A Day in Chablis – Part One: The Town & Chablis Grand Cru

Posted by foodwineclick on July 25, 2018 · 14 Comments

Save Time for a Trip to Chablis
When you trip to Bourgogne, save at least a day for Chablis. Physically separate from the Cote d’Or, you might be tempted to leave it for a future trip, but you would be missing a gem. On our last trip to Beaune, I set a aside a day to drive up to Chablis. It’s not so bad, 90 minutes on the A6 highway and you are there!

(click on the series photos in this post for a full size slide show, hit “escape” to return to the post)

Chablis region courtesy of bourgogne-wines.com

Town of Chablis
If you’re accustomed to the crowds in Napa, you might be surprised that Bourgogne wine villages can be quite quiet even in the summer. Chablis is a nice little town with a tourist office, plenty of wineries and a nice selection of shops and places to eat. The “river” (more like a stream) Serein runs through this sleepy town.

An overcast, almost rainy day greeted us. Not unusual for Bourgogne, it can rain in the summer here. It’s part of the climate.

Chablis is a quaint and slightly sleepy town on a summer morning

The water flows, but the Serein seems more a stream than a river

It’s nice to just pause and take in the scene.

Julie and Juliette formed half of our traveling crew for the day.

Peter and Juliette surveying the river scene

OK, time to head into town

We loved the look of this shop and will return on a future visit.

Good looking produce…

This seems to be cornichon central!

Fun list of products available within

No French village is complete without a good Patisserie

It’s just plain pretty.

Winery visit – Château de Béru
Subject of our next post, I promise!

Château de Béru is a historic Chablis estate and will be the subject of our next post.

Lunch at Au Fils du Zinc
We managed to avoid the rain during our tour at Clos de Beru, but alas, the skies opened up. Luckily it was lunchtime. We heard from a reliable source that Au Fils du Zinc is the best spot in town for a meal, and we heartily agree.

Pro tip #1: get a reservation (even for lunch) before your trip, you do not want to miss this!

Pro tip #2: Find the Les Raretés page on the wine list and order a bottle.

It had stopped pouring after lunch so I could grab a photo. You won’t just stumble on Au Fils du Zinc

Casual, comfortable, modern, just my kind of place

The most important advice of all! Find “Les Raretés” page on the wine list and order a bottle. Thank me later.

The staff is super knowledgable and will help you pick a great bottle at a bargain price.

They don’t fool around here, proper stemware, incredible wines, just wait for the food.

I started with a beetroot gazpacho

Guinea hen and vegetables was available for two.

High quality ingredients, skilfully prepared, matched with classic wine.

Dessert was delicious art.

The Chablis Grand Cru Vineyards
Unfortunately, we had a time limit for our day and we lacked the time to drive around, hike and explore. Add these to our itinerary for our next trip! We did have time to drive just out of town to see the whole of the Grand Crus Chablis vineyards. Amazingly, they are all contiguous and in in just one place. Standing in one spot, you can see the vines which grow 100% of Chablis Grand Cru for the whole world!

This is it. All the Grand Cru Chablis in one place

Look at the sign, then look up to your favorite Grand Cru vineyard.

I love to stand in the place, see the soil, see the vines, feel the weather….

This is early July, before veraison. 2018 looks like a good vintage so far….

Look closely at the soil.

This is it. All the Grand Cru Chablis for the whole world.

There’s more to see on our next trip!

One last look at Grand Cru Chablis…

This is it. All the Grand Cru Chablis in one place

This is it. All the Grand Cru Chablis for the whole world.

Filed under Travel, wine & travel

Comments

14 Responses to “A Day in Chablis – Part One: The Town & Chablis Grand Cru”

Lynn says:

July 25, 2018 at 8:19 am

I’ve added your pro tips to my “future Chablis trip” notes! Your photos capture the image I have of the town based on reading articles. Look forward to the winery visit post.

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  July 26, 2018 at 9:02 pm
  
  Thanks, Lynn. It is a very cool place and well worth a visit.
  
  Reply
L.M. Archer says:

July 25, 2018 at 11:30 am

Awesome photos, Jeff!

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  July 26, 2018 at 9:03 pm
  
  Thanks, Lyn!
  
  Reply
lindaravello says:

July 25, 2018 at 2:05 pm

Wonderful post. How lucky to have seen rain, we are in cote d’or and not seen rain since 9th May except for 20 minute downpour the week before last. Very worrying for the vines…….

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  July 26, 2018 at 9:07 pm
  
  Thanks, Linda. When in the downpour (as a visitor) it doesn’t seem lucky. But the farmers are living it, and the rain is so needed.
  
  Reply
the drunken cyclist says:

July 25, 2018 at 10:35 pm

Great post as always Jeff, I will be using your pro-tips next week!

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  July 26, 2018 at 9:09 pm
  
  Glad I can be of at least a little help. Hope your guiding goes well!
  
  Reply
swanson29 says:

July 26, 2018 at 12:41 am

Mest uppskattade!🇸🇪Gud bevara, jas 29 🏈

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  July 26, 2018 at 9:09 pm
  
  Thanks, Joe!
  
  Reply
krockstranslations says:

July 26, 2018 at 3:24 pm

I love the photo of “all the Grand Cru Chablis for the whole world!” That’s it, that’s just all there is! Amazing! 🙂

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  July 26, 2018 at 9:11 pm
  
  When you stand there, you can just feel you’re in a special place. While not a recognized Grand Cru, we felt the same thrill in the Clos de Beru (coming soon).
  
  Reply