The evolution of Chablis with author Rosemary George MW

Looking Into Wine

Chablis has been one of the hardest wine regions to learn for me while studying for the WSET Diploma, in the blind tasting is my Achilles heel I never get it right!
Well following my ideas of covering regions and topics that I found fascinating and hard while studying, this episode was bound to happen!
Chablis is the name of a town and an appellation that lies in the valley of the River Serein in the northern-most part of Burgundy.
110 kilometres northwest of Dijon, it has a slightly cooler climate than the Côte d’Or. It is well-known for wines made with the Chardonnay variety.
In this episode, we speak to Rosemary George MW author of the book The Wines of Chablis. Chablis has experienced major swings in its popularity. In the early nineteenth century, it enjoyed a boom due to its relative proximity to Paris. Plantings in Chablis shrank under the challenges of phylloxera and powdery mildew in the nineteenth century and above all the building of the Paris-Lyons-Marseille railway in the middle of the nineteenth century.
As Rosemary says Chablis region is not going through a revolution but an evolution.
The rural depopulation after World War I and the devastating frost of 1945 reduced Chablis to a low point of just 500 ha. In more recent decades, demand has led to the land under the vine growing back to 5,500ha.
The cool, northerly location means vineyards are susceptible to spring frosts. Which is the last 3 years have more than ever affected the vineyards reducing the production level.
Chablis is a fascinating region that hides many unique challenges which are going to be explored in the episode. Remember to follow the podcast to know when new episodes are going to be released.
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If you would like to learn more about chablis here is the link of the book to Rosemary:
https://www.infideas.com/books/wines-chablis/
Other useful websites:
https://www.chablis-wines.com/
https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-chablis
https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/chablis-wine-guide/