Mineral-Driven, Zesty Chablis from Gerard Tremblay's 2023 Vintage
Domaine Gérard Tremblay is one of the great value producers in all of Chablis. With impressive holdings ranging from humble Petit Chablis to Chablis Grand Cru, Gérard Tremblay offers wines to fit virtually any budget.
The 2023 vintage arrived at exactly the right moment. After several small harvests in a row, Chablis was rewarded with a generous, bountiful crop that produced fruit-forward, expressive wines while fully retaining the region’s hallmark salinity and drive. This lineup of 2023s from Gérard Tremblay delivers exactly what Chablis lovers seek: mineral-driven, zesty, citrus-laced wines with excellent cut that are drinking beautifully right now.
The two entry-level bottlings—Petit Chablis and Chablis Estate Vieilles Vignes—are outstanding values, while the trio of Premier Crus—Montmains, Beauroy, and Côte de Léchet—are nearly impossible to resist at under $35 per bottle. Across the range, these wines offer an exceptional quality-to-price ratio and are showing spectacularly today.
2023 Domaine Gérard Tremblay Chablis "Vieilles Vignes" $24.99 I am always a huge fan of old vines when it comes to Burgundy because I believe they help to create a wine of deeper concentration of both flavors and aromas. This is definitely the case for the 2023 Gerard Tremblay Chablis Vieilles Vignes, which is an astonishingly good wine. The Vieilles Vignes bursts from the glass with aromas of wet stone, flint, crushed rock, and lemon Verbena. The palate has remarkable depth, precision, and verve with mineral and citrus zest flowing across the palate from the moment it hits your lips all the way to the fine, long finish. This is a brilliant Chablis value.
2023 Domaine Gérard Tremblay Petit Chablis $19.99 The seemingly more difficult task annually is trying to find a great everyday Burgundy for under $20—luckily the 2023 Gerard Tremblay Petit Chablis has arrived! This is a stellar value that jumps out of the gate with beautiful aromas of sea breeze, crushed oyster shells, and citrus zest, while the palate is a lovely blend of flint and lemon and lime flavors. The cut and balance here is admirable, and this wine is in its ideal drinking window for fans of young, zesty Chablis.
2023 Domaine Gérard Tremblay Chablis 1er Cru "Côte de Léchet" $34.99 Côte de Léchet is a rather large vineyard that is perfectly exposed to the south-east. Here, the fruit ripens early and produces wines of intense white fruit notes with floral hints. The 2023 Domaine Gerard Tremblay is a great example of why Côte de Léchet is so sought after: its aromas of white flowers, flint, lemon, and grapefruit pull you in to a palate bursting with rich citrus notes and subtle hints of flint and stone. This is a ready to drink, full-bodied Chablis chock-full of pretty fruit that is impossible to ignore.
2023 Domaine Gérard Tremblay Chablis 1er Cru "Beauroy" $34.99 The vineyard of Beauroy shares many similarities with that of Côte de Léchet as far as exposure and ripening, imbuing its wines with rich fruit and power. Beauroy may lack some of the finesse and cut that wines from Côte de Léchet have, but its wines show a deeper core of fruit and power. Bursting at the seams with citrus and stone notes with hints of orchard fruits, the 2023 Gerard Tremblay is a great crossover for the California Chardonnay drinker.
2023 Domaine Gérard Tremblay Chablis 1er Cru "Montmain" $34.99 The vineyard of Montmains is large and produces notably complex Chablis that ages extremely well. The 2023 Gerard Tremblay Chablis 1er Cru "Montmains" is a great example of the depth and complexity that this vineyard can deliver under a masterful winemaker such as Vincent Tremblay. The wine is rich with notes of white flowers, hazelnut, flint, and citrus while the palate is bright and lively with citrus and orchard fruit notes that seamlessly run from the front palate all the way to the finish. A classic example of a great Chablis vineyard.
2023 Domaine Gérard Tremblay Chablis 1er Cru "Fourchaume" $39.99 Gerard Tremblay is officially en retrait, although his retirement is like that of many growers in that he continues to work, both in the vineyards and the cellar. His son Vincent Tremblay has now taken over the reins. They farm an impressive 35 hectares (about 90 acres) of vines, in appellations from Petite Chablis to Grand Cru Vaudesirs. The wines are terrific and extremely well-priced. Tremblay’s style is to press very carefully and slowly, to avoid extracting harsh or green tannins from the seeds. Then after a 24-hour settling, the wine is racked gently off the gross lees into temperature controlled tanks for a slow fermentation. He uses a small amount of old oak on some of his better wines, for texture rather than for flavor.