Sharing her thoughts on Chablis is Anne Moreau, a member of the Bourgogne Wine Board for the last decade and the board of directors of the Grands Jours de Bourgogne since 2017. Moreau visited Hong Kong during Bourgogne Week; aside from her pedigree in wine, she's married to the sixth-generation scion of Domaine Louis Moreau, which produces a range of Chablis.
To what extent might Chablis be a good entry point to wine?
I do feel that Chablis is easy-drinking. It delivers freshness and spiciness, but not too much. It's more a wine that refreshes the palate; it's stylish, elegant and has finesse, but is not overly complex.
Domaine Louis Moreau makes a wine with the name Finesse. It sounds like a perfume. Could this be indicative of a new trend – or a label such as "Chablis Poison"?
[laughs] Perfume names for wine?! We do think it's interesting to look at the vocabulary they used in the perfume industry in the past, and see how easily we can appropriate those ideas and apply them to wine. We have made Finesse for more than ten years now. We tried to find a word that was accurate for each of our cuvées. "Finesse" is one we would use for Chablis – and perhaps "freshness" for our Petit Chablis. I think we use many words such as finesse, elegance and purity. They're more on the feminine side than the masculine side. I don't know if that's perhaps because we have more women in the wine business today.
What are the greatest challenges for Chablis producers at this moment?
First, I would say it's a problem of volume. Second, it would be environmentally friendly processes. New generations of winemakers are very concerned about that issue. And because of the weather we have, it can be tricky and also very dynamic, which makes it interesting.
How many natural or organic growers are there in the region?
For Bourgogne, it's about 12% doing it the organic way. In Chablis, because of global warming, more and more people are going bio. We do believe in high environmental value, which includes all steps from farming to vineyard, and to the cellar work and how you sell the wine. Like a 360-degree certification, it covers all the steps. It's not bio, though. It's a more in-between state that takes everything into account: weather, climate and other challenges.
