Dominique & Romain Collet 2023 Chablis "Cuvée Paul" Vieilles Vignes 750ml

Cuvée Paul carries a name that's really a promise for the future — Paul is Romain Collet's son, and while he's not yet the winemaker whose name appears on this specific bottling, the cuvée is a genuine nod to where this small assemblage of family vines is ultimately headed. For now, the wine comes from vines belonging to Dominique Collet, Romain's mother, on a south-east facing hillside above the tiny village of Villy — vines her family planted in 1932, giving this specific parcel nearly a century of continuous history by the time the 2023 vintage was harvested.

The vineyard itself is genuinely distinctive within Chablis: a "chunky" site composed primarily of Portlandian limestone, with notably less clay than most of the appellation's other vineyards carry. Sun exposure is excellent, and the vines are planted at a dense 6,000 per hectare, maintained through massal selection and entirely manual cultivation. Production stays deliberately simple and traditional: hand-picked fruit, gentle pneumatic pressing, fermentation with 100% native yeast, and twelve months of aging entirely in stainless steel (INOX) tanks — no oak touches this wine at any stage, letting the vineyard's own limestone character speak without interference.

The 2023 vintage offers scents of pear and lemongrass on the nose, with the palate suggesting delicate hazelnut and nutmeg alongside a distinctly iodized, maritime quality — a genuine reflection of Chablis's ancient Jurassic seabed origins — carried by fresh mineral acidity through a persistent finish. This is exactly the classic, old-school Chablis style the Collet family has built its reputation on: a house one longtime US importer describes having "the privilege and honor to work with and champion... since 1995," full of fresh fruit and completely free of wood barrel influence. The Collet family's own history in Chablis traces back to Charles Collet, Romain's great-great-grandfather, the first of the family to make his mark in the appellation, with the domaine bottling its own wine for market since 1954. This is genuine, multi-generational Chablis terroir, made the way the region has always made its finest wines — simply, precisely, and entirely about the vineyard itself.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Domaine Dominique & Romain Collet is a Chablis family estate whose winemaking history traces back to Charles Collet, Romain's great-great-grandfather and the first of the family to establish a serious reputation in the appellation. The domaine began bottling its own wine for market in 1954, and today Romain Collet, alongside his mother Dominique, farms a range of vineyard sites across village, Premier Cru, and Grand Cru Chablis appellations.

Cuvée Paul — named for Romain's son, Paul, a nod to the family's next generation — is sourced from old Chardonnay vines belonging to Dominique Collet, planted in 1932 by her own family on a south-east facing hillside above the small town of Villy. The vineyard is composed primarily of Portlandian limestone, notably less clay-heavy than much of the rest of Chablis, farmed at a dense planting of 6,000 vines per hectare through massal selection and entirely manual cultivation. Grapes are entirely hand-harvested, then gently pneumatically pressed, fermented using 100% native yeast, and aged twelve months in stainless steel (INOX) tanks — no oak barrel is used at any stage of production, preserving the wine's pure, mineral-driven fruit character.

Critics Reviews

No numerical critic score is confirmed for the 2023 vintage at this time.

APS Wine & Spirits (official importer tasting note, 2023 vintage):
"Hand picked fruit, gentle pneumatic pressing, 100% native yeast and raised in INOX tanks with 12 months aging. The wine offers scents of pear and lemongrass, while the palate suggests delicate hazelnut and nutmeg with an iodized maritime quality and fresh mineral acidity that accompany its persistent finish."

The Wine and Cheese Place (house style, adjacent vintage):
"This is classic, old-school Chablis, full of fresh fruit and completely free of the influence of wood barrel. Look for citrus notes in the nose along with oyster shells and ocean spray. The palate is long, stony and dry, with chiseled precision."

Tasting Profile

Nose
Pear and lemongrass lead, joined by citrus notes and a distinctly maritime quality reminiscent of oyster shells and ocean spray — the ancient Jurassic seabed origins of Chablis's soils speaking directly through the aromatics.

Palate
Delicate hazelnut and nutmeg unfold alongside an iodized, maritime character, carried by fresh, genuinely mineral acidity. Long, stony, and dry, with real precision and chiseled structure.

Finish
Persistent and clean, closing with the same mineral, saline character that defines the wine throughout — classic, old-school Chablis with no oak influence to soften or obscure the vineyard's own voice.

Quick Overview

Food Pairings

• Fresh oysters and raw shellfish
• Grilled or poached white fish
• Goat cheese
• Light seafood pasta
• Sushi and sashimi