<a target="_blank" href="https://www.chabliswinenot.com/">Chablis Wine Not</a>

Rue des Moulins

89800 Chablis

France+33 6 62 14 19 39

BY NEAL MARTIN | JULY 25, 2025

The Food:

Burrata with green salad

Boeuf Bourguignon with roasted potatoes and spinach



Chocolate mousse, crème chocolat with red fruit coulis

Black cherry clafoutis 

The Wine<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>1992 Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Montée de Tonerre 1er Cru (Unreleased
Cuvée)</td><td>
 </td><td>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 93</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>Fabien España is a clever fella. In 2016, he relocated his bistro, Le
Souflot, from his home village of Irancy to the heart of Chablis and baptised
what had been the Laroche Wine Bar as Au Fil du Zinc. The opening changed the
complexion of the somewhat soporific town. Overnight, Chablis had a buzzy destination
restaurant, a magnet to coax gastronomes away from Beaune. Yours truly was the
restaurant’s joint first guest alongside Jasper Morris, as España invited us to
road-test Chef Ryo Nagahama’s fusion menu a couple of days prior to the official
opening. The dishes blew me away. I became a regular. I was surprised when España
sold Au Fil du Zinc to open Chablis Wine Not, a bar à vin located a
short walk away in a corner site that, if memory serves me correctly, was once a
pharmacy. Chablis Wine Not was clearly built around its formidable wine list, the
food not bad but playing second fiddle. However, the menu has improved immensely
over the last 18 months, prompting me to pen this Vinous Table.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1753372457673-interior_Vinous.JPG">The
interior of Chablis Wine Not.

Chablis Wine Not occupies three floors, ground and first clad in dark
timber. The ground floor houses the open kitchen, a counter for quick bites and
wooden tables. Top-lit shelves line the walls to display the plethora of
bottles either available to drink on premise or, with a couple of exceptions, to
buy at slightly cheaper prices. The upstairs provides more covers and an
impressive, temperature-controlled, standalone wine cellar housing the more
valuable fermented grape juice. There is also a rear extension for al fresco
dining—perfect on a warm evening. The décor is modern, all dark wood, stainless
steel and glass panels, its sleekness standing in contrast to the town’s rustic
feel. Wine Not is aesthetically different from the surrounding environs, though
there is no incongruity with the surrounding time-battered buildings. 

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1753372485673-fabien+espana_Vinous.JPG">Refreshingly, Fabien España (pictured at right) still constantly works
the room, always with a smile, always chatty, always with a wine
recommendation. I considered asking him to pose for a photo, but no, you are
more likely to find him slicing a baguette.&nbsp;&nbsp; 

The menu is relatively simple, and that is a virtue. The menu is relatively simple, and that is a virtue. España often employs Japanese chefs. Tomoyuki Nishino and Manabu Sato, who had both worked under Nagahama at Au Fil du Zinc, presently man the stoves.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1753372532412-burrata_Vinous.JPG">Burrata with green salad. 

Too many restaurants in Beaune seem more interested in showing off
over-complicated dishes to match the over-priced wines. Chablis Wine Not offers
classic French fare. There are no frills. No haute cuisine. This restaurant could
not care less about Michelin stars. But the food nowadays is quite delicious,
and there is an attention to detail that is built into the psyche of
Japanese-born chefs. During long days of tasting in Chablis, I often nip down
for a cheeky plate of burrata, so fresh and enticing, perfectly seasoned with
just a few green leaves. It does not need anything else.

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1753372550901-boeuf_Vinous.JPG">Boeuf Bourguignon with roasted potatoes and spinach. 

The main course of boeuf Bourguignon is just the ticket. The locally
sourced meat is tender and flavoursome, nicely seasoned with a few carrots and
shallots, and the roasted potatoes are crispy. It is the kind of dish that
serves as an ideal backdrop to the wine, and it is only when mopping the plate
with your bread that you realise how scrumptious it was. 

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1753372568144-chocolate_Vinous.JPG">Chocolate mousse, crème chocolat with red fruit coulis. 

The chocolate mousse is outrageous. So decadent that I could only eat
half of it, this is lavish and verging on overpowering. The black cherry
clafoutis the following day was better.

The wine list is fabulous. It would wipe away anything in Beaune except
for the splendid Maison de Colombier. It’s not just wines from Chablis, even
though this is easily the most comprehensive selection in town. You will find temptations
from around France, with gems enabled by España’s personal relationships with
winemakers. I spy a 1992 Chablis Montée de Tonerre 1er Cru from Domaine François Raveneau for €240 (yes, you did read that correctly) and split the cost
with my dining companion. Mature Raveneau? Yes, please. The 1992 is impressive
but richer and more botrytised in style than expected. The following day, I pop
in for a quick burrata (again). The waiter asks if I enjoyed the previous
evening’s Raveneau, and after replying affirmatively, he enquires if I am aware
of its backstory.

Tell me more… 

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1753372589682-Raveneau_Vinous.jpg">Though not afforded a direct comparison, I think the label is slightly
different from the normal one for Raveneau’s Montée de Tonnerre, just like the
wine. 

This bottling was different from the normal cuvée. At this time, it was fermented in one large and one smaller vat. The yeast
in the latter occasionally had trouble eating the sugar and sometimes left
behind 8 or 9 grams per liter. Raveneau wisely kept this separate rather than
blending the lots together and presumably cracked
open a bottle every now and then. España became aware of this wine’s existence,
a deal was struck, and to the best of my knowledge,
Chablis Wine Not is the only place you can drink it. (I am now envisaging
Raveneau fans speed-dialling the restaurant.) As I mentioned, the wine is
atypical for a 1992 white: deeper in colour with dried honey, beeswax, acacia, and lanolin on the enticing nose.
There is something…burly about it. The palate is slightly viscous in texture,
powerful and with greater density than one would expect. Forget the tension and
steeliness you can find in the best ’92 Burgundy whites—this cuvée is rich yet retains acidity. After 33 years, whatever residual
sugar had been floating in the wine was finally dried out or subsumed so that
the finish bears some similitude to a Sauternes with mileage. Wonderful. 

Chablis Wine Not is a restaurant, bar à vin, bistro, place to chill…whatever
you want it to be. It is multi-functional. Do you fancy an artisan beer? No
problem. Or do you want a mature Dauvissat, or Jura, or Barolo, or indeed, a
mature Raveneau? Also no problem. There is nothing fussy or pretentious. Wine
Not functions as a meeting point for Chablis winemakers to the point where if I
don’t encounter one on every visit, there must be
something wrong. On this particular evening,
Christian Moreau was holding court at the neighbouring table. For wine lovers, Chablis
Wine Not is a dream. How much would one of Beaune’s restaurants charge for that
one-off Montée de Tonnerre? Four figures? This is a place where oenophiles can
splash out and not feel ripped off. Such is España’s knowledge, passion and
connections that there are numerous off-piste
vinous gems awaiting discovery. Indeed, one or two have ended up in previous Vinous reports. Now that the standard of food
matches the wines, this is my favourite place to eat and drink in Chablis. You
never know what you might find.© 2025, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or redistributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

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