Terroir Decouverte
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Fresh oysters, grilled sea bass, goat cheese
✨ Technical Specifications
Patrick Piuze's 'Terroir Decouverte' is a masterful expression of Chablis, born from the winemaker's relentless pursuit to uncover and celebrate the region's diverse micro-terroirs. Sourced from select parcels planted on classic Kimmeridgian limestone soils rich in fossilized marine life, this cuvée captures the ancient, sea-drenched history of the Yonne department. Piuze employs a highly traditional, low-intervention approach, fermenting the Chardonnay with indigenous yeasts and aging the wine in neutral wood casks. This preserves the crystalline purity, electric acidity, and intense flinty minerality that define classic Chablis, offering a sensory journey back to the Jurassic era when these soils were a prehistoric 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