Etienne Boileau

In 1987 Etienne Boileau, William Nahan and Christian Simon joined forces to create this winery which is also known as the Domaine du Chardonnay. The Domaine had eleven hectares of vines at this stage and eighty hectares of cereal crops. They doubled the vineyard size in 1988 with acquisitions in Petit Chablis, Chablis, and five Chablis Premiers Crus and in 1992 abandoned the cereal crops to concentrate entirely on vines. From this date onwards they invested heavily in equipment for both viticulture and vinification and in all sorts of improvements in the winery: pneumatic presses, their own bottling line and so on. They are now a fully fledged and thoroughly grown up member of Chablis’ premier producers with 36 hectares of vines.

The appellation covers 3,000 hectares around the town of Chablis itself. Nearly 2,300 out of a possible 2,600 of AC Chablis are planted. It is defined more than anything else by its famous Kimmeridgean soils, an argilo-calcaire mixture of limestone and clay containing a high density of tiny fossilized oyster shells that is one of the contributing elements of the lean, pure, racy style the region produces from its Beaunois (Chardonnay). For the Montée de Tonnerre and Mont de Milieu cuvées between 20% and 40% of the must is fermented in new French oak and then blended eight months later with the stainless steel fermented portion. Vaillons is raised entirely in stainless steel.