Domaine Oudin Les Serres Chablis

Domaine Oudin in the village of Chichée (just outside of Chablis) was founded in the 1980s by Jean-Claude and Christiane Oudin. Looking for a better quality of life than they had in Paris, they moved back to Christiane’s home place and took over the 2 hectares of vines already in her family. Over the years they accumulated a total of 9.5 hectares, all of which are no further than 15 mins (by tractor!) from the village. Now the Domaine is run by their daughters Nathalie and Isabelle. They make two village appellation level wines (Les Serres is one of these) and two premier cru. “At harvest I pick out the best parcels, the ones which will go into Les Serres, explains Nathalie Oudin. It is not necessarily the old vines parcels. In the past it was a young parcel my father chose to vinify separately, a parcel with small, wonderful grapes. Old vines are nice, but if the terroir isn’t the best the age doesn’t matter. The same work is done in the vineyard and in the cellar for both our Chablis cuvées. The difference is that Les Serres gets an elevage that is twice as long as the other cuvée, two years instead of one.” We are head over heels for this Chablis! Lithe, mineral, but not too lean. Make a quick trip to the City Market to pick up some fresh Caromont Chevre to snack on while you sip. Native yeast, low sulphur, and no chemicals are used in the vineyard.