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Chablis: a Burgundy for the masses?

18 July 2024 By Kathleen Willcox

Does Chablis hold the magic formula for wine success? Kathleen Willcox takes a look at the ‘pocket of extreme value’.

How much is Burgundy wine worth to you? $24,808? That’s the average price of a Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grand Cru. It is organic, but…

In the past 20 years, Burgundy has transformed from a place that makes great wine into a place that makes great fortunes. To many who eagerly plan to drink their purchases 20 years into the future, Burgundy has been an investment for centuries.

But to a new class of interested consumers, Burgundy has become a different kind of investment opportunity, offering a 439% ROI vs the still relatively gangbusters Nasdaq, which offered returns of 379%.

The wine is so dear, it is becoming increasingly difficult for ungilded wine consumers to get a bottle of the even decently good stuff. Price growth in Burgundy was up 26. in 2022, from the Grands Crus to the Village wines, according to fine wine investment company Vin X. And that’s just the average—top performers like the Negociant label Arnoux Lachoux garnered 487% growth.

And while there are signs that price growth is leveling off thanks at least in part to 2023’s bumper crop, four-to-five-digit outlays for single bottles of the most sought-after brands will probably be required for the foreseeable future.

However, there are pockets of extreme value in Burgundy that don’t smack of compromise, especially if you’re willing to take a trip to the white side.

Yes, of course we’re talking about Chablis.

Goin’ broke

“With Chablis, you can drink top white Burgundy and not go broke in the process,” says Jay James, master sommelier and president of Napa’s Benchmark Wine Group.

“Excepting the wines from a small handful of superstar producers, the top wines of Chablis, even those from excellent houses, sell for prices that are a fraction of equivalent wines from Puligny- Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet or Mersault.”

The last wine fairytale

Sales of the Burgundy white are spiking faster than DRC’s prices for a variety of reasons, from the flavor and (relative!) value offered by the wine, to the sheer marketability and charm of the region itself. Plus, there’s the white wine effect: Increasingly, consumers are reaching for white over red. (It now accounts for about 43% of wine consumed worldwide, up 3 percentage points since 2000, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, and projected to grow at CAGR of 6.3% through 2032, according to research and analytics firm Straits Research).

Exploring the village is like stepping into a fairy tale—but the Disneyfied version where everyone rides off into the sunset, ready to live their best life.

A stroll through the village of 2,300 souls on a recent morning at the height of summer was buoyed by the scent of buttery pastry baking in boulangerie ovens and the citrus-herbal perfume wafting from baskets bursting with geraniums parked on wooden bridges spanning the Serein River and from hanging baskets around town.

Ancient

The village is thriving, and a joy to explore, with beautifully preserved ancient buildings, including the 13th century Saint-Martin Church, and a cheerful, bustling atmosphere of wine-soaked culture and commerce distinct to a small handful of great country towns in France.

Tasting the terroir often feels like a fairy tale too—for the palate and the pocketbook.

There are almost 10,000 acres of exclusively Chardonnay under vine, with four levels of production: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru. The last two encompass 47 distinct Climats, or distinctly advantageous plots of wine-growing land that have been prized for centuries. All Chablis Grand Cru Climats are perched on the right bank of the River Serein, while 24 of the Premier Grand Cru are on the left, and 16 are on the right.

Skyrocket

The U.S. is thirstier than ever for Chablis, according to the latest market report from Vins de Bourgogne. (The U.S. is also the largest market by value, and very close to the U.K. by volume).

Shipments of wine from Chablis to the U.S. grew 6.7% in 2023, year over year, with Petit Chablis and Chablis surging an incredible 23% in revenue.

Observers see Chablis’ success buoyed in equal measure by its merits and value.

“The perceived value of Chablis when compared to the Village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru white Burgundy offerings from the Cote de Beaune are providing the region with great momentum,” says Rocco Lombardo, president of luxury wine marketing and sales company Wilson Daniels.

“Our annual offerings of Domaine Laroche and Domaine Billaud-Simon are completely sold out within a ten-month period.”

James, meanwhile, sees continued strong growth for all four levels of Chablis, all of which will appeal to different subsets of the market.

Village

“Village-level Chablis, especially Petit Chablis, make up the first rung of the price point ladder in appellation-level white Burgundy,” James says. “With the sharp price escalation of top white Burgundies seen over the last few years, these wines represent stellar values, and are accessible to a larger base of wine drinkers, especially younger, less financially accomplished enthusiasts.”

Premier and Grand Cru, meanwhile, perform well as hand-sells at restaurants, and have become collector candy.

“Grand Cru Chablis holds the most interest by far, which leaves Premier Cru posed to grow. Producers such as Raveneau and R&V Dauvissat occupy the top of the charts in both appeal to collectors and price points. This leaves wines lovers with other excellent winegrowers like Domaine Laroche, Christian Moreau or Jean-Marc Brocard, to name just a few to choose from, as incredible values at their own price points.”

Francoise Roure, head of marketing and communication for the Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne, agrees that Chablis is having a unicorn moment.

“Chablis wines are crisp, fresh, easy to drink and easy to pair with a large range of food,” Roure says. “They are not too oaky. And the name is easy to pronounce. They correspond to what regular wine consumers expect and want nowadays.”

Spreading the word

Chablis’ continued growth will be supported by a cocktail of marketing and communications efforts on the ground there, and in the U.S.

Roure notes that the budget for outreach in the U.S. is bigger than ever, and has been set through 2027 because it is “such an important market.”

Bringing visitors to wine country has become an increasingly calculated focus for wine regions. Bordeaux opened its Cité du Vin on the Garonne in 2016, and other regions, including Burgundy, followed suit after noting its monumental success.

In 2022, Burgundy opened the Cité des Vins et des Climats de Bourgogne in three towns: Beaune, Macon and Chablis. In 12 months, around 80,000 visitors flocked to the sites, each of which offered an in-depth exploration of the history, heritage and culture of Burgundian viticulture.

Wineries like Domaine Laroche are opening their doors to visitors. The 1000-year-old Obédiencerie—which also hides the relics of Saint Martin—welcomes around 5,000 visitors every year.

“Communicating what we do and the history of the region is so important to us,” says Jean-Baptiste Mouton, managing director at Domaine Laroche. “We get a lot of visitors from America, and we partner with the cruise line AmaWaterways, which brings in visitors from America and Canada twice a week.”

They offer a range of options, including tastings, tours of the historic cellars, dinners, e-bike tours of the vineyards and overnight accommodations.

Outreach

At Domaine Billaud-Simon, export director Matthieu Luneau says that the winery has started to focus on market education and outreach in the U.S., seeing it as a distinct opportunity for growth at all levels.

“I lived in California 10 years ago, and the market has transformed completely during that time,” Luneau says. “The level of knowledge in the U.S. is so much higher now, and the consumer is opening up to the diversity of Chablis. There is room for our entry level offerings there, but also for our Grand Cru. It is very rare to find a market that is so open to a broad range, and has a high rate of consumption.”

Luneau says that he visits major and minor markets in the U.S. multiple times a year, setting up tastings, market visits and private dinners with key members of the trade and consumers.

Resource

The team at Vins de Bourgogne is pouring resources into education in the U.S. as well.

“We organize seminars and the events for sommeliers and wine professionals in the U.S. every year,” Roure says, explaining that they have become more targeted in their approach.

“Last year we organised masterclasses with a Black wine professional association, and this year, we are planning on masterclasses with a Hispanics in wine association. We also have several partnerships with magazines.”

As the market for Chablis matures, Luneau says his greatest hope is to reach more people, and deepen their appreciation for the complexity of the region—and yes, perhaps inspire them to expand their budget enough to include Premier or Grand Cru Chablis—while also providing them with the value that drew them there in the first place.

“Part of our philosophy is producing wine for people to drink,” Luneau says. “We need to make sure they can afford a bottle of Chablis. Yes, it’s a business and we want to make money, but there’s more to it than that.”

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