France · Chablis

Domaine De La Motte

A three-generation Michaut family domaine in Beine, making Chablis with old-vine depth, mineral freshness and a rounded palate.

The producer

Domaine De La Motte is a three-generation Michaut family domaine in Beine, in the Yonne on the left bank of the Serein. Henri Michaut founded it in 1960, and his grandson Adrien Michaut is the current winemaker. The estate farms 53 hectares and is HVE Level 3 certified. Adrien's aim is expressive Chablis with roundness and balance, a style shown most clearly by Chablis Vieilles Vignes.

Made from vines averaging more than 50 years old, Chablis Vieilles Vignes opens with green lemon, grapefruit, acacia, lily of the valley, hawthorn and honey. Its palate is broad, round and concentrated on fruit, with mineral character and acidity keeping the wine fresh. Fine oak adds texture, while old vines bring mouth-watering length, flavour and complexity. The nose is generous, while the palate finishes in a more linear, mineral register.

Known for

Old-vine Chablis with broad fruit, mineral freshness and fine oak texture.

Notable facts

The story

Three Michaut Generations

In 1960, Henri Michaut founded Domaine De La Motte in Beine. The estate passed through three generations of the Michaut family, with Henri's grandson Adrien Michaut becoming the current winemaker. The domaine now farms 53 hectares and is HVE Level 3 certified. Adrien's stated aim is expressive Chablis with roundness and balance. In the Vieilles Vignes cuvée, grapes come from vines averaging more than 50 years old. The bottle carries green lemon, grapefruit, white flowers and honey, followed by a broad palate with mineral character, fine oak and acidity. Old vines bring mouth-watering length, flavour and complexity.

From the atlas

Domaine De La Motte

At A Glance

Domaine De La Motte is a three-generation Michaut family domaine in Beine, in the Yonne on the left bank of the Serein. It farms 53 hectares and makes Chablis, with Chablis Vieilles Vignes as the cuvée whose old vines, oak influence and mineral freshness are most clearly documented. The available bottle detail does not name the grape variety, so the wine is best understood through its appellation, place, vine age and palate shape.

The Producer

Henri Michaut founded Domaine De La Motte in 1960. His grandson Adrien Michaut is the current winemaker, giving the estate a direct family line from its first generation to the cellar today. The domaine is HVE Level 3 certified and covers 53 hectares of vineyards, a substantial holding for a family estate in Chablis.

Adrien's stated aim is expressive Chablis with roundness and balance. The wines described here follow that brief closely. Fruit and flowers open the nose, while the palate carries a more linear mineral character, broad fruit and persistent acidity. The contrast keeps the wines generous without losing their Chablis shape.

Place

Beine lies in the Yonne, on the left bank of the Serein, within the Bourgogne region. Chablis names the appellation on the bottles, while Vieilles Vignes identifies the old-vine cuvée. The address places the wines in the northern Burgundy landscape, and the glass carries that place through mineral character, citrus freshness and a palate that narrows after its initial breadth.

The estate's range includes several Chablis cuvées, but the documented wines are not presented through a full hierarchy of named parcels or cru designations. Domaine De La Motte is therefore easiest to approach through the relationship between its broad holding, its family cellar and the old-vine Chablis bottle.

Soil And Site

The most concrete site detail in the Vieilles Vignes cuvée is vine age. Its grapes come from vines averaging more than 50 years old, and that age is felt in the wine's mouth-watering length, flavour and complexity. The mineral character adds another layer, bringing freshness to the broad fruit and keeping the finish lively.

The bottle does not rely on a named parcel to describe its place. Its site expression arrives through the combination of old vines, citrus, white flowers, mineral flavour and acidity, giving the wine breadth at the centre and freshness at the close.

Story

The estate's current story is shaped by the meeting of family continuity and a deliberate Chablis style. Three generations of Michaut ownership lead to Adrien Michaut's present work across 53 hectares, where his stated aim is to make expressive wines with roundness and balance. That choice appears in the wine's movement from fruit-led aromatics to a more linear palate.

HVE Level 3 certification adds a formal environmental marker to the present-day domaine. In the bottle, the combination of broad fruit, fine oak influence, mineral flavour and acidity gives the estate's Chablis a fuller centre without making the finish heavy or soft.

Vineyards And Cellar

The 53 hectare vineyard holding gives Domaine De La Motte a broad base for Chablis production, while HVE Level 3 certification records the estate's environmental farming standard. The Vieilles Vignes cuvée narrows that holding to grapes from vines averaging more than 50 years old, bringing extra flavour, length and complexity into the finished wine.

A small amount of oak influence contributes texture to the cuvée. It appears alongside mineral flavour and acidity, so the wine carries a rounded middle without losing its fresh line. The cellar work is felt as a meeting of texture and freshness, not as a separate oak flavour layered over the fruit.

Wines

Chablis Vieilles Vignes is the range's old-vine cuvée, made from vines averaging more than 50 years old. Its aromatic register moves from green lemon and grapefruit to acacia, lily of the valley, hawthorn and honey. That spread gives the wine both citrus lift and a softer floral sweetness in the nose.

The palate shifts the emphasis. Ripe fruit and herbs give way to a broad, round and concentrated centre, with mineral character adding freshness and acidity carrying the wine through the finish. Fine oak influence contributes texture, while the old vines bring mouth-watering length, flavour and complexity. The cuvée therefore occupies a distinctive place within the estate's Chablis range, combining expressive aromatics with a more linear palate.

The broader domaine makes several Chablis cuvées, but the available detail supports one clear range role: Vieilles Vignes is the bottle for old-vine depth, broad fruit, mineral flavour, fine oak and persistent acidity. Other bottle names and vineyard designations are not needed to understand what this cuvée is doing in the cellar or the glass.

In The Glass

At first pour, green lemon and grapefruit rise from the glass, followed by white flowers, with acacia, lily of the valley and hawthorn giving the aroma a wild floral edge. Honey rounds the fruit without turning the nose heavy.

The first taste is broad and concentrated on fruit. The middle of the palate feels round and gourmand, with a small amount of oak adding texture. Mineral flavour then draws the wine into a more linear shape, while firm acidity keeps the breadth fresh and carries the flavour across the tongue. The finish is mouth-watering, with citrus, mineral notes and old-vine length remaining after the fruit has faded.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Chablis Vieilles Vignes. It brings together the estate's most legible details: grapes from vines averaging more than 50 years old, a small amount of oak for texture, broad fruit, mineral flavour and acidity that holds the wine fresh. In the glass, expect green lemon, grapefruit, white flowers and honey before a round palate tightens into a mineral, mouth-watering finish.

It is the right first bottle because its name tells you the central vineyard distinction, while its taste shows how Adrien Michaut joins roundness and balance in Chablis. Serve it with shellfish, roast poultry or a soft young cheese, where the acidity can cut through richness and the broad fruit can meet savoury food.

Anecdote

In 1960, Henri Michaut founded Domaine De La Motte in Beine. The estate passed through three generations of the Michaut family, and Henri's grandson Adrien Michaut eventually became the winemaker. The family line connects a precise date with a living bottle: the domaine that began with Henri continues to make Chablis under Adrien, whose stated aim is expressive wine with roundness and balance. The old-vine cuvée carries that succession into the vineyard, using grapes from vines averaging more than 50 years old. At the table, the story can be told from Henri's founding in 1960 to Adrien's Chablis made from vines planted long before the current generation took charge.

Final Word

Domaine De La Motte gives Chablis a broad family and vineyard setting, then brings the wine back to a fresh mineral line. Chablis Vieilles Vignes is the bottle to seek first: old vines supply flavour and length, oak adds texture, and acidity keeps the finish clear.

Sources

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