2015 Chablis Les Butteaux 1er Cru

In many ways, Edouard and Eleni Vocoret have become an emblem of the changing face of Chablis, young hip winemakers with new ideas and ideals. Fresh blood is important for the region, but sometimes ambition is not matched by pragmatics; you can have all the talent and plaudits you like, but vineyard land can be too expensive to buy or rent, and without that, you ain’t gonna go far. Fortunately, that is not the case here, and Edouard Vocoret, barely able to contain his delight, told me that their vineyard holdings will expand thanks to new fermages with his family, including Grand Crus of Valmur, Les Clos and Blanchot, plus Premier Crus of Séchet, Chatain, Fôrets, Montée de Tonnerre, as well as additions to Butteaux and their three Chablis Villages. There are exciting times ahead.

“The 2019 vintage was difficult to understand compared to 2018,” Edouard Vocoret told me down in their barrel cellar. “If we had space, we might have racked it from barrel earlier. I think 2020 will be easier to age in barrel and is very Chablis in style. When we blended the 2019s, a sense of bitterness appeared, which we didn’t expect, but that’s a positive thing because it means the wine should age for a long time. We started picking the 2020 on August 28. The seeds were still green, but I’m really surprised by the result. I think it was the right time to pick. We checked the potential acidity, but since 2018, we’ve had to focus on potential sugar that is high for Chablis. The pH stayed low, around 2.9, harvesting around 3.10.” At the moment, the Vocoret portfolio is limited, but they exploit their vines to the max, resulting in a divine 2020 Chablis Les Butteaux from barrel and a 2020 Chablis Les Pargues that punches at Premier Cru weight. I eagerly look forward to tasting their expanded range during next year’s visit.

I have been following this small domaine since their maiden 2013 vintage from their temporary winery, in fact an erstwhile tractor shed, towards Patrick Piuze. Eleni & Edouard Vocoret are scions of the famous family, although they have a very different, artisan approach to winemaking compared to the more commercially driven Domaine Vocoret run by Edouard’s father and cousin. Edouard Vocoret is the seventh generation of winemaker. It was his father Patrice who suggested he takes over just under 5 hectares of vine inherited from his grandparents and gave him carte blanche to make the wines however he wanted. Edouard met his wife Eleni whilst they were doing a harvest together in New Zealand. Eleni received me at the domaine joined by the eighth generation Vocoret who I must thank for remaining as quiet as a sleeping baby during the tasting.

Now the couple have a new, capacious facility just a few metres up from Domaine Raveneau however, things have not been easy. They only have a few small parcels to their name but frost wiped out 20% of production, including the entirety of Les Pargues. In the end they could only release two crus in 2016. At least in 2017 they have the addition of a Chablis Boucheron to join Les Pargues and Les Bas de Chapelot, though their Premier Cru Les Butteaux was too reduced to taste during my visit. The Vocorets are really making splendid wines. Case in point, a 2015 Butteaux ordered at the Chablis restaurant Au Fils du Zinc put in a blistering performance that overshadowed the accompanying bottle from Raveneau. Hopefully more abundant harvests will give them a chance to really shine.