Description

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 not only change her family’s fortunes but also preserve a critical piece of Chablis history.

Domaine Guy Robin et Fils 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, built up the family estate; yet it is Marie-Ange who has brought this winery to a level of greatness for which it was always destined.

Marie-Ange remembers her parents planting the family’s vines in the late 1950s and 1960s, at a time when other defeated Chablis growers were leaving the village in droves, exhausted by the hard work (and repeated destructive frosts) of this northern wine region. But Marie-Ange’s parents persevered.

Because of her family’s efforts, Domaine Robin today claims the most premier and grand cru vineyard land (second only to neighboring William Fevre) – not to mention some of the oldest Chardonnay vines – in Chablis. And as a result, Robin Chablis across the board has a seductive, textural quality to it; they are unctuous, weighty, serious Chablis wines.

In short, there are few other estates that promise old-vine Chablis wines of such character and complexity, for such reasonable prices.

Marie-Ange Robin practices sustainable farming, avoiding chemical treatments and following organic practices as much as weather conditions allow. Some 80% of the estate’s vineyards are planted with older vines; in fact, estate vines in grand cru ‘Blanchot’ are some of Chablis’ oldest, at 80 years old.

Grapes are harvested by hand, then pressed and fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks or in older French oak barrels. Wines are aged in mostly older barrels for one year, with approximately 10% new barrels per vintage.  Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

BLEND: 100% Chardonnay

VINEYARDS: Estate vines planted by the family in the 1950s and 1960s
in lieu-dits ‘Beugnons’ and ‘Mélinots.’ Pure Kimmeridgian soils are called
“millefeuille,” or many-layered, with white clay and fossilized oyster shells.

AGE OF VINES: 50-70 years

WINEMAKING: Hand-harvested. Pressed immediately, with juice held in
tank for 24 hours to settle naturally. Fermented on indigenous yeasts in
French oak barrels (10% new.) Aged just under one year in barrel. Bottled
unfined and unfiltered.

TASTING IMPRESSIONS: Aromas of crushed shells, incense, lemon zest,
white pepper. Silky and broad in the mouth; intense citrus flavors.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS: Regional goats’ cheese; chicken in mushroom
sauce; seared ahi tuna or other rich, fresh fish.