BIVB explores ‘left’ and ‘right’ bank Chablis

The Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne offered the trade a chance to see Chablis from a slightly different angle at a recent tasting.

Asking “Are you a Leftie or a Rightie?” the tasting was held in association with the drinks business and hosted by Wine Gang and Saturday Kitchen regular Jane Parkinson and looked at the differences in style between premier cru Chablis grown on the “left” and “right” banks of the Serein.

Notwithstanding the (unintentional?) election theme, the well-attended tasting saw professionals from the on- and off-trades taste through six wines (three from each bank) as Parkinson ran through the stylistic differences between the region’s climats.

The overarching difference was between the “left” and “right” banks, with Parkinson explaining the former tended to display fresher and more citrus characteristics and the latter offering richer and riper wines.

She explained at the beginning how much she liked the idea for the tasting, adding it was “too easy to bracket Chablis” and forget or even overlook the very distinct differences between the various climats.

Participation from the floor was (with only a little prompting) forthcoming with points raised covering the use of oak and whether the fresher left bank style was what consumers looked for in a Chablis – although the discussion then moved to ways to avoid using the word “acidity”.