2023 Domaine Roland Lavantureux Vaux Carrés Chablis 750 ml

When you talk about Chablis-picking pedigree, there’s one kingpin: Kermit Lynch.

His biggest claim to fame is discovering Domaine Raveneau—whose wines now command up to $1,400 per bottle—back before they were internationally known in the slightest. And when Lynch first tasted the wines of Roland Lavantureaux, he knew he had a hit.

Lavantureaux’s Vaux Carrés bottling has always been the apple of our eye—it’s priced like a regional bottling, but with complexity far above its station. In fact, in one of his newsletters, Kermit himself declared it “better than most Premiers Crus. It’s absolutely top-tier Chablis, made with the precision and care that define the very best producers. 

Domaine Roland Lavantureux—a family-run estate in the village of Lignorelles, a few miles northwest of Chablis—has long been one of the region’s steady, under-the-radar benchmarks. Roland Lavantureux established the domaine in 1978 after studying in Beaune, and he earned a following for clear-eyed, traditionally framed Chablis that prioritizes site and balance over showiness.

The estate is now firmly in the hands of Roland’s sons, Arnaud and David, who have been working together at the domaine since the 2010s. Arnaud oversees the vineyards and cellar work, while David handles the business side. Together they’ve continued to polish the family style, staying faithful to classic Chablis restraint but tightening everything from vineyard selection to élevage. 

For the Vaux Carrés, they lean on a measured, old-school élevage: About 70% of the wine rests in stainless steel to keep the focus on clarity, while the remaining 30% ages in low impact, three-to-six-year-old barrels for a refined texture without overt oak character. The fruit comes from prime Chablis hillside parcels on the area’s classic limestone-and-clay soils, and the whole approach is designed to let that vineyard character carry the bottle.

In 2023, the domaine had exceptional raw materials to work with. Decanter awarded the year four stars, noting: “The best results are in line with recent sunny vintages (such as 2018–2020 and 2022), with ripe orchard and stone fruit, a lush texture, balanced acidity and plenty of extract.”