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Daniel Etienne Defaix wine room

Daniel-Etienne Defaix

Daniel-Etienne Defaix's commitment to extraordinarily long aging, organic farming, and natural fermentations puts him well outside the region's mainstream, but his deeply expressive late-released wines are Chablis to their core.


We are fortunate to work with the exuberant Daniel-Etienne Defaix, whose family has been plying their trade in and around Chablis since the 17th century. In generations past, long aging in Chablis was more the rule than the exception, but today Danny is virtually alone in that practice. The Defaix family—one of the oldest winegrowing families in the region—owns thirty hectares of vines, the vast majority of which are in premier and grand cru vineyards, but Danny designates only his best lots each vintage as cru-level, declassifying the remainder as villages. Astonishingly, he bottles these cru-level wines only after eight to ten years of aging in tanks, therein undergoing a slow natural settling which prevents the need for filtration.

Long aging, however, is not the only way in which Defaix distinguishes himself. He relies exclusively on naturally occurring yeasts—a rare practice in Chablis—and his fermentations routinely last between three and six weeks (inoculating gets it done in four-to-six days), with malolactic fermentation sometimes requiring two years to finish in his frigid cellar. He favors extraordinarily long lees contact, but employs stirringonly for the first two years, and then only seldom; this extended period of yeast autolysis guards a wine’s color and promotes a generosity of texture, according to Danny. Furthermore, it takes a significant amount of time for the lees to settle, and Defaix relies on patience rather than fining or filtration—two practices which are par for the course in the region.

Daniel-Etienne Defaix textured background of dirt

At harvest a strict triage is done to eliminate unripe and unhealthy grapes; the grapes are pressed slowly for three hours, separated parcel by parcel, with only the finest juice maintained for bottling at the domaine.

Farming

Lutte Raisonnée

Treatments

Synthetic treatments only when necessary

Ploughing

Annual ploughing to promote soil health

Soils

Kimmeridgian limestone-clay marls

Vines

Average age 42 years, trained in Guyot and planted at 6,500 vines/ha

Yields

Controlled with severe winter pruning, debudding, and green harvesting

Harvest

All wines are machine harvested.

PURCHASING

Entirely estate fruit

Fermentation

Following total destemming and pressing, wines ferment spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks for 3-4 weeks

Extraction

Bâtonnage employed during the first 2 years of élevage

Chaptalization

Chaptalization when necessary

Pressing

Pneumatic pressing

Malolactic Fermentation

Spontaneous, beginning in tank in the spring and lasting up to 2 years

Élevage

Wines age in stainless-steel tanks for 3-10 years

LEeS

1 year for village wines, 3 years for 1er Cru and Grand Cru wines

FINING & FILTRATION

Bentonite fining, diatomaceous earth filtration when necessary

SULFUR

Applied after fermentation, at rackings, and at bottling

Farming

Lutte Raisonnée

Treatments

Synthetic treatments only when necessary

Ploughing

Annual ploughing to promote soil health

Soils

Kimmeridgian limestone-clay marls

Vines

Average age 42 years, trained in Guyot and planted at 6,500 vines/ha

Yields

Controlled with severe winter pruning, debudding, and green harvesting

Harvest

All wines are machine harvested.

PURCHASING

Entirely estate fruit

Fermentation

Following total destemming and pressing, wines ferment spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks for 3-4 weeks

Extraction

Bâtonnage employed during the first 2 years of élevage

Chaptalization

Chaptalization when necessary

Pressing

Pneumatic pressing

Malolactic Fermentation

Spontaneous, beginning in tank in the spring and lasting up to 2 years

Élevage

Wines age in stainless-steel tanks for 3-10 years

Lees

1 year for village wines, 3 years for 1er Cru and Grand Cru wines

Fining & Filtration

Bentonite fining, diatomaceous earth filtration when necessary

Sulfur

Applied after fermentation, at rackings, and at bottling

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