2022 Dampt Freres Eric et Emmanuel Dampt Reserve du Domaine Chablis Burgundy 750 ml

We turned onto the unpaved stretch of 1 Rue de Fleys looking for our B&B. The last thing we expected to find was a high-toned, old-vine marvel of northern white Burgundy.

The sagging fence posts and the barn’s peeling facade suggested an Andrew Wyeth pastoral—not Chablis royalty. Yet the estate we had stumbled across, Vignobles Dampt Frères, possesses holdings in some of the region’s best Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards, and their wines are poured at fine-dining hotspots like the two-MICHELIN-starred Saison.   

We waved down a fellow in Wellington boots, who then shouted for Emmanuel Dampt. Before we knew it, we were tasting the Réserve du Domaine with the winemaker while a spring rainstorm rattled the roof.

We were already well aware of Vignoble Dampt Frères’s reputation—we’d just never made a house call before. It all started, Emmanuel told us, when his father Bernard acquired a small piece of land in the 1980s. He expanded those holdings over the decades, ensuring that his three sons would inherit a priceless map of Chablis vineyards.

Today they craft dozens of cuvées, from village wines to tough-to-find Grands Crus, but this is one bottling you won’t find anywhere else. Vinified in stainless steel, it’s elegant yet seductive, intriguing and vibrant.

2022 marked a turning point in Chablis. For three seasons, Mother Nature had cast down as much springtime frost and hail as she could muster, decimating yields and leaving many fermenting tanks empty. But in ‘22, the weather turned warm—and it held. Come September, tanks were full again, and one Chablis grower was calling it “a truly magnificent harvest.”