Christophe et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2023

Sébastien Christophe's story is a quiet testament to patient, generational growth. He took over the family domaine in 1999 with little more than a small parcel of Petit Chablis inherited from his family, and has spent the decades since methodically building the estate up to include a run of respected Premier Crus and, eventually, this single Grand Cru holding — now farmed under lutte raisonnée from the domaine's base on the scenic Fyé plateau. Blanchot itself is one of Chablis's most enigmatic Grand Cru sites: a 12.5-hectare vineyard on the eastern side of the appellation, named for the pale colour of its soil and subsoil, that receives only morning sun yet remains, paradoxically, a genuinely warm terroir thanks to its steep, sheltered slope. That combination means slow ripening and a harvest that typically starts well after neighbouring Les Clos, with classic Kimmeridgian limestone occasionally giving way to poorer clay, shell, and stone in places — a site that rewards a deft hand and punishes a careless one. Unlike Christophe's village and Petit Chablis, which ferment in steel, the Grand Cru sees time in barrel, a mark of the ambition this bottling represents.

The result has drawn comparisons to Domaine Raveneau — vibrant stone fruit, ripe berry, and citrus zest lead into a rich, almost cocoa-tinged finish, layered with apple, pear, lemon, and grapefruit, alongside mineral, honeyed, and gently oaked complexity. The palate carries real tension on release — a tightrope walk of citrus curd and racy acidity — that resolves beautifully into something rounder and more expansive with a few years in the cellar. Pour it with oysters, lobster, or a rich cream-based fish dish; this is a Grand Cru from a producer still quietly, deliberately earning his place among Chablis's finest names.