Les Bas de Chapelot
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Fresh oysters, grilled white fish, roasted chicken
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from a highly prized lieu-dit situated just beneath the prestigious Montée de Tonnerre Premier Cru slope, 'Les Bas de Chapelot' represents one of Patrick Piuze's most celebrated village-level bottlings. The vineyard's position at the foot of the hill provides a unique soil profile where deeper clay sits atop the classic, fossil-rich Kimmeridgian limestone. This specific terroir imparts a remarkable textural richness and weight that punches far above its village classification, often drawing comparisons to Premier Cru quality. Piuze respects this exceptional fruit by employing traditional, low-intervention winemaking: spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts and aging in old, neutral oak casks. This approach preserves the pristine, saline minerality and crystalline citrus core that defines the historic Chablis region, offering a liquid postcard of this ancient Jurassic seabed.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded on July 1, 2008, by Quebecois vigneron Patrick Piuze, this boutique Chablis négociant-vinificateur has emerged as one of the region's most uncompromising champions of terroir. Following pivotal stints at Olivier Leflaive, Maison Verget under Jean-Marie Guffens, and Jean-Marc Brocard, Piuze established an innovative model grounded in long-term contracts with premier growers. Operating without owning vineyards, he works exclusively with old vines situated within the historical, unexpanded boundaries of Chablis. Sourcing from Kimmeridgian and Portlandian limestone slopes on both banks of the Serein River, Piuze mandates hand-harvesting, non-interventionist viticulture without chemical inputs, and early picking to preserve tension and saline freshness. Vinification is rigorously artisanal: vertical basket pressing, native yeast fermentation, and aging in neutral French oak barrels (four to eight years old) for cru bottlings or stainless steel for village wines, always bottled unfined and gently filtered. Signature releases include single-terroir village cuvées such as Les Bas de Chapelot and Plateau Cornasse, alongside premier crus like Butteaux, Forêts, and Montée de Tonnerre, and benchmark Grand Crus including Les Preuses and Blanchots.
🍇 Grapes
Chardonnay