2019 Domaine Raoul Gautherin & Fils Vieilles Vignes Chablis 750 ml

Raoul Gautherin’s spellbinding, extraordinarily refined Vieilles Vignes Chablis is one of the most memorable and delicious bottles we’ve tasted in years. 

A picture of Chardonnay purity from one of Burgundy’s greatest vintages of all time—a season that Wine Enthusiast rated 95 points—Gautherin’s 2019 Vieille Vignes is a selection from their oldest Chablis vineyards. While it bears a village label, the bottle boasts everything we expect from wines that come from Grand Cru sites like Vaudésir and Bougros.

That’s not something we’d say unless the wine merited the comparison. Produced by one of the oldest domaines in the region, grown on low-vigor vines, it shows a sleek roundness and Meursault-like weight, all while still feeling lean and agile on the palate.

This eighth-generation estate has been producing wine since 1585, and with this bottle you’re essentially paying a dollar for every year of meticulous care Raoul Gautherin’s father-and-son team has lavished upon their gnarled, gray-barked Chardonnay vines. 

What these plants offer in concentration and intensity, they seriously lack in supply. Production is miniscule, and this bottle hardly ever leaves France. Even now, a year after we first discovered this wine and our members turned it into a fast sell-out, it was difficult to get it back. But we weren't about to let our newly discovered Chablis gem go. 

We recommend Chardonnay lovers of all stripes claim a few bottles of this beauty, then crack it open when you’ve splurged for shellfish or a beautiful hunk of Alaskan halibut. Old-vine Chablis like this deserves to be celebrated and savored, paired with an equally exquisite meal and allowed to engulf the senses—just like it did ours when we first tasted it.