Chablis Forêts 1er Cru, Moreau-Naudet - 2019

From 1993 to 2016, Stéphane Moreau has raised this small family estate to the top of Chablis wines. An intuitive, sensitive, observant and empirical winemaker, he has succeeded in asserting, with the support of Virginie, his better half (literally), a style that suffers from no complexes in the face of the local "stars".to reach this point, he has searched and tried a lot, and has sometimes strayed onto the paths of "no sulphur". But he has redoubled his work in the vineyard, eliminating all insecticides and anti-rot products, resorting however to organic amendments when the nature of the soil and plants required it. Above all, he emphasised the search for perfect ripeness of the grapes, through controlled yields. He has also developed his maturation in vats, barrels and demi-muids, progressively lengthening them to two years, in order to "settle" the wines in bottle and allow the full expression of the terroir.During these years, Stéphane and Virginie Moreau have also been able to give themselves the means to achieve their ambitions, expanding the vineyard from 7 to more than 20 hectares and building a new, larger cellar, which makes it possible to simultaneously cellar three vintages and to take the time necessary for great wines.But after Stéphane's sudden death one day in the summer of 2016, Virginie found herself alone at the helm. As the fighter and even sportswoman that...