Moreau-Naudet Petit Chablis 2023

Opened recently as part of a masterclass upstairs at the shop, this had everyone salivating. It honestly drinks like a premier cru. My take on the 2023s from Moreau-Naudet is that they are more classic in style than the 2022s that came before them. This has great Chablis shape to it, with a taut and long middle palate and a back-end kick of flavour/acid/salinity that combine together to take this wine to another level. It has fantastic definition of flavour and a real crushed rock / river-bed mineral core that makes the wine so appealing and so identifiably Chablis. – Ches Cook, Five Way Cellars.

Diam. Moreau’s Petit Chablis comes from a single 2.5-hectare site, La Grosse Cour, between Courgis and Beine, just outside Chablis on the route to Auxerre. It has a southwest orientation and lies on Kimmeridgian soils (as opposed to the higher Portlandian soils on which most Petit is grown). Half of the plot is home to 25- to 30-year-old vines, while the other half is somewhat older at 45 to 50 years. The wine fermented spontaneously in large vats of 32 to 100 hectolitres. This wine possesses a surprising, though welcome, gravitas and charisma for a Petit Chablis. It is always a pleasure to taste what mature vines and quality, organic-focused farming can create at this level. Importer’s notes.

“Sourced from a large three-hectare vineyard in the plateau between Courgis and Beines, Moreau-Naudet’s 2023 Petit Chablis exhibits notes of peach, orange zest and honeysuckle. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied and textural yet bright, with lively acidity.” 88-89 points, Kristaps Karklins, The Wine Advocate.

“Mineral, cool – not large but it’s pure – very nice. Large in the mouth, mineral – not quite strict but almost chiselled. That’s a top PC for the vintage.” Bill Nanson, Burgundy Report.