Chablis 2021: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Chablis 2021: 4/5

‘Chablis 2021 is a vintage full of vibrant acidity, one which shows a particularly strong terroir influence, and has produced wines which will reward careful cellaring.’

Chablis 2021: wine of the vintage

Domaine Vincent Dauvissat, Chablis Les Preuses Grand Cru

What a difference a year makes. When I visited Chablis in October 2021, many of the winemakers I spoke to were gloomy in the knowledge that although nature had given Chablis producers a high-quality and decent-quantity vintage in 2020, this had been followed by one of the most difficult for many years.

But in my most recent visit, the worried expressions had been replaced with smiles as winemakers proudly showed the fruits of their labours – a Chablis vintage which is the first since 2017 to fully demonstrate the ‘classical’ elements that make this wine so distinctive.

Scroll down to see Andy Howard MW’s top-scoring Chablis 2021 wines

Chablis 2021 is a vintage full of vibrant acidity, one which shows a particularly strong terroir influence, and has produced wines which will reward careful cellaring. Compared with the warmer, ‘solar’ vintages of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022, the 2021 vintage was distinctly cool and was afflicted by many climatic challenges.

Credit: Maggie Nelson

Taste the terroir

In late April, ‘black’ frost swept down from the high plateaus around the region, decimating certain vineyards. Flowering was poor and the very cool weather, combined with high rainfall in much of the growing season, reduced yields. Oidium, mildew and, at the end of the season, rot were all prevalent in the vineyard. Many producers saw yields fall by 50%.Benoît Droin (Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin) confirmed that his Petit Chablis crop was down 80%. However, Chablis producers are used to difficult growing seasons and are quite philosophical; when I met Louis Moreau a year ago, he observed that ‘2021 is perhaps not so bad – if we were in the Jura we would probably have no crop at all’. The other major downside to 2021’s very low yields is that this has come at a time when demand for Chablis continues to grow, with significant upward pressure on prices.

Paul Espitalié, director of Maison Simonnet-Febvre and president of the Chablis Commission within the Bourgogne regional wine board, noted: ‘2021 Chablis is a classic vintage with the cooler conditions giving terroir-focused wines which will age well.’ Espitalié described the differences during the last three harvests: ‘In 2020, we just watched the grapes arrive at the winery – they were so healthy there was nothing to do. In 2022 it has been similar. Yet in 2021, we needed to have a large team in place with many vibrating sorting tables – we had to reject many of the grapes.’

Other winemakers made similar comments. Didier Séguier, managing director of Domaine William Fèvre – the largest owner of [non-cru] AP Chablis vines with 47ha under vine – noted that in 2021 yields were down from an average of 50hl/ha to just 18hl/ha. Yet Séguier is very happy with the quality on show. Tasting the Fèvre range in 2021 gave a wonderful opportunity to see the variations between each individual Chablis climat – the differences between, for example, Vaulorent/Montée de Tonnerre and Montmains/Vaillons are vivid in 2021.

Guillaume Michel (Domaine Louis Michel) and Benoît Droin agreed. Michel’s focus on individual terroir differences has been amplified in 2021. Many Chablis producers choose to make a blend of the three different climats for their premier cru Montmains but, at Domaine Louis Michel, the individual characters of Butteaux, Fôrets and Montmain are displayed with great clarity: restrained Butteaux from dense white- clay soils; smoky/gunflint notes from the limestone-rich soils of Fôrets; and the riper stone fruit of Montmain.

Quality definition

Another difference between 2021 and the preceding vintages of 2019 and 2020, is that wines are less homogeneous and identifying the right producer is key. The estates who worked tirelessly in the vineyard during the unfavourable growing season, and were prepared to reject any grapes not up to their exacting standards, had the potential to make memorable wines.

Interestingly, there is a rapidly growing interest in adopting organic, and in some cases biodynamic viticulture. It might seem an odd thing to do in the marginal climate of Chablis, but the high quality of organic wines in 2021 was very apparent.

In 2019 and 2020, the differences between the quality designations were less distinct. In 2021 there are very clear steps in the quality ladder between Petit Chablis and Chablis, from Chablis to premier cru and then up to grand cru. However, there are many fine wines at both Petit Chablis and Chablis level, with potentially great wines at the top of the pyramid.

Chablis: vintage styles

2021 A very challenging year in the vineyard with frosts, cold weather and high disease pressure. Yet the final result is a low-yield year with some very classical Chablis – high acidity, minerality, restraint and a strong terroir influence.

2020 Early but high-quality vintage with typical Chablis drive and freshness. Along with 2017, the best since 2014. A vintage to buy, and to keep the top wines carefully for drinking over five to 10 years.

2019 Some spikes of heat, but the grapes were very concentrated, giving Chablis wines with weight and the acidity to support the ripe fruit. Best sites will keep many years.

2018 Big harvest with a dry, hot summer leading to ripe grapes which lacked a bit of concentration but had plenty of fruit purity. Stone fruit characters more evident, less classic, relatively early drinking.

2017 A fine vintage, plenty of acidity, floral and mineral notes, and a lot more drive and intensity than in either 2016 or 2018. Vintage to keep.

Across 35 Petit Chablis wines, my average score was 88pts; for the 87 Chablis tasted it was 89. Of 135 premiers crus tasted the average was 91, while 43 grands crus averaged 93.

Within the premiers crus, the right-bank superstars of Montée de Tonnerre and Vaulorent stood out with two ‘gold’ awards each, yet Fôrets showed why this left-bank climat, particularly revered when in the hands of Vincent Dauvissat (as ‘La Forest’), is clearly comparable.

At grand cru level the results were even more impressive, with every wine scoring at least 90pts and 12 wines rated 95 and above. Les Clos and, perhaps surprisingly, Preuses stood out – the latter a truly aristocratic and elegant grand cru in this restrained, classical vintage. It may be hard to describe these wines as bargains, but in the context of fine wine pricing around the world, they do represent fantastic value and will give drinking pleasure for several decades.

Chablis 2021 score tables

Chablis 2021 score table – notes for all wines scoring 92 points and above

Grand Cru Chablis 2021 score table

Premier Cru Chablis 2021 score table

ALSO

Individual appellation analysis and their top-scoring wines:

Grand Cru Chablis | Premier Cru Chablis | AOP Chablis| Petit Chablis 

Top-value Chablis

Anticipated release: Howard’s top-scoring Chablis 2021

The following 37 wines all scored 94 points and above. 

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