Guillaume Michaut has been surrounded by vineyards and the history of Chablis since childhood. His grandfather was an early believer in the wines of Chablis and worked proudly to expand the Chablis appellation to his village of Beines and beyond. By the 1960s, he was able to pass a rather large holding of vineyards down to his sons. As a teenager, Guillaume worked alongside his father and uncles in the vineyards and joined the family domaine in 2004. However, after his father passed away, Guillaume realized that his vision was quite different from that of his uncles and decided to set out on his own with his small share of family vines, starting in 2018.

These oldest of vineyard holdings represent just over one hectare altogether: 0.4 hectares of Chablis in Vau Brou, which he helped plant in 2000, and a 0.6 hectare block in the Premier Cru of Beauroy, which stretches from Beines nearly to the town of Chablis. Michaut’s parcel was planted in 1980 and is located more precisely in the lieu-dit Côte de Savant, found just outside of the town of Beines and across from the retention lake that his grandfather helped create in the 1960s. Recently, Guillaume was able to add a little over two hectares of Petit Chablis that he planted in 2020, as well as a purchase of two more from older organic farmers very nearby to his own plantings.

After working a year-long internship long ago with Nicolas Maillet in the Mâconnais, Guillaume developed an interest in organic farming and low-intervention winemaking. Equally as important, he adopted a winemaking philosophy that respects the terroir and the vineyard over process and the winemaker. Setting out on his own was an opportunity to put this belief into action. This began with promoting the place of his winery by naming his domaine 47N 3E, which you’ll see on the wines’ labels; it refers to the longitude and latitude of his hometown of Beines. Michaut prefers to refer to his domaine in this way over his personal name.

In the cellar, all wines are vinified with native yeasts and aged without sulfur, though a moderate amount is added at bottling. The Chablis is vinified and aged entirely in stainless steel tanks. He produces two Premier Cru wines from Beauroy and Côte de Savant. Fruit for these cuvées comes from the exact same vineyard, which can be labeled as Beauroy or Côte de Savant by law. Beauroy is aged in stainless steel, while the Côte de Savant is fermented and aged in 500L oak demi-muids.

We’re very pleased to be working with these thoughtful new wines from a village where very little changes over a lot of time. The last time we were with Guillaume, we asked which producers in the village he admired most, if anyone was giving him any inspiration, and his answer was Alice and Olivier DeMoor. We’re excited to see what that wonderful example and Guillaume’s already serious farming can turn into over the coming vintages, and the ’22s are in beautiful shape right now!