2020 Louis Michel Chablis 1er Butteaux Vieilles Vignes
My advice for anyone who loves Chablis is simple: start securing the top wines from recent years now.
While we haven’t felt the full crunch yet, the 2024 vintage was a disaster across the region, and the best wines are already starting to disappear from the market. Trust me: a year from now, you’ll be glad to have these bottles in your cellar.
Today's offer is from one of Chablis’ most rock-solid names, Louis Michel, featuring their two top 1er crus: Butteaux Vieilles Vignes and Montée de Tonnerre.
These are the definition of pure, classic Chablis. I love the razor-sharp minerality, the salty sea-breeze lift, and the finish that transports you right to the Kimmeridgian slopes.
Aged in 100% stainless steel, their brilliant soil character is on full display—all delivered at a price that still lags far behind the quality. Frankly, I’m amazed these wines aren’t more expensive.
If you’re a Chablis buyer, this is your moment. Buy with confidence – and don’t forget to send me a thank-you note next year.
Gicqueau-Michel noted that this had been racked only 10 days before my visit and thus it's not surprising that the nose was largely dominated by reduction and sulfur nuances. More interesting are the sleek, intense and more concentrated if slightly less energetic flavors that flash a refreshing salinity on the very dry and balanced finale. This too possesses fine development potential.
- Burghound, 90-93
The 2020 Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux Vieilles Vignes will be bottled later than usual, as Michel was still waiting on the delivery of glass bottles when I visited—but extra time on the fine lees certainly won't do it any harm. Exhibiting aromas of pear, white flowers, freshly baked bread, confit citrus and iodine, it's medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, with terrific depth and tension. It's a close race between this and Michel's Vaulorent this year.
- William Kelley, 93+
This is similar to the regular cuvée except that it seems ever-so-slightly riper. By contrast, there is better concentration and power to the medium-bodied flavors and, somewhat unusually, the mouthfeel is finer as well, particularly on the more complex if also more austere finale. Lovely.
- Burghound, 90-93 Outstanding!
The 2022 Chablis Butteaux Vieilles Vignes ler Cru comes from vines around 70 years old, only slightly older than the regular cuvée, but on different soils (white clay rather than brown with high fossil content). It is usually bottled slightly later. The nose is a little more expressive with hints of red cherries and peach skin - very well defined. The palate is well-balanced with more harmony than the regular cuvée, a crisp line of acidity and touches of oyster shell on the saline finish. Great persistence here. Excellent.
- Vinous Media, 92-94
Issuing from a single parcel and defined by 70-year-old vines affected by le court-noué virus that reduces yield and elevates maturity, producing small, concentrated berries, the 2022 Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux Vieilles Vignes is performing very well. Opening in the glass to reveal notes of iodine, beeswax and pear, it’s medium to full-bodied and layered, with considerable depth and a long, saline finish. Guillaume Michel admits that the 2022 produced wines with rather generous profiles and will require some patience for the terroir to shine.
- Wine Advocate, 92+
