You’ve undoubtedly heard the old real estate trope—location, location, location—applied to wine. Guy Robin was a believer. Back in the 1960s, he assembled a nearly unparalleled collection of vineyard plots in Chablis, including parts of five Grand Crus and four Premier Crus.
Later, he resisted the urge to replant those vineyards with higher-yielding clones of Chardonnay, as many other did, and today his daughter, Marie-Ange Robin, is blessed with arguably the richest trove of old vines in the region. Since taking the reins of the family estate in the early 2000s, Marie-Ange has turned fruit from her heirloom vines into gold time and time again. We here at SommSelect have been loyal Robin fans, which may have helped us secure a small amount of the estate’s 2017 Bougros Grand Cru, sourced from just one acre (not hectare, acre) of vines in this landmark site. Upon tasting this richly textured, deeply mineral Chablis, something I said about Guy Robin in a previous offer became even more true—that this estate can be counted on to deliver something bolder and more textured than most of its competition. Some on our panel pegged it as something from one of the ‘Big 3’ villages in the Côte de Beaune, but nope, it’s from cool, northerly, outer-limits Chablis. For anyone who may doubt the influence of vine age on a wine’s character, this wine is a forceful counterpoint. We can offer just six bottles per person today, so don’t delay if game-changing Chablis sounds as appealing to you as it does to me!
Estate namesake Guy Robin assembled most of the family’s holdings in the 1960s, and his acquisitions included significant stands of ‘pre-phylloxera’ vines—i.e., vineyards that were not destroyed during the phylloxera epidemic of the late-1800s. The phylloxera louse (a root-eating aphid) devastated the European wine industry, forcing vignerons to graft vines onto phylloxera-resistant American rootstocks, but it wasn’t a total annihilation. Some pockets of Europe were spared, including some pockets of Chablis: A good 80% of Robin’s modern-day vines are on their “own,” pre-phylloxera roots. Guy Robin never re-planted them (as so many Chablis houses did) to higher-yielding clones. When Marie-Ange left a career as a fine art dealer in Paris to return to the family estate, she initiated more sustainable farming practices, injecting new life into vines that in many cases are 80+ years old.
The Bougros vineyard is at the western end of Chablis’ famous Grand Cru slope and is said to have a greater concentration of clay and marl mixed with the region’s trademark Kimmeridgian limestone. This soil composition lends wines from the site a little richer, more textured mouthfeel, and as I noted above, Robin’s 2017 is true to form and then some: The Robins’ one-acre parcel in Bougros contains vines averaging 50 years of age, which delivered deeply concentrated berries in 2017, an exceptional (though frost-depleted) vintage.
As in 2016, spring frosts reduced the eventual crop in Chablis, although the overall reduction was smaller in ’17. In both cases, however, what made it through to harvest did so with flying colors—in fact, the ’17 harvest was relatively early, with ripe, healthy grapes producing wines that are enjoyable young. Robin’s Bougros Grand Cru is already singing, displaying a level of palate-coating richness rarely seen in Chablis. Yes, they are one of those Chablis houses who ferment and age wines in oak barrels (mostly used), but oak isn’t really the story here: This is a layered wine with a sunny core of fruit. In the glass, it’s a deep yellow-gold with platinum reflections, with potent aromas of golden delicious apple, white peach, lemon zest, crushed oyster shells, wet stones, and a hint of fresh cream. Within the Chablis universe, I’d say it is full-bodied, with a structure that suggests more of a “near-term” drinking window—it should continue to drink beautifully over the next 10+ years. Try it with the cheesy chicken roulades in the attached recipe. My mouth is already watering thinking about this pairing. It’s going to be a memorable one. Cheers!
