Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon 2016

Domaine Daniel-Étienne Defaix (also known as Domaine du Vieux Château) is a true Chablis legend, with winemaking roots stretching back centuries. The estate is a radical outlier in the region: following an ultra-extended aging on the lees - often lasting between 18 to 36 months - the wines are purposefully held back and released only when they have achieved full maturity and peak complexity. Combined with organic farming and Chablis' famed Kimmeridgian limestone soils, this unique approach lends the wines an incredible depth of flavour while maintaining that textbook, searing acidity and minerality.

The Chablis 1er Cru 'Vaillon' hails from the historic heart of the cru (prior to its modern expansion), a parcel characterised by iron-rich soils on a remarkably steep, south-east-facing slope with a gradient of up to 28 per cent. Purposefully held back by the estate and released only 8-10 years after the harvest, this is arguably Defaix’s most rounded and textural Premier Cru bottling.

On the nose, it displays rich aromatics of ripe citrus, orchard fruit, and wet stone, all beautifully layered with complex honeyed and waxy notes from extended bottle ageing. The palate is mouth-watering and deeply textural, showing a rounder, fuller body than 'Les Lys', whilst its intense, driving minerality carries through to a long-lingering, bone-dry finish. Layered and complex.