2022 Domaine Raoul Gautherin & Fils Vieilles Vignes Chablis 750 ml

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

This is a picture of Chardonnay purity from a fantastic Chablis vintage—a season that Decanter rated 4.5 stars. The 2022 Vieilles Vignes is a selection from Gautherin’s oldest vines, and while this wine bears a village label, it boasts everything we expect from wines that come from Grand Cru sites like Vaudésir and Bougros.

That’s NOT a statement 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 usually requires a cash outlay associated with 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. But there was no way we were going to let this Chablis gem go. 

We recommend Chardonnay lovers of all stripes claim a few bottles of this beauty, then crack it open on a night when you’ve splurged for a beautiful hunk of Alaskan halibut or some prime shellfish. 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.