From 1993 to 2016 Stéphane Morea, with the help of Virginie, his wife, raised this small family estate, once a supplier of trading grapes, to the top of Chablis wines. Even more, by the personality of his wines and their stylistics, he was for many - of which we are - the worthy heir of the two tutelary figures of Chablis, Dauvissat and Raveneau. Its wines, of exceptional quality and impressive aging capacity, will be there for a long time to remind us.
Winemaker of intuition, sensitivity, observation and listening, Stéphane Moreau has known how to assert a style that furiously evokes the two legends of Chablis: the vinosity, freshness and energy of the wines bring him closer to Vincent Dauvissat, the sensuality and grace bring us to the side of the Raveneau brothers. And always, we find here, both in the astonishing Petit Chablis and in the Grand Cru Valmur, a constant vibration: its wines are inhabited!
Of course, to get there, Stéphane looked a lot, tried, he was sometimes wrong - like when he tried to remove any addition of sulfur to finally backtrack. He perfected the work in the vineyard, eliminating any insecticide or anti-rot treatment, without for all that forbidding the use of organic fertilizers. He especially emphasized the search for the perfect ripeness of the grapes, maturity which is found in this juicy flesh that we immediately appreciate in his wines. He has also greatly improved his aging: “juggling” between vats, barrels and demi-muids, he gradually lengthened them, thus gaining in complexity and relief. Its premiers and grands crus are now matured for no less than 24 months!
During all this time, Stéphane Moreau has been able to give himself the means to fulfill his ambitions, expanding the vineyard from 7 to more than 20 hectares and building a new much larger cellar, on the Vaillons side, which allows the simultaneous management of 3 vintages.
The 2015 vintage, the last one signed by Stéphane and fine-tuned with great accuracy by Virginie, enchants us with its flesh and volume, but also by the intensity and accuracy of expression of the soils and terroir. From Petit Chablis to Grand Cru Valmur, the success is total: this is undoubtedly the most beautiful testimony of Stéphane Moreau's talent and of the continuity that his wife Virginie ensures with courage and sensitivity.
