Chablis () is by the northernmost Appellation d'origine contrôlée of the Burgundy region in France. Its cool climate produces wines with more acidity and less fruitiness than Chardonnay vines grown in warmer ones. These often have a "flinty" note, sometimes described as "goût de pierre à fusil" ("tasting of gunflint"), and sometimes as "steely". The Chablis AOC is required to use Chardonnay grapes solely.
The grapevines around the town of Chablis make a dry white wine. In comparison with the white wines from the rest of Burgundy, Chablis wine has typically much less influence of oak. The amount of barrel maturation, if any, is a stylistic choice that varies widely among Chablis producers. Many Grand Cru and Premier Cru wines receive some maturation in oak barrels, but typically the time in barrel and the proportion of new barrels is much smaller than for white wines of Côte de Beaune. Wines not vinified in barrel will instead be vinified in stainless steel.
Location
thumb|The Yonne department where Chablis is located
Chablis lies about east of Auxerre in the Yonne department, situated roughly halfway between the Côte d'Or and Paris. Of France's wine-growing areas, only Champagne, Lorraine, Alsace and parts of Grand Auxerrois have a more northerly location. Chablis is closer to the southern Aube district of Champagne than the rest of Burgundy.
The region encompasses across 25 communes located along the Serein river. The soil is Kimmeridge Clay with outcrops of the same chalk layer that extends from Sancerre up to the White Cliffs of Dover, giving a name to the paleontologists' Cretaceous period. The Grands Crus, the best vineyards in the area, all lie on a single, small slope, facing southwest and located just north of the town of Chablis.
History
During the Middle Ages the Catholic Church, particularly Cistercian monks, became a major influence in establishing the economic and commercial interest of viticulture for the region. Anséric de Montréal gave a vineyard at Chablis to the Abbey in 1186. In 1245 the chronicler Salimbene di Adam described a Chablis wine. Chardonnay is believed to have first been planted in Chablis by the Cistercians of Pontigny Abbey in the 12th century, and from there spread south to the rest of the Burgundy region.
The Chablis area became part of the Duchy of Burgundy in the 15th century. There are records in the mid-15th century of Chablis wine being shipped to Flanders and Picardy. But in February 1568 the town was besieged by the Huguenots, who burned part of it.
right|thumb|The development of the French railway system opened up the Parisian market to wine regions across the country, dealing a significant blow to the monopoly held by the Chablis wine industry at the time.
The Seine river, easily accessible via the nearby Yonne river, gave the Chablis wine producers a near monopoly on the lucrative Parisian market. In the 17th century, the English discovered the wine and began importing large volumes. The 19th-century Russian novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy mentions "classic Chablis" as a commonplace choice of wine.
The end of the 19th century was a difficult time for the Chablis growers. Firstly, with new railway systems linking all parts of the country with Paris, there was inexpensive wine from regions in the Midi that undercut Chablis. The vineyards were affected by oidium from 1886, and then phylloxera from 1887. Effective replacement of vinestocks to counter phylloxera took some 15 years. Many Chablis producers gave up winemaking, the acreage in the region steadily declining throughout much of the early 20th century. By the 1950s there were only of vines planted in Chablis. It has a semi-continental climate without maritime influence. The peak summer growing season can be hot; and wintertime can be long, cold and harsh, with frosty conditions lasting to early May. Years that experience too much rain and low temperature tend to produce wines excessively high in acidity and fruit that is too lean to support it. Vintages that are exceedingly warm tend to produce fat, flabby wines that are too low in acidity.
The region of Chablis lies on the eastern edge of the Paris Basin. The region's oldest soil dates back to the Upper Jurassic age, over 180 million years ago and includes a vineyard soil type that is calcareous, and known as Kimmeridge Clay. All of the Chablis Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards are planted on this primarily Kimmeridgean soil, which imparts a distinctively mineral, flinty note to the wines. Other areas, particularly most of the Petit Chablis vineyards, are planted on slightly younger Portlandian soil, still of similar structure.
Viticulture
140px|right|thumb|[[Smudge pots protect Chablis vineyards from frost.]]
A serious viticultural concern for Chablis vineyard owners is frost protection. During the bud break period of a grapevine's annual cycle, the Chablis region is vulnerable to springtime frost, from March to early May, which can compromise the crop yield. Formerly, the financial risk involved saw many producers turn to polyculture agriculture, pulling up vineyards to plant alternative crops.
In the 1960s, technological advances in frost protection introduced preventive measures, such as smudge pots and aspersion irrigation to the region. Smudge pots work by providing direct heat to the vines while aspersion involves spraying the vines with water as soon as temperatures hit and maintaining persistent coverage. The water freezes on the vine, shielding it with a protective layer of ice that functions igloo-style, retaining heat within the vine. While cost is a factor in using smudge pots, there is a risk with the aspersion method if the constant sprinkling of water is interrupted causing worse damage to the vine.
At harvest time, AOC regulations stipulate grapes for Grand Cru vineyard must be picked with a potential alcohol level of at least 11 percent, at least 10.5 percent for Premiers Crus and 9.5 percent for AOC Chablis vineyards. Yields in Grands Crus must be limited to 45 hectoliters per hectare (3.3 tons per acre) with a 20% allowance for increased yields. There is no official regulation on the use of mechanical harvesting, but most Grand Cru producers prefer hand picking because human pickers tend to be more delicate with the grapes and can distinguish better between ripe and unripe bunches. Over the rest of the Chablis region, mechanical harvesting was used by around 80% of the vineyards at the turn of the 21st century. The traditional style of vine training in Chablis is to have the vine trained low to the ground for warmth with four cordons stretching out sideways from the trunk.
Chablis Grands Crus
There are seven officially delineated Grand Cru climats, covering an area of , all located on one southwest facing hill overlooking the town of Chablis at elevations between . One vineyard there, La Moutonne, between the Grand Cru vineyards of Les Preuses and Vaudésir, is often considered an "unofficial" Grand Cru. The Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) does recognize La Moutonne, but the seven Grand Cru vineyards officially recognized by the INAO are (from northwest to southeast): Bougros, Les Preuses, Vaudésir, Grenouilles, Valmur, Les Clos and Blanchot (also known as Les Blanchots). Together, the Grand Cru vineyards account for around 3% of Chablis annual yearly production.
While the producer can have a marked influence, each of the Grand Cru vineyards is noted for its particular terroir characteristic. Tom Stevenson notes that Blanchot produces the most delicate wine with floral aromas; Bougros is the least expressive but still has vibrant fruit flavors; Les Clos tends to produce the most complex wines with pronounced minerality; Grenouilles produces very aromatic wines with racy, elegance; the Les Preuses vineyard receives the most sun among the Grand Crus and tends to produce the most full bodied wines; Valmur is noted for its smooth texture and aromatic bouquet; Vaudésir tends to produce wines with intense flavors and spicy notes.
Premiers Crus
At the turn of the 21st century, there were 40 Premier Cru vineyards. The names of many of these vineyards do not appear on wine labels. The INAO permits the use of "umbrella names": smaller, lesser known vineyards are allowed to use the name of a nearby more famous Premier Cru vineyard. Some of the "umbrella" vineyards are Mont de Milieu, Montée de Tonnerre, Fourchaume, Vaillons, Montmains, Beauroy, Vaudevey, Vaucoupin, Vosgros, Les Fourneaux, Côte de Jouan and Les Beauregards. The wines often have a "flinty" note, sometimes described as "goût de pierre à fusil" (gunflint) and sometimes as "steely". Some examples of Chablis can have an earthy "wet stone" flavor that intensifies as it ages, before mellowing into delicate honeyed notes. Like most white Burgundies, Chablis can benefit from some bottle age. While producers' styles and vintage can play an influential role, Grand Cru Chablis can generally age for well over 15 years while many Premiers Crus will age well for at least 10 years.