Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru 2023 (750ML)

93 DE / 90-92 JM

This delicious wine boasts initial exotic notes of pomelo and melon and opens up to suggest acacia blossom and cream. The texture is creamy and rich, but the wine is not lacking freshness; the extract carries the wine to a lovely lingering finish. The grapes are from 4.82ha spread over five lieux-dits – Vaillons, Séchet, Beugnons, Roncières and Epinottes – lightly crushed and fermented in tank and in cask (25%). The warm microclimates and thin soils here deliver some of the ripest fruit on the left bank.—Charles Curtis MW, Decanter

25% wood. The first grapes to be picked. Good bright colour with a light green tint. Confit de citron, some white fruited flesh, no great acidity, but nuanced and pleasing. Softer finish than a classic Vaillons but very classy. Drink from 2026-2031. Tasted Jun 2024.—Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy

“People often cite Domaines Raveneau and Vincent Dauvissat as the two greatest exponents of Chablis, however, I would like to add a third – Domaine Jean-Paul & Benoît Droin. Over the last five or six years, Benoît Droin has really ratcheted up the quality. I cannot exaggerate how often Droin’s wines end up the best of the flight during the annual “Burgfest” blind tastings. Again and again, they shine against stiff competition. It is time to accept that Droin is now one of the leading producers in Chablis.”– Neal Martin, Vinous Media August 2018