Alice et Olivier De Moor

Seven kilometres south-west of Chablis, in the village of Courges, Alice and Olivier de Moor run one of the region’s most low-key yet influential small-scale wine estates. In an appellation long dominated by large-scale industrial production, they have championed organic farming, fermentation using wild yeasts and ageing in oak barrels at a time when almost no one else was doing so.

History

Olivier grew up in Courges and still ages his Chablis in barrels beneath his grandparents’ old house. Alice is originally from the Jura. They met whilst working on a large estate in Chablis in the early 1990s, both having graduated as oenologists from the Dijon School. In 1989, Olivier planted the estate’s first three plots: Bel-Air, Clardy and Rosette, on land belonging to his uncle’s family.

The first harvest was gathered in 1994, of which they kept just 15 hectolitres for themselves and sold the rest. That autumn, they gave up their day jobs and leased two plots of old vines in Saint-Bris: 0.55 hectares of Aligoté, planted in 1902, and 0.40 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc, planted in 1950. Over the next few years, they made ends meet by tending other people’s vineyards. In 1996, they planted a plot known as Champagne in Chitry with Aligoté and Chardonnay.

In 2017, they acquired two Premier Cru plots: Vau de Vey, 0.92 hectares planted in 1953, and Mont de Milieu, 0.82 hectares with vines dating back to the 1930s. Organic certification was obtained in 2005, which remains a rarity in Chablis. In 2007, a new winery with a gravity-fed system was built.

Vineyards, terroir and grape varieties

The estate covers around 10 hectares, with plots in the appellations of Chablis, Saint-Bris and Chitry. The plots in Chablis are situated on classic Kimmeridgian limestone and clay soils, rich in fossilised shells, which form the basis of this appellation’s character.

The Bel-Air and Clardy plots have a shallow topsoil layer over solid limestone, which is well-drained and mineral-rich. The Rosette plot is steeper, with a gradient of up to 40%, featuring three distinct soil profiles from the top to the foot of the slope.

Varieties planted: Chardonnay for Chablis, Aligoté for Saint-Bris and Bourgogne Aligoté, as well as Sauvignon Blanc for Saint-Bris. Olivier designs all the labels himself.

Winemaking

All the grapes are harvested by hand into small crates and gently pressed using a second-hand pneumatic press purchased in 2008. Only indigenous yeasts are used for fermentation, with no pumping over; everything flows by gravity.

The wines are aged for 12 to 18 months in old Burgundy barrels of various sizes, including demi-muids and foudres. No filtration. The use of sulphur is kept to an absolute minimum.

Wines

The range includes three Chablis wines: Bel-Air et Clardy, a blend from two plots; Coteau de Rosette from the steep Rosette plot; and L'Humeur du Temps, a blend from several plots designed to reflect the character of the entire vintage. Since 2017, two Premier Cru wines have been added to the range: Vau de Vey and Mont de Milieu.

Saint-Bris Aligoté 1902 is made from grapes grown on the estate’s oldest vines.

The range is completed by Bourgogne Chitry and a line of wines from the négociant called Le Vendangeur Masqué, launched after severe frosts destroyed 95% of the harvest in 2016.