Domaine De L’Enclos Chablis Grand Cru Le Clos 2023

Founded by siblings Romain and Damien Bouchard, Domaine de l’Enclos represents a new generation of Chablis winemakers committed to demanding organic viticulture. The family has been working in Chablis for generations, with a long lineage tied to the Bouchard Père & Fils house. In 2015, they sold their father’s négociant business but retained the 39 hectares of vineyard previously owned by their mother’s family.

The domaine obtained organic certification in 2018, and their underground vinification cellar — five metres below ground — provides natural temperature regulation and is comprised primarily of small stainless-steel tanks, ensuring that the various parcels can be vinified separately. The estate now holds three Grand Cru and seven Premier Cru sites across Chablis.

The estate’s style aims for precise, saline, and luminous Chardonnays, true to the limestone energy of the Serein valley. The Bouchard brothers favour somewhat more advanced ripeness than the classically austere Chablis style — full juices, enveloping textures, notes of pear, peach, and ripe white fruit — while never sacrificing the terroir’s defining mineral identity.

The vineyard
Les Clos is the largest and most celebrated of the seven climats within the 107-hectare Chablis Grand Cru appellation, bordered by Blanchot on one side and Valmur, Les Grenouilles, and Vaudésir on the other. The domaine’s vines here were planted in 1964 on the lower half of the slope facing the village of Chablis. Grapes are harvested at advanced ripeness.

Vinification
Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, followed by ageing on lees with very little sulphur added at bottling.

Eye
Intense straw yellow, with crystalline clarity typical of a young Grand Cru.

Nose
Remarkably accessible for a young Les Clos: a complex bouquet of flint and smoke underpinned by subtle tobacco notes, interwoven with crushed rock, petrichor, white flowers, and precisely delineated fruit — crisp apple, sun-kissed mirabelle plum, and citrus zest. An archetypal great Chablis nose, built on omnipresent minerality and a finely chiseled structure: oyster shell, abundant chalkiness, airy florality, and refined wood, developing at length in the glass.

Palate
Juicy and sensual, with a remarkable balance between ripeness and freshness typical of the vintage. A very vertical, sappy frame carries real flesh and persistence through to a salivating, gently bitter finish — an immense “Clos” 2023, built for the cellar.

Drink Window: 2028–2043. Best served around 11°C in proper white Burgundy glasses, with 30–45 minutes of decanting in its youth to unlock its full potential — Chablis Grand Crus age effortlessly for two decades, beginning to reveal their full character after about ten years.

Food Pairing
Risotto cooked with Chablis, or langoustine sautéed with white truffle — equally suited to other refined, luxurious preparations such as gyoza-style langoustine tails with reduced yuzu jus and parsley oil.