Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 2023

Jean-Marc Brocard's Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume comes from one of the most renowned premiers crus on the right bank of the Serein, north of Chablis, in line with the grands crus. The vines, around forty years old, draw on the Kimmeridgian terroir, the Jurassic marls and limestones laden with fossilised oysters. The semi-continental climate, with cold winters and temperate summers, allows slow ripening that combines richness of fruit with the freshness and minerality typical of Chablis.

The harvest is moved by gravity through to settling, without pumping, to preserve the quality of the musts. Alcoholic fermentation is carried out with native yeasts, at a temperature regulated between 18 and 20 °C, and malolactic fermentation is completed. Ageing on the lees lasts fourteen months, 70% in large oak vats (foudres) and 30% in stainless-steel tanks. This split gives the wine volume and complexity while keeping the purity and tension of the terroir.

This wine reveals notes of acacia blossom, honeysuckle, candied orange, lemon, yellow peach, honey, roasted hazelnut and gunflint. The yellow colour with silvery glints heralds a floral nose whose core evolves towards candied citrus. The palate, precise and elegant, shows fine density balanced by freshness, before a persistent finish of roasted hazelnut.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.