Recently, Laurent Drouhin was featured in a Two-part Series on the Wine Spectator website. Listed below are links to Part I & II of a Chablis primer.

Chablis Primer Part I:
Chablis Primer Part II:

During the 1960's, at a time when the Chablis vineyards were all but abandoned, Robert Drouhin believed in the potential of this wine region which, a century earlier, had been decimated by the phylloxera disease.

Attracted by the unique qualities of this terroir considered an integral part of Greater Burgundy, and as a tribute to the Joseph Drouhin family, native of this area, Robert Drouhin examined maps, spent time visiting the area, had extended conversations with the local people and remembered his tastings with Maurice Drouhin.

Very early, he selected the best vineyards in the historical and geological heart of Chablis before the INAO (the government office controlling the appellations in France) would extend the actual limits of the appellation into less typical areas.

Since the end of the 1980's, under the impetus of Philippe Drouhin, the Domaine Drouhin Vaudon has embraced biological and biodynamic cultivation. As of today, the Domaine Drouhin Vaudon is the largest estate in Chablis entirely given over to this kind of cultivation.

Forty years later, Philippe, Véronique, Laurent et Frédéric have made of this domaine a pioneer of the appellation and one of its most dynamic achievers, to the point where it is now recognized as one of the benchmark estates in the region.

The Domaine Drouhin Vaudon, as it is now constituted in Chablis, is a separate entity operating with a team of ten people working full time under the responsibility of Denis Mery, the vineyard manager.

Joseph Drouhin, a precursor and pioneer in this great wine region for 40 years, will strengthen the identity of their prestigious Chablis Domaine. With this in mind, and starting with the vintage 2008, the name "Vaudon" will be associated with Joseph Drouhin for all its Chablis wines as a sign of the firm's allegiance to this historical terroir.

The Moulin de Vaudon, the property of Joseph Drouhin, is an 18th Century watermill straddling the Serein River, close to the Grand Cru vineyards of Chablis. Flowing gently past hillsides covered with vineyards, the river has always been closely identified with Chablis and its region. Because of its unique location at the heart of their 38 hectare vineyard estate (95 acres), this historical mill is the headquarters of the Drouhin Domaine in Chablis.