Petit Chablis 2021: top-scoring wines

Chablis 2021: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

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 

Top-value Chablis

Petit Chablis 2021

Size: 1,189 hectares

Created in 1944, the Petit Chablis appellation (AOP) is a great introduction to the crisp, fresh style of Chablis, at slightly lower prices. As with Chablis, only Chardonnay is permitted, with the vines relatively recently planted.

Petit Chablis comes from vineyards planted outside the delimited AOP Chablis area, and are nearly always found on younger, harder, Portlandien bedrock. These are also often found at higher elevations above the Kimmeridgean soils, for example the plateau above Les Clos Grand Cru. As a result, temperatures are cooler and vines are less exposed to the sun. Petit Chablis shares similar characters to Chablis, although in a more accessible, younger-drinking package.

2021 vintage

In 2021, stone-fruit notes were evident in most Petit Chablis with plenty of bright citrus acidity. These wines will be at their best in the next 18-24 months.

Petit Chablis provides an early-drinking example of the classic Chablis style, coming from younger vineyards as well as those planted on Portlandien bedrock.

Many of the best Petit Chablis vineyards are located at higher altitudes, for example above Les Clos Grand Cru. In 2021, these higher vineyards were particularly badly hit by the ‘black’ frost which swept down from the higher plateau on the 7th April. The rest of the season was challenging with cool weather and higher than average rainfall in May and July adding to disease pressure during the growing season. As with the rest of Chablis, the vintage was saved by drier weather in August and the end results are surprisingly good.

2021 Petit Chablis is lighter and fresher in style, with plenty of crisp acidity and lemon/citrus notes very evident.

The majority of Petit Chablis wines are ideal for drinking over the next 12-18 months but a couple of producers have made Petit Chablis which stand out in terms of additional concentration.

Look out for wines from Domaine Milcent in Chichee, Domaine Gerard Tremblay and Julien Brochard’s 7 Lieux Petit Chablis from vines planted above Cote de Lechet. Not surprisingly, Raveneau and Vincent Dauvissat made particularly fine Petit Chablis, particularly in the context of this challenging vintage.

Top-scoring Petit Chablis 2021

The wines below all scored 90 points or above. 

If we have awarded ‘Top value’ to an as-yet unpriced wine, it is based on our predicted pricing.

Chablis 2021 homepage