
The
Chablis region of
Burgundy is
classified according to four tiers of ''
Appellation d'origine contrôlée
In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...
'' (AOC) designation. The top two are the crus of Chablis and include the 7
Grand cru vineyards followed by the lower Premier crus. Wines made entirely from fruit from these vineyards are entitled to list their wines as ''cru classé'' Chablis on the
wine label. Below these tiers are the lower designations of basic
Chablis AOC and
Petit Chablis.
Soil quality and hill slope play a major role in delineating the differences. Many of the Premier Crus, and all the Grand Crus vineyards, are planted along valley of the
Serein river as it flows into the
Yonne with the best sites located on a southwest facing slope that receives the maximum amount of sun exposure. All of Chablis' Grand Cru vineyards and many of their better Premier Cru vineyards are planted on primarily
Kimmeridgean soil (a composition of
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
,
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
and tiny
fossilized oyster shells) which is believed to impart more finesse and structure to the wines. Other areas, particularly the vast majority of Petit Chablis vineyards, are planted on slightly younger
Portlandian soil.
Grand Cru vineyards
There is one Grand Cru in Chablis with seven officially delineated Grand Cru
climats, covering an area of 247 acres (100 hectares), all located on one southwest facing hill overlooking the town of
Chablis. There is one vineyard, La Moutonne, located on this hill between the Grand Cru vineyards of Les Preuses and Vaudésir that is considered an "unofficial" Grand Cru and it will appear on
wine labels. However, the ''
Institut National des Appellations d'Origine
An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes ca ...
'' (INAO) does not recognize La Moutonne as a Grand Cru.

*Les Preuses
*Vaudésir
*Grenouilles
*Valmur
*Les Clos
*Blanchot
*Bougros
*(unofficial) La Moutonne
Premier Crus
At the turn of the 21st century, there were 40 Premier cru vineyards in Chablis. In 2009, the official list was expanded to 89 vineyards.
[CAHIER DES CHARGES DES APPELLATIONS D'ORIGINE CONTRÔLEES "PETIT CHABLIS", "CHABLIS", "CHABLIS GRAND CRU"]
The names of many of these vineyards do not appear on wine labels because of an
INAO allowance that permits the use of "umbrella names" - where smaller, lesser known vineyards are allowed to use the name of a nearby more famous Premier cru vineyard. Seventeen of the most well known "umbrella" vineyards are bolded below.

*Mont de Milieu - Vallée de Chigot
*Montée de Tonnerre - Chapelot, Les Chapelots, Pied d’Aloup, Sous Pied d’Aloup, Côte de Bréchain
*Fourchaume - Vaupulent, Vau Pulan, Les Vaupulans, La Fourchaume, Côte de Fontenay, Dine-Chien, L’Homme Mort, La Grande Côte, Bois Seguin, L’Ardillier, Vaulorent, Les Quatre Chemins, La Ferme Couverte, Les Couvertes
*Vaillons - Sur les Vaillons, Chatains, Les Grands Chaumes, Les Chatains, Sécher, Beugnons, Les Beugnons, Les Lys, Champlain, Mélinots, Les Minos, Roncières, Les Epinottes
*Montmains - Les Monts Mains, Forêts, Les Forêts, Butteaux, Les Bouts des Butteaux, Vaux Miolot, Le Milieu des Butteaux, Les Ecueillis, Vaugerlains
*Côte de Léchet - Le Château
*Beauroy - Sous Boroy, Vallée des Vaux, Benfer, Troësmes, Côte de Troësmes, Adroit de Vau Renard, Côte de Savant, Le Cotat-Château, Frouquelin, Le Verger
*Vauligneau - Vau de Longue, Vau Girault, La Forêt, Sur la Forêt
*Vaudevey - La Grande Chaume, Vaux Ragons, Vignes des Vaux Ragons
*Vaucoupin - Adroit de Vaucopins
*Vosgros - Adroit de Vosgros, Vaugiraut
*Les Fourneaux - Morein, Côte des Près Girots, La Côte, Sur la Côte
*Côte de Vaubarousse
*Berdiot
*Chaume de Talvat
*Côte de Jouan
*Les Beauregards - Hauts des Chambres du Roi, Côte de Cuissy, Les Corvées, Bec d'Oiseau, Vallée de Cuissy
See also
*
Burgundy wine
*
List of Burgundy Grand Crus
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chablis Crus, List of
Wine regions of France
Burgundy (historical region) AOCs
Wine-related lists