Cold hard facts? Domaine Guy Robin delivers more depth, typicity, and soul than 99% of all Chablis producers, thanks to its trove of old heirloom vines, Grade-A real estate, and the superior vision of fourth-generation Marie-Ange Robin. As long as we’re laying it on: Robin is one of the fabled few reference points for all elite Burgundy and Premier Cru “Montée de Tonnerre” is among Chablis’ greatest vineyard sites—Grand Crus included. This is the bottle we geek out over the most in their blue-blooded lineup, as such, we stock it like a household commodity whenever a new vintage docks. Adding this to your collection, however big or small, means you’re a sage practitioner of elite Burgundy consumption.
No matter the bottle in question, Domain Guy Robin’s opulent, mineral-explosive wines always deserve the spotlight, but it’s hard to focus on anything other than today’s Premier Cru. Because the world has been alerted to what “Montée de Tonnerre” (“Thunder Mountain”) is capable of, this fabled site has become a Grand Cru in everything but name. Perched immediately upstream from the unbroken cluster of Grand Crus, sommeliers and Chablis lobbyists have long touted “Montée de Tonnerre” as one of the unspoken Grand Crus, slipping this “trade secret” to both fine diners and their Burgundy-loving friends. In short, Chablis hardly gets grander and more insider than this, and Robin’s comes in at a cool $45. When it comes to Premier Cru perfection, we consider ourselves the soapbox and Guy Robin’s “Thunder Mountain” the street preacher. Seriously: Open it now or in 7-10 years, and the quality is guaranteed to speak for itself. Don’t miss out!
Once again, we are the lucky beneficiaries of Guy Robin’s foresight: Back in the 1960s, he assembled a spectacular collection of vineyard plots in Chablis, including parcels in five Grand Crus and four Premier Crus. Later, he resisted the urge to replant those vineyards with higher-yielding clones of Chardonnay (as many others did), and now his daughter, Marie-Ange Robin, is blessed with perhaps the richest trove of old vines in the region. Guy Robin’s shrewd vineyard 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 parts of Chablis: A good 80% of Robin’s modern-day vines are on their “own,” pre-phylloxera roots!
Montée de Tonnerre is, in many experts’ minds, an ‘honorary’ Grand Cru—or, at the very least, as close as Premier Crus get to that top tier. The site picks up where the famed row of Grand Crus leaves off, sharing similar expositions (the “Blanchots” Grand Cru is literally across a slender ravine). Montée de Tonnerre wraps around a hillside and is traditionally broken up into three sections, or lieux-dits: “Pied d’Aloup” (at the top of the slope, facing east); “Chapelot” (more south-facing); and “Côte de Brechain” (the western slopes). Not surprisingly, the Robins have old vineyard holdings in all three sections and blend the fruit together to offer a panoramic view of this iconic vineyard. In the winery, indigenous yeasts carry out fermentation and their top wines, Premier Crus and up, age in a battery of French barrels.
The 2018 vintage was exceptionally warm and Robin’s bountiful crop brought intensely ripe and fleshy fruit. Robin is also known for fermenting and aging their top wines in wood, and while they are mostly neutral French barrels (10% new for Tonnerre), there’s always an extra textural gear. The result is a wine of calculated luxury and extreme precision—when we talk about tension in a wine from here on out, today’s 2018 Montée de Tonnerre should be treated as the prototype. In the glass, it reveals a deep yellow with silver reflections and emits laser-sharp aromas of yellow and green apple skin, white peach, apricot, salt-preserved lemon, Kaffir lime, pineapple core, lees, oyster shells, chalk, pulverized stones, honeysuckle, vanilla bean, and a touch of baking spice. It is medium-plus in body, with considerable energy and power—fittingly, a thunderous wine with luxurious streaks of electricity throughout. With 30 minutes in a decanter, this is already strutting a powerful mineral core that stretches broadly and deeply alongside an energetic cast of plush fruit. But the real magic of Thunder Mountain will come around year five, and the pinnacle of elite, developing Chablis will arrive around its 7-10th birthday. Cheers!
