A Breakthrough in Vaillons: 2023 Gueguen Chablis 1er

Gueguen’s Breakthrough Bottling Has Arrived

This is the first vintage Ideal Wine & Spirits has imported from this particular vineyard, and for good reason: the quality of the wine took a major leap in 2023, and they felt it was finally the right time to share it.

While this is its debut in the U.S. via Ideal, the Gueguen family has quietly been farming Vaillons since 2021. In just three short vintages, they’ve brought the vineyard into focus. Farming organically, paying close attention to ripening and vineyard expression, and refining their winemaking approach vintage by vintage—they’ve transformed what was once a promising holding into one of the most compelling wines in their lineup. You can feel the confidence in this bottling. It has structure and detail, yet never loses its sense of lightness and mineral-driven charm.

Vaillons is one of Chablis’ largest and most complex Premier Cru vineyards. Because of its size and varying exposures, it can be finicky in difficult vintages, often requiring a deft hand in both the vineyard and cellar to coax real character and precision. In 2023, the vintage played in their favor—offering just the right balance of ripeness and freshness—and the Gueguens nailed it. When Ideal tasted through the cellar, this Vaillons stood out immediately for its clarity, tension, and balance.

The wine is pure Chablis: bright acidity, chalky grip, and a crystalline texture, with subtle layers of lemon peel, oyster shell, and white flowers. It’s vinified with native yeasts, and aging on the lees is carefully calibrated to add texture without ever muting the site’s distinctive cut. It’s that rare combination of intensity and restraint—a wine that feels alive in the glass, evolving with air and rewarding every sip.

Céline and Frédéric founded their domaine in 2013, but they are anything but newcomers. Céline spent more than a decade working with her father, Jean-Marc Brocard, while Frédéric worked for years at Domaine Durup. Together, they’ve built a 25-hectare estate rooted in family tradition but shaped by a modern, environmentally conscious philosophy. They farm without chemical fertilizers or herbicides, and their commitment to organic practices has quickly become central to their identity. By 2019, the domaine began formal organic conversion, and they now hold France’s highest “High Environmental Value” (HVE Level 3) certification.

The 2023 Vaillons is not just a great wine—it’s a marker of how quickly and confidently this domaine is evolving. If you’re a fan of Chablis that walks the tightrope between ripeness and restraint, mineral clarity and round texture, this is a wine you should not miss.

92 Points – Decanter

“This exotic wine has a deeper lemon colour and a tropical passion-fruit edge to the aromas that lead in with floral notes and a bit of spice. The texture is rich and dense, with balanced acidity and the extract to linger on the palate. The grapes are purchased from a grower who tends 1.5ha in the lieu-dit Epinottes down the slope from Sécher and sells all the grapes to Gueguen, who explains that the intensity is due to older vines bearing very small grapes due to court-noué (fanleaf virus).”