Weekly Interview: Christian Moreau

Posted by | Posted in Interviews | Posted on 08-19-2016

Christian Moreau

Christian Moreau

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Christian Moreau of Domaine Christian Moreau Père et fils.

As you’ll read below, Christian spend eleven years in Canada before returning to his family estate in Chablis.

After forty vintages in Chablis, he has much to say about the uniqueness of Chablis, the value of Chablis, and the pleasures of Chablis. Nowadays, his son Fabien is in charge of winemaking at the family estate, and he has some words to share about Fabien, too. In these last weeks of summer, this may be the perfect time to reach for some Chablis Villages.

Check out the interview below the fold!

Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Chablis in 1943 and raised between Chablis and Paris (my parents divorced).

When and how did you get into wine?
I left Chablis in 1961, when I was 17, and went to Alberta, Canada and spent 11 years in that beautiful country!

What has been your career path to where you are?
In Canada, I landed in Hinton in a logging camp. My first job was: (1) looking after 60 horses for the lumberjack; (2) logging myself; (3) running a bulldozer; and (4) driving those big logging truck for 8 years. Then I came back to the family Domaine in 1972, married to my wife Christine who is Canadian, and with my two boys Philippe and Patrick who were born in Canada.  My first job at the Domaine was to spend 3 years in the vineyard to learn the job. My second job was to spend 4 years in the cellar again to learn the process of winemaking. And then, after that, I began managing a team and giving direction to the wine I wanted.

In your view, what makes your vineyards special?
So true it is that Chablis is not and can never be another Chardonnay. Chablis is simply unique. If you ever wanted evidence of the equal importance of soil, grapes, place, and microclimate in creating a wine, you would find it here in the northern corner of Burgundy. Chablis is the fresh, young, yet always slightly stony wine to drink with oyster as an aperitif. It is different from year to year, from field to field, and from bottle to bottle. Chablis is perhaps one of the best food wines as it own austerity is enriched by food. Chablis Villages is wonderful with oyster and fresh seafood. Premier and Grand Cru are superb with poultry, lobster, turbot with richer sauce, and veal. And of course cheese! The greatest thing that Chablis offers the consumer is the possibility of finding something new each time you open a bottle.

What is your general winemaking philosophy?
Vinification should be as simple as possible. The less you touch and move your wine, the better it will be .

What’s your biggest challenge as a winemaker?
The biggest challenge as a winemaker is to bring your grapes in good condition!

Who are your favorite winemakers in history, through personal account, or their wines?
I was very impressed by Paul Draper from Ridge Vineyards. I judge love his wine.

What new winemakers are you most excited about, and why?
I do not have a specific name, but I really think the new generation is doing a great job especially in the vineyard to get the best grapes.

What’s your favorite wine region in the world – other than your own?
I really enjoy white Burgundy the reds from California. But when a Pinot in Burgundy is good, it can be very, very good and nothing can equal it!

What’s the best wine you’ve ever tasted? The most interesting?
Hermitage La Chappelle from Gerard Jaboulet — himself a fabulous person.

What’s the oldest bottle in your cellar? The most expensive?
I would think a Chablis that is 46 to 50 years old. But it would not be my cup of tea, as I do not like old wine!

What’s open in your kitchen right now?
Samples that I bring from the Domaine.

If you had to pick one red and one white to drink for the next month with every dinner, what would you choose?
Chambertin from Armand Rousseau and a Grand Cru from the Domaine!

Is beer ever better than wine?
No, not today, and not tomorrow!

How do you spend your days off?
In the winter, I spend 3 months skiing in the Alps. In the summer, I relax at home and play golf.

What would people be surprised to know about you?
Maybe what I did before I came back to Chablis in 1972!

If you weren’t making wine for a living, what would you be doing?
Well, the answer is at the beginning of this interview! I would probably still be driving one of those big Kenworth trucks, logging wood in Canada.

How do you define success?
Success is to be simple and to be honest with yourself on what you are doing.

May I add the following? Since 2001, my son Fabien is the key of the Domaine he is the winemaker. He is a oenologist graduate from Dijon, with a license in biology and a master’s degree from l’ENITA in Bordeaux. Before coming to the family Domaine, he worked for different estates, including Domaine de Chevalier, Leflaive, Laroche, and Fevre. He also spent one year in New Zealand, before coming back to Chablis in 2001. So, you see, he’s quite the opposite from his father!

Voila you know everything about us now.

Comments are closed.