Domaine Colbois

Michel Colbois started in 1970 with two hectares. Half a century later the estate has twenty.

The house goes back further: Yvonne and Edmond Colbois opened it in 1900, Josette and Paul carried on from 1937 to 1988, and in 2009 Benjamin came in, of the fourth generation.

They are in Chitry-le-Fort, in the Yonne, within the canton of Chablis and halfway between Chablis and Auxerre. They farm under HVE certification.

The twenty hectares break down like this: 5.80 of Chablis, 1.10 of Chablis 1er Cru, 6.15 of Bourgogne Chitry white, 3.40 of Bourgogne Chitry red, 2.30 of Bourgogne Aligoté and one of Crémant de Bourgogne.

The Bourgogne Aligoté comes from those 2.30 hectares, from forty-year-old vines on Kimmeridgian marl, the same soil as Chablis. It ferments with indigenous yeasts and ages in stainless steel tank, with no oak.