DOMAINE GÉRARD TREMBLAY, Chablis
Gérard Tremblay and his wife, Hélène, oversee a domain that they inherited in a line of five generations, but which they have mostly built themselves. With 80 acres of vines under production, most of them in the best ‘premier cru’ and ‘grand cru’ appellations, their list of Chablis is among the most prestigious in the region.
Tremblay is known locally as an accomplished wine maker. He is justly famous for his ability to draw out the typicity of
distinct appellations, underlining the terroir of his vines vintage after vintage.
The domain has a superb new winery, allowing them excellent conditions in which to bring out the quality of the fruit that
these vineyards produce. The entire winery works by gravity, avoiding unnecessary manipulations of the fruit or pumping of juices.
Grapes are brought directly from the fields and put into pneumatic presses. The juice is then left to settle for more 12 hours before being stocked in stainless steel tanks with individual temperature controls.
Strict hygiene and careful temperature control are the keys to mastering quality fermentation in Chardonnay. It is a delicate phase, and it is not surprising to find that the best winemakers in white are perfectionists to an extreme.
Average yearly production is around 1760 hectolitres, giving approximately 230,000 bottles per year. Much of the wine is
sold directly at the property, though they do export a limited quantity of their wine to carefully selected markets. They are
adamant the Tremblay wines only appear on wine lists or in specialty shops that can do justice to the quality product they are working to produce.
Understandably, their wines have been noticed by the Guide Hachette, Robert Parker, Dussert-Gerber (who ranks their
Grand Cru ‘Vaudésir’ as one of the top white Burgundies); Revue des Vins de France; Decanter; Cuisine et Vins de France;
Sommelier, etc.
"Set between Preuses and Grenouilles, the Vaudésir climat is divided into two parts
by the track called “le chemin des Vaudésirs”. It has a double orientation, as roughly half of its vines
face due south, whilst the remainder face south-west.
Very steep in places, its soil type seems rather lighter than most, and contains less lime.
This increasing “earthiness” tends to mark the wines, which can be drunk young if one is looking for crispness. The full structure of the wines will take several years to develop however, as with all the Grands Crus. Their extreme delicacy has given Vaudésir the reputation of being the most feminine of all the climats."
