2020 Domaine Raoul Gautherin & Fils Vieilles Vignes Chablis 750 ml

Raoul Gautherin’s spellbinding, extraordinarily refined Vieilles Vignes is a picture of Chardonnay purity from one of Burgundy’s greatest vintages of all time—a season that Wine Advocate rated 97 points, calling it “a great success for Chablis” and “the finest Chablis vintage since 2017.” The 2020 is a selection from their oldest vines, all over the age of 35. And 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 a comparison we make lightly. 

Produced by one of the oldest domaines in the region, grown on low-vigor vines plunged deep into mineral-rich Kimmeridgian soils, this bottle shows a sleek roundness and Meursault-like weight, all while still feeling lean and agile on the palate—the kind of delicate balance that characterizes Chablis’ prestigious labels. 

The eighth-generation Gautherin estate has been producing wine since 1585. With this bottle, you’re essentially paying just a dollar for every year of meticulous care that 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, two years after we first discovered (and sold through) this wine, it was difficult to get it back. 

We recommend you crack this open on a night 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.