1996 Verget Chablis

Maison Verget is a negociant based in Macon, Burgundy. It was founded in 1990 by Jean-Marie Guffens, a Belgian who moved to France in 1976 with his wife to learn French and study wine. After studying viticulture in France and working for other winemakers, they started making their own wines under the label Domain Guffens-Heynen. But Jean-Marie also wanted had ideas about being a negociant, and today his idealistic and demanding approach to vinification have made the Verget “one of Burgundy’s most talked-about sources of white Burgundy,” according to Robert M. Parker Jr. Verget’s broad portfolio of wines win high ratings from Parker and others.

Chablis is the northernmost region of Burgundy, located just 110 miles southeast of Paris. It is also one of the region’s most historic, and by some measures most under-rated, appellations. In the 19th century Chablis included 100,000 acres of vineyards and supplied Paris with much of its red and white wine. Today Chablis has just 7,000 acres of AOC vineyards, having lost many to the 19th century phylloxera scourge. Chablis is admired by white wine cognoscenti, however, for its Chardonnays, which are notably different from the Chardonnays produced further south. Chardonnay is the only grape grown for the Chablis appellation – there are no red wines. Chablis has seven Grand Cru vineyards and twenty-two Premier Crus. Given its northern location, harvests are not dependable in Chablis. But in good years the wines are generally described as “flinty,” meaning more acidic, steely, austere and mineral tasting than the fuller, fruitier Chardonnays of the Côte d’ Or. In the 20th century, Chablis’ wider recognition as a venerable wine-producing region suffered from the fact that bulk wine producers in California and Australia made unappealing white jug wine blends of various white grapes, rarely including Chardonnay, which they marketed as “Chablis.”

This white variety originated in Burgundy, but is now grown around the world. Its flexibility to thrive in many regions translates to wide flavor profile in the market. Chardonnay is commonly used in making Champagne and sparkling wines.