"Pale yellow-straw color. Powerful, expressive aromas of yellow peach, crushed stone, ginger and flinty minerality. Dense, fat and rich, showing a slightly exotic cast to its ripe peachy fruit but good tension and solid supporting minerality. The very long, slowly mounting finish isn't quite as steely as the most classic examples of Chablis but is smooth and rich." 

July 2012 

 

Description 

The largest and most famous of the Grands Crus, because it is the historical cradle of Chablis vineyards. The soil, with its due south orientation and very white, dense and deep clay soil, rests on a limestone bed 80 cm below, which brings along those spicy notes so typical of this terroir. 

 

Tasting Notes 

The nose is refined, mineral and spicy notes. Elegant, salty and mineral. The palate is rich with good length. A serious wine with a lovely structure.

Jean-Marc Brocard's origins lie in the Côte d'Or. For he is a farmer's son from the village of Chaudenay-le-Château, not even the son of the vigneron. It was an accident of marriage that brought him to wine, he married Claudine (his childhood sweetheart), a vigneron's daughter from the village of St-Bris-le-Vineux in the valley of Yonne.

Starting with a hectare of vines from his father-in-law, Emile Petit, he has created an estate of some 180 hectares vineyards in Chablis and Burgundy.

Jean-Marc acknowledges a considerable debt to one of the old vignerons of St-Cyr les Colons, a man Louis Petit, who despite the name is unrelated to his father-in-law. The oldest vines of the Domaine Sainte Claire came from Louis Petit and it was he who gave to Jean-Marc the sense of tradition and a respect for nature, showing him that you can still maintain the old traditions, while practicing modern methods. Born and bred, devoted to the land and it's characterful wines.

A Vine grower, Jean-Marc is also a merchant maturing and trading 4,000,000 bottles a year. A specialist in the different wines of Chablis and its surrounding region. Brocard and his assistant wine maker, Oenologist Patrick Piuze pay close attention to the different characteristics of the various vineyards within the estate. Different cuvées of Chablis are labeled to the astrological sign at the time of bottling.

The Brocard family eat similar dishes to their parents and grandparents, relying as much as possible on what they can grow or shoot themselves. Committed also to Eco-friendly viticulture, Julien Brocard, Jean-Marc's son, an Engineering graduate was appointed Vineyard Manager.

The company exports 60% of its produce mainly to the UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Japan and the USA.

Jean-Marc says "The truth of wine lies in the soil where it has grown. The technique is an important factor in the wine growing, but it is only an aid, the wine is essentially the product of its soil." also " The soil of Chablis is exceptional and cannot be found anywhere in the world ; therefore I am a hard believer of the future of Chablis even for the next Millennium."