2020 Domaine Thierry Hamelin Petit Chablis Burgundy 750 ml

When your winemaking history stretches back seven generations, you have a seriously large knowledge base to draw upon. Domaine Thierry Hamelin mixes centuries of savoir-faire with modern viticultural and cellar techniques to turn out small quantities of excellent—and hard-to-find—Chablis. Their 2020 Petit Chablis is an outstanding white-wine bargain grown on clay-limestone soils just outside the Chablis zone.

The domaine started in 1840, when Gustave Hamelin planted a mere two hectares of vines as part of his mixed-farming property. Today, the holdings have expanded to some 36 hectares of vines stretched out over three villages: Poinchy, Beines and Lignorelles. Thierry Hamelin and his son Charles run the show now, and they craft terroir-transparent wines that are soulful, clean, and pure.

The Hamelins tend their vineyards with a mindful eye to the environment: Integrated pest-control measures reduce the need for treatment products. Planting just the right cover crops helps the spread of grass, while plowing between the vines controls vegetation, increases the vines’ biomass, and fosters more varied fauna.

The cellar regimen at the domaine shows the same level of care and detail. Gravity-fed equipment transports the must from the presses to the vats, preventing overexposure to oxygen and preserving the fresh-fruit character of the wine. The vat room is thermo-regulated, allowing the Hamelins fine-tuned control over the wine’s aging, and they bottle all of their wine in-house.