2023 Domaine Moreau Naudet "Pargues"

Issuing from three parcels of over 60-year-old vines, amounting to 1.8 hectares, Moreau-Naudet’s 2023 Chablis Pargues Vieilles Vignes sees 30% of maturation in used oak, with the remainder matured in tank. Offering notes of pear, honeysuckle and iodine, it’s medium to full-bodied, concentrated and inviting, laden with vibrant acidity and concluding with a delicately chalky finish. This estate has seen no less than five generations, but it only marketed its first bottles in 1991. Today, Virginie Moreau presides over this 25-hectare domaine following the premature passing of Stéphane Moreau in 2016. The order of the day is organic (though not certified) farming, harvesting ripe yet clean fruit cropped at modest yields and extended maturation—18 months on the lees in a combination of used oak barrels (mostly 228-liter, averaging 10 years old) and stainless steel, with final settling in tank for two to four weeks. After a series of sunny vintages, Virginie has started to vinify more wine in tank (Montmains and Valmur are now matured entirely in stainless steel), as she believes this helps retain more of the classically Chablisien signatures.(KK)