Domaine Jean & Sébastien, Dauvissat ,Chablis Premier Cru Séchet

The short story with today’s offer is: don’t hesitate or ask questions, just buy this bottle before it’s gone! If you share my adulthood-long affinity for 1er Cru Chablis, you can rest assured that this bottle hits the bullseye for “drink now” consumption and medium term cellar aging. It’s exactly what I want from this hallowed white wine mecca.

But the longer, more nuanced truth about contemporary Chablis in 2026 is more complicated. With such a high concentration of world class real estate, savant cellar talent, and multi century viticultural wisdom in Chablis, it’s easy to forget how vulnerable the historic village has become to frost, rain, and other climatic threats. Two simultaneous realities fight to dominate the social media feeds every year: On one hand, Chablis has been repeatedly devastated by vineyard damage and huge crop losses for more vintages than not in the last decade. But also, the legendary village is resilient and always seems capable - even when production volume is slashed by 50-90% - to produce a bounty of inimitably mineral and orchard/citrus-scented works of vinous art. Year in, year out, these are the white wines I reach for first in my cellar. 

And it is for all these reasons that I am celebrating the 2023 incarnation of J&S Dauvissat’s Chablis 1er Cru Séchet. The 2023 vintage offers a high water mark for across-the-board quality in Chablis, but it also a welcomed, much needed relief from the devastating weather and crop losses that have decimated production volume - and threatened the very existence - of so many historic domaines in the village. It’s a qualitative “vintage of the decade” and a quantitative high volume, profit driver helping replenish the dwindling coffers of so many of my favorite families in Chablis. Everybody wins!

In the glass, this Premier Cru Séchet 2023 is plush, powerful and giving both luxury and precision. Aromas of golden apple, lemon blossom, peony and honeysuckle blossom, and shattered oyster shell / rocky, stony minerality. It’s an intense and impactful white - but on the palate, round, creamy, and deeply concentrated with both precise minerality and the soft touch of one spent in well aged French oak barrel. It’s Chablis that will make your chicken dinner a winner every time. Rotisserie chicken, spatchcocked chicken, friend chickens, thigh, breast, leg, wing - you name it: this wine is begging to poured alongside CHICKEN! If consuming today, please, decant for 30–45 minutes, then serve in large Burgundy stems 50–55°F. You know the drill: just under cellar temperature. And of course, I’d be remiss in not gently nudging you to set aside a few bottles to enjoy over the next decade. In 3-4 years it will be delightful soft and round - and once you reach the 6-7 year mark, the cellar gods will release the magic essence of hazelnut, chestnut, beeswax, and cheese cellar aromas. If you’ve never experienced well aged Chablis, this bottle is the perfect “starter kit”!