the historical record of where vineyards have been cultivated which further confuses matters.

Today, the basic organization of the appellation gives Grand Cru status to seven vineyards which are contiguous and comprise a total of 112 hectares. It gives Premier Cru status to 40 vineyards comprising 742 hectares which are spread throughout the appellation. These vineyards are on Kimmeridgian soils. The far greater portion of the appellation is divided into Chablis Villages (4420 hectares), largely on Kimmeridgian soils and labeled simply as Chablis and Petit Chablis (1562 hectares) which are largely on Portlandian soils.

Established in 1970, the Domaine d’Elise is located just outside the town of Chablis in the commune of Milly. It was purchased by the current owner Frédéric Prain in 1982. The domaine’s vineyard is situated directly above the south/southeastern facing Premier Cru Côte de Lechet vineyard. It is unusual in that its entire 13 hectares are in one parcel with Frédéric’s house and winery situated in the middle. Interestingly, the appellation laws have divided the vineyard into two equal plots of Chablis Villages and Petit Chablis.The soils are quite poor with an abundance of surface stones, particularly on the top of the hill. A great deal of pruning is done throughout the growing season to limit yields to 45/50 hl per ha. Harvesting is done as late as possible.

Chablis

Frédéric allows the must to settle before fermentation (débourbage) which is done in stainless steel lined cement vats that are temperature controlled. The wine ferments in the same type of vat and goes through a malolactic fermentation. It is then matured on its lees for 10 months and then fined before being bottled. Frédéric bottles all his wine at one time and holds it in his underground cellar until shipment.

Petit Chablis

Frédéric allows the must to settle before fermentation (débourbage) which is done in stainless steel lined cement vats that are temperature controlled. The wine ferments in the same type of vat and goes through a malolactic fermentation. It is then matured on its lees for 7 months and then fined before being bottled. Frédéric bottles all his wine at one time and holds it in his underground cellar until shipment.

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Region: Bourgogne

The wine region of Burgundy extends from the town of Chatillon sur Seine in the north to Lyon in the south, though; I prefer to put the southern boundary at Macon, and in this way leave the Beaujolais region as a separate entity. Thus, Burgundy includes the wine regions of Côtes de Chatillon, Yonne, Côte d’Or, Côte Chalonnaise, Côtes du Couchey and Maconnais. The vast majority of Burgundy’s wines are produced from three grape varieties: Aligoté, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and they are produced without blending the different grape types. The result, therefore, is a mapping of these three grape types onto the whole range of Burgundy’s vineyards which consequently offers the wine lover a unique window through which to notice and appreciate the concept of terroir. The difference in taste between Chardonnay grown in Chablis and Chardonnay grown in Macon is something that will always delight me...

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The Burgundy vineyards have been intimately worked and studied for many centuries which has resulted in a complex and highly detailed system of nomenclature, one that beginning in the 1930’s the INAO has tried to formalize into a logical network of “appellations controlees”. The system of appellations is uniform in its general outline for Burgundy’s different wine regions, but much less uniform in its application. For example, each of the Premier Cru vineyards in the Côte D’Or and Côte Chalonnaise is associated with its village of origin and corresponds specifically to one plot of land within that village, whereas in the Yonne or Chablis to be exact, the Premier Cru vineyards never make reference to their villages of origin and moreover, the 79 Premier Cru vineyards typically use only 17 names. So, putting differences aside and embracing contradiction, one can say with confidence that the overall appellation structure is organized from the general to the specific. At the most general level, vineyards from any of the Burgundy wine regions can produce white, red, rosé or sparkling wines with the Bourgogne appellation. At the first level of specificity (and beginning of disparity among the regions), there are 24 regional appellations, each of which is comprised of a group of villages which share a common appellation name. Two examples, which illustrate the possible variation in size, are Côtes de Nuits Villages and Macon-Villages. Côtes de Nuits Villages includes nine villages whereas Macon-Villages includes 83 villages. At the next level of specificity, there are 44 local appellations, each of which corresponds to a specific village such as Gevrey-Chambertin and Chassagne-Montrachet. Within the local appellation structure, but higher up the hierarchal scale, there are 750 Premier Cru appellations which mark specific vineyard boundaries within a particular village. Examples are Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Petite Chapelle” and Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru“Les Chenevottes”. At the highest level of the paradigm, there are 33 Grand Cru appellations which similarly mark specific vineyard boundaries within a specific village (or spanning two!).

Examples of Grand Cru vineyards are Mazis-Chambertin and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. One of the lovely idiosyncrasies is evident from these examples; namely, why the grand cru vineyard “climat” names Chambertin and Montrachet are attached to their respective communes at all appellation levels.

If one is interested and persistent enough to comprehend the lay of the land in terms of its geography, geology and nomenclature, the picture quickly becomes much more complex when the land is divided between the many thousands of Burgundian wine-growers. The average land holding in Burgundy is two hectares (five acres) and in some of the most illustrious vineyards such as Batard-Montrachet a mere twelve hectares can be divided among 55 growers.

A deep knowledge of the wines produced in Burgundy, it is easy to see, would be best left up to those who have lots of free time. People that are teachers or NBA basketball players might have enough vacation time to tackle such a project, but only the NBA player would have the money to taste the wines. Happily, even without four months of vacation or enormous resources, the wines of Burgundy are there to give us all the taste of one of the vine’s favorite places on earth.

Burgundy wine growers certainly have no special claim to the concept of terroir, but they have embraced the notion of terroir in a way that brings it to our attention and gives us much to think about. If our attention is turned to the infinite variations of our mother earth and its ability to give these variations expression through the grape vine and its transformation into wine, then what a lovely reminder that we are from the earth, nourished by the earth and will return to it.