Three Houses on the Serein: A Day in Chablis
Journal · Visits of Monday 5 October 2026
We spent Monday in Chablis, the northernmost corner of Burgundy, where Chardonnay grows on Kimmeridgian limestone packed with fossil oyster shells. Three domaines opened their cellars to us: Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin and Louis Michel & Fils in the town itself, and Bessin-Tremblay a few kilometres north in La Chapelle-Vaupelteigne. Between them they cover almost every rung of the Chablis ladder, from Petit Chablis to five of the seven grands crus.
The 2026 harvest is already in. In Chablis it started in mid-August, a date that would have been unthinkable a generation ago, and the vintages we tasted tell the story of a climate changing fast.
The seven grands crus share a single hillside on the right bank of the Serein, from Bougros to Blanchot.
Left bank, right bank
The Serein river cuts the vineyard in two, and it explains much of what we tasted. The grands crus all sit together on the right bank, on a single hillside facing south-west above the town, flanked by premiers crus such as Fourchaume, Mont de Milieu and Montée de Tonnerre. The left-bank premiers crus, Montmains, Vaillons and Vosgros among them, mostly look east towards the rising sun.
For a long time the right bank gave the riper wines. With a warming climate the balance is shifting: some years the right bank now gets too much sun, and the cooler left-bank sites have come into their own.
Four vintages, four climates
The wines we tasted come from four very different years, and the weather of each one shows clearly in the glass.
2023, the generous year. A warm, dry spring and a flowering without trouble set a very large crop. Rain fell through June, July and August and ended in stormy weeks with some hail, bringing mildew in places, before hot, dry weather returned in early September. Picking began around 7 to 11 September, as sugars rose fast and acidity fell. Yields were high: the premiers and grands crus came in about 17% above their 2018 to 2022 average, village Chablis and Petit Chablis about 23% above. The wines are ripe and round, with orchard and stone fruit and a softer acidity. That is exactly what we found in Louis Michel's Vaulorent and Bessin-Tremblay's Forêt.
2024, the year of every hazard. A mild February and March woke the buds early, and April frosts caught them. Hail struck in May, earlier than usual. Rainfall ran about 50% above normal until the end of August, the town of Chablis flooded twice, and mildew spread through the vineyard. The harvest came in at less than half of 2023, and some growers picked below 10 hectolitres per hectare. What survived is fresh and precise, with grapefruit and lemon notes and a return to the classic, taut profile of Chablis. Bessin-Tremblay's Fourchaume and Valmur and Louis Michel's Montmains and Montée de Tonnerre all carry that signature.
2025, back to a full cellar. A dry spring left the soils of the Yonne short of water, cool June nights slowed the vines, then a warm July and hot spells in August pushed them on. Late rain swelled the berries and made ripeness uneven, so picking dates mattered more than ever. Volumes returned close to a normal year, and the young wines are generous and gourmand: Droin's Petit Chablis is sunny and round, Louis Michel's Chablis full of fruit yet taut.
2026, the year of drought. Barely a millimetre of rain fell in the first half of July, the Serein dropped to its lowest mid-July level since records began in 1970, and the river basin was placed under the strictest water restrictions. Picking started in mid-August, on 16 August at Bessin-Tremblay, and growers expect a reduced crop. Young vines and south-facing plots suffered most.
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin
The Droin family held vines in Chablis before 1537, and Benoît Droin, the thirteenth generation, has run the estate since 1999. He works around 26 hectares across sixteen climats, from Petit Chablis to five grands crus. The village wines are raised in stainless steel; the premiers and grands crus are fermented partly in tank and partly in barrel. The house signature is generosity: these are gourmand wines, best opened in their first three years or after seven.
The village wines
Petit Chablis · Domaine Droin
Petit Chablis 2025
A sunny, round white with plenty of fruit, raised entirely in stainless steel.
Village · Domaine Droin
Chablis
A blend of the domaine's village parcels, assembled for a consistent quality year after year and raised in stainless steel. More mineral than the Petit Chablis, with an iodine note and a fine tension.
The left bank
1er Cru · Left bank
Chablis 1er Cru Vosgros
From a cold valley, raised entirely in steel. This is Chablis in its austere form: more closed, but more classic.
1er Cru · Left bank
Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons
Vaillons lies in a higher valley that stays warmer at night, so it is picked early, like the grands crus. A touch of oak softens its minerality and tension; the wine is taut but beautifully balanced.
1er Cru · Left bank
Chablis 1er Cru Montmains
A premier cru on a gentle slope. The gentler the slope, the deeper the soil, and here more clay gives the wine a more Burgundian accent, with less of the iodine typical of Chablis. With age it develops toasty notes and the reductive character familiar from the Côte d'Or.
The right bank
Fourchaume is not one wine but several. Droin bottles its parts separately, and tasting them side by side is a lesson in terroir.
1er Cru · Fourchaume
Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent
Very compact rock, very little soil, and stones full of fossil oysters. The wine is extremely taut yet very ripe, with gunflint, struck flint, powder and a sulphurous edge. The most mineral expression of Fourchaume.
1er Cru · Fourchaume
Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume
Grown on an alluvial fan at the foot of the slope, this is the rounder, fleshier side of Fourchaume, closer in feel to Montmains.
1er Cru · Fourchaume
Chablis 1er Cru Vaupulent
A little rounder again, with an exotic touch to the fruit.
1er Cru · Right bank
Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu
Facing due south, Mont de Milieu gives plenty of southern fruit: peach and apricot.
1er Cru · Right bank
Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre
Here the soil holds blue clay, a clay that has never been oxidised. The wine has the smoky side of Vaulorent with more opulence, and like Vaulorent it deserves ten to fifteen years in the cellar.
The grands crus
The grands crus sit in two small valleys cut into the same hillside, and exposure alone makes the difference between them.
Grand Cru · Domaine Droin
Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir
The sunniest of the grands crus. Elegant and feminine, very open, with great length, opulence and tension. Almond, walnut and honeysuckle, then pip and stone fruit.
Grand Cru · Domaine Droin
Chablis Grand Cru Valmur
From a more open valley, higher up, on white clays. Less elegant than Vaudésir but more powerful, with a shell-like, very saline character that is Chablis to the core.
Grand Cru · Domaine Droin
Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles
A more Burgundian style, round, saline and richer. A friendly wine that is easy to understand.
Grand Cru · Domaine Droin
Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos, Hommage à Louis
Dense, powerful and deeply Burgundian, this is a wine to keep in the cellar.
Two older bottles
1er Cru · Domaine Droin
Chablis 1er Cru Vosgros 2008
Plenty of tension still, with wax and light oxidative notes.
1er Cru · Domaine Droin
Chablis 1er Cru Montmains 2009
A striking note of toasted bread. A warm vintage, yet the acidity is still fine.
Domaine Bessin-Tremblay
In La Chapelle-Vaupelteigne, just north of Chablis on the Fourchaume side, Romain Bessin represents the eighth generation of a winegrowing family. The domaine farms about ten hectares: two in grand cru Valmur, four in premier cru and four in village Chablis. Everything is picked by hand and fermented with the grapes' own yeasts, and the wines spend a long time on their fine lees.
Bourgogne · Bessin-Tremblay
Bourgogne Le Sud 2025
A blend from the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais, made in a few hundred bottles only. Well balanced and gourmand, with white and yellow fruit, apple and peach. Expressive and made with little sulphur, to drink within five years.
Village · Bessin-Tremblay
Chablis Vieilles Vignes 2023
The élevage is not yet fully absorbed. The domaine's wines are built to reach maturity at around ten years.
1er Cru · Bessin-Tremblay
Chablis 1er Cru Forêt 2023
Honeysuckle and flowers, a noble bitterness and moderate acidity. In years when the volume is too small, Forêt is bottled as Montmains.
1er Cru · Bessin-Tremblay
Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume La Pièce au Comte
A parcel that once belonged to the local nobility and has been in the family since 1878. It strikes a balance between limestone and marl that gives remarkable length and opulence, tension and fruit. A crystalline, pure, crunchy wine.
1er Cru · Bessin-Tremblay
Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 2024
2024 gave a tiny harvest: good quality, but very little wine. The vintage marks a return to a more traditional identity. More tender and less complex than La Pièce au Comte, to drink between five and twelve years.
Grand Cru · Bessin-Tremblay
Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2024
Notes of honey, with tension and intensity: a grand cru still holding itself in reserve, very subtle and discreet, with lemon and fresh hazelnut. Like Blanchot and Les Preuses, Valmur shows more subtlety than power in its youth.
Domaine Louis Michel & Fils
Louis Michel has been based in the town of Chablis since 1850, and Guillaume Michel, the sixth generation, has run it since 2007. Its 25 hectares lie in the historic heart of Chablis, and premiers and grands crus account for about 70% of its production. Some 160,000 bottles a year go to around forty countries, mostly to restaurants and a few wine merchants. Since the late 1960s the domaine has worked entirely in stainless steel, with no oak at any level, so each climat speaks for itself.
Village · Louis Michel
Chablis 2025
Superbly balanced, with generous fruit, great tension and an undertone of gunflint.
1er Cru · Louis Michel
Chablis 1er Cru Montmains 2024
A saline, iodine austerity and real freshness, with great length on the palate.
1er Cru · Louis Michel
Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 2024
A wine that needs air to reveal itself. Subtle citrus and young herbs, with a gourmand core beneath and a column of tension running through it.
1er Cru · Louis Michel
Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent 2023
A warm and generous vintage, and it shows in the glass.
The Cabinet opens
Three houses, three readings of the same limestone: Droin's generous, site-by-site precision, Bessin-Tremblay's patient wines built for the cellar, and Louis Michel's pure, oak-free clarity. Discover the Droin selection and the wines of Louis Michel & Fils in the Cabinet, or speak to your concierge about the wines of Bessin-Tremblay.