La Chablisienne

It was founded on 1 May 1923 and was the first producers' cooperative in Chablis. It came out of a specific need: between the wars growers could not sell their wine, and they banded together on the initiative of the Abbé Balitrand to set up a shared winery. There were 180 of them at the start.

Today it is made up of between 250 and 270 growing families farming some 1,250 hectares. The whole appellation runs to around 4,700, so the cooperative works close to a quarter of all Chablis.

In the mid-1950s something important changed: it began receiving grapes and must instead of finished wine, and with that gained control of the winemaking.

Its Grenouilles parcel tells a story of patience. It had been vinifying that fruit since 1979 under a long lease, bought the property in 1999 and did not take possession until 2003-2004, when the lease ran out. Twenty-four years from first working the vineyard to being able to call it its own.

It amounts to 7.2 hectares and makes up the greater part of that grand cru.