Chablis and its vineyard: the village below the grands crus
World capital of mineral chardonnay, Chablis is also a real Burgundy village, alive all year round.
A singular terroir: the Kimmeridgian
What makes Chablis is the soil. Some 150 million years ago a warm sea covered the region and left behind Kimmeridgian marl packed with tiny fossil oysters, Exogyra virgula. They are said to be what you taste in the saline tension of a great Chablis.
The vineyard spreads along both banks of the Serein across some twenty communes, planted with a single grape variety: chardonnay.
The four levels of the appellation
Petit Chablis
The plateaux, on Portlandian soils. Sharp, direct, best drunk young.
Chablis
The core of the appellation, on the slopes. The classic balance of northern chardonnay.
Chablis Premier Cru
Around forty climats — Montée de Tonnerre, Fourchaume, Montmains and more.
Chablis Grand Cru
Only seven climats, on a single right-bank slope: Les Clos, Vaudésir, Valmur, Grenouilles, Blanchot, Preuses, Bougros.
The village day to day
Chablis is not a stage set: it is a village of more than 2,000 people, with its shops, its bakery famous for gougères, its restaurants and its weekly market. From the house, everything is five minutes away on foot.
Worth seeing: the collegiate church of Saint-Martin (12th century), the Porte Noël gateway, the banks of the Serein, the old Petit Pontigny and the Vinéa Passion museum devoted to vine and wine, which gives you the keys to the vineyard before you set foot in a cellar.
Three walks from the front door
- The grand cru slope — 1 h round trip, view over the village
- The left-bank premier cru path — 2 h, between Montmains and Vaillons
- Along the Serein towards Poinchy — 1 h 30, flat and shaded
- A circuit of the village and its old gateways — 45 min
- The viewpoint above the Tonnerre road — 40 min
- The washhouse trail of the Chablisien — by car or bicycle
Useful information
- Distance from the house — 5 minutes’ walk to the village centre
- Market — Sunday morning, place du Général-de-Gaulle
- Tasting cellars — around ten in the village, open all year
- Vinéa Passion museum — devoted to vine and wine, in the village centre
- Wine festival — fourth weekend of October
- Saint-Vincent tournante — late January, in a different village each year
Combine it with
- Wine tourism stay — our dedicated format for exploring the vineyard.
- Cycling and nature stay — riding through the climats.
- Garden and terrace — the view over the slopes from the property.
- The region — other things to see around Chablis.
Book the house for your next holiday in Chablis
Available all year round, from a weekend to a full week. Write to us — we answer every enquiry personally, usually within 24 hours.