"I built this domain with love and perseverance, with willing men and women and I hope you will enjoy reading these few pages :
Let yourself be seduced ...."
Jean-Marc Brocard
Chablis Vineyard:
Situated near Auxerre, in the valley of the Serein river, Chablis is the centre of one of France's oldest wine growing regions.
Prized by French kings and always found on the best tables in the 19th century, Chablis wines were prestigious. Synonymous with quality and good taste, the name Chablis has even been given to some New World white wines ! What better proof of their success?
However, Chablis wines could have become just a distant memory as phylloxera almost entirely destroyed the vineyard a century ago.
But thanks to the dedication and hard work of a few vine growers, the vineyard has regained its former glory as one of Burgundy's flagships.
Jean-Marc Brocard played his part in this revival.
Starting from scratch, Jean-Marc planted one hectare of vines and produced his first bottles of Chablis in 1974. Today, 96 hectares surround his cellars which produce 600,000 bottles annually.
Chablis wines take their world famous mineral and fresh character from the vine's roots which dig deep into the subsoil, consisting of limestone, clay and marine fossils.
Nowhere better than in Chablis does the Chardonnay develop the finesse and strength which are the hallmarks of the greatest white wines. Delicious and crisp when young, they also benefit from ageing.
Climate:
Chablis is the most northerly of Burgundy's appellations, closer to Champagne than to the Côte d'Or.
Winters tend to be cold and spring frost is a real threat as late as May.
Summers, however, are warm with cool nights, ideal conditions for maturation and the development of aromas in the grapes.
“My wine takes aromas in soil” – Jean-Marc Brocard
Jean-Marc Brocard's origins lie in the Côte d'Or. For he is a farmer's son from the village of Chaudenay-le-Château, not even the son of the vigneron. It was an accident of marriage that brought him to wine, he married Claudine (his childhood sweetheart), a vigneron's daughter from the village of St-Bris-le-Vineux in the valley of Yonne.
Starting with a hectare of vines from his father-in-law, Emile Petit, he has created an estate of some 180 hectares vineyards in Chablis and Burgundy.
Jean-Marc acknowledges a considerable debt to one of the old vignerons of St-Cyr les Colons, a man Louis Petit, who despite the name is unrelated to his father-in-law. The oldest vines of the Domaine Sainte Claire came from Louis Petit and it was he who gave to Jean-Marc the sense of tradition and a respect for nature, showing him that you can still maintain the old traditions, while practicing modern methods. Born and bred, devoted to the land and it's characterful wines.
A Vine grower, Jean-Marc is also a merchant maturing and trading 4,000,000 bottles a year. A specialist in the different wines of Chablis and its surrounding region. Brocard and his assistant wine maker, Oenologist Patrick Piuze pay close attention to the different characteristics of the various vineyards within the estate. Different cuvées of Chablis are labeled to the astrological sign at the time of bottling. Whatever the appellation (Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru or Chablis Grand Cru), our wines are produced using the most modern techniques in cellars built between 1980 and now. However, we scrupulously respect the land and the traditions of this ancient vineyard.
Over the years, he's built one of Chablis' leading wineries. The winery is equipped with numerous stainless steel tanks of many sizes (no oak is used at all) and is located near a 13th century church dedicated to Sainte-Claire.