Winery Overview
Cyril Gautheron is the seventh generation in his family to cultivate vines in Fleys, a village of 160 inhabitants. The winery and family home are located directly across from the 1er Cru “Côte des Pres Girots” vineyard. At one time, the inhabitants of Fleys were called “Gougueys” from the dialect word for the fossilized snails that are prevalent in the area and in fact the Gautherons have some extraordinary examples exhibited in their tasting room. The Gautheron domain is 22 hectares divided among 40 parcels which include a small parcel in Petit-Chablis, 14 hectares in Chablis, 7.5 hectares in 1er Cru Chablis (Les Fourneaux, Mont de Milieu, Vaucoupin, Vaillons, Montmains, L’Homme Mort) and a few very small parcels in Grand Crus including “Preuses” and “Valmur”. Harvesting is done mostly by machine except where the terrain does not permit it, in which case the grapes are picked by hand. Cyril has four modern “bladder” presses, avoiding any wait time for the harvested grapes, and thus limiting oxidation allowing for a very slow and gentle pressing of the grapes. He moves the juice from the presses to the tanks by gravity and throughout the entire winemaking process, he tries to minimize the use of pumps. Cyril does his cellar work and bottling in accordance with atmospheric pressure and moon cycles. He favors extended contact with the lees, typically four to nine months, after which the wines are fined, lightly filtered, and then bottled. Despite all the investment in modern equipment, Cyril takes a traditional approach to making Chablis as exemplified in the simplicity of his methods and the maturing of the wine before bottling. In 2016, he was recognized as the best young winemaker in the Yonne by the C.I.V.B.