Domaine Guy Robin et Fils Cuvée Marie-Ange Vieilles Vignes Chablis 2020

In the early 2000s, Marie-Ange Robin had a choice. Stay in Paris and pursue a successful career as a fine art dealer or return home to Chablis and take the reins of the family winery. Her decision would change her family’s fortunes and preserve a critical piece of Chablis's history. Domaine Guy Robin today is a winery reborn. Marie-Ange represents the fourth generation of vine growers in the family. It was her father, Guy, who slowly, parcel by parcel, purchased vineyards in the 1960s, but it was Marie-Ange who brought the winery to a level of greatness for which it was always destined. Simply put, there are few other Chablis estates with such a rich collection of older vines, and as a result, few other estates that deliver Chablis wines of such character and complexity. 

Because Guy refused to tear up vines for high-yielding clones as was the trend decades ago in Chablis, some 80% of the family’s vines across five grand cru vineyards and four premier cru vineyards, are “vieilles vignes,” or older vines. These low-yielding plants deliver richly aromatic Chardonnay, reflecting Chablis’ historic terroir like a mirror. 

The 2020 Cuvée Marie-Ange is 100% Chardonnay made from estate vines at the top of a slope, facing premier cru vineyard ‘Vaillons’ on the left bank of the Serein river. The fruit was hand-harvested and pressed right away, with the juice held in tank for 24 hours to settle naturally. Fermented on indigenous yeasts in French oak barrels (10% of which was new) and aged just under one year. Aromas of sauteed lemons, crushed oyster shells, lime curd, and incense. This wine is energetic and refined; indeed an exquisite expression of Chablis!