France · Chablis

Domaine des Malandes

Family-owned Chablis estate with roots in a frost-marked 1949 Fourchaume harvest, now farming 29 hectares across Petit Chablis, Chablis and Premier Cru sites.

The producer

Domaine des Malandes began with a first Fourchaume harvest in 1949, under frost and limited mechanization, then became a dedicated Chablis estate in 1973. Lyne Marchive expanded the seven-hectare family holding, and Richard Rottiers and Amandine took over during the 2017 to 2018 transition. Their 29 hectares now span Petit Chablis parcels in Beines and Lignorelles, Chablis sites in Préhy, Chablis, Milly and La Chapelle Vaupelteigne, and Premier Cru vineyards including Vau de Vey and Côte de Léchet.

Organic conversion began in 2019 and the first certified organic vintage arrived in 2022. Mass selection preserves genetic diversity during replanting, while selective draft-horse plowing aerates the soil. Petit Chablis is fresh, pure and fleshy with white peach, vinified and rested in stainless steel for 6 to 8 months. Chablis brings vivacious citrus and mineral character. Vau de Vey adds exotic fruit and a persistent mineral finish, while Côte de Léchet brings flint, smoke and an almost dusty mineral feel.

Known for

A multi-appellation Chablis range shaped by organic conversion, mass selection, selective draft-horse plowing and stainless-steel ageing for Petit Chablis.

Notable facts

The story

The First Fourchaume Harvest, 1949

In 1949, the family gathered its first grapes in Fourchaume at a time when frost had already made the work difficult and vineyards offered little mechanical help. The harvest began before Domaine des Malandes had a dedicated Chablis estate, so the work took place in the practical conditions of the early family holding. Frost stood in the season's way, while limited mechanization left more of the work to human hands. The grapes still came in from Fourchaume, before the family established its Chablis estate in 1973. The first harvest belonged to that difficult year, that place and those early working conditions.

From the atlas

Domaine des Malandes

At A Glance

Domaine des Malandes is a family-owned Chablis estate whose story began with a difficult Fourchaume harvest in 1949 and became a dedicated Chablis domaine in 1973. Today, Richard Rottiers and Amandine manage 29 hectares across Petit Chablis, Chablis and Chablis Premier Cru vineyards. The range moves from fleshy white peach and early freshness to citrus, chalk, flint and smoky mineral flavours.

The Producer

The first Malandes grapes were harvested in Fourchaume in 1949, during a period marked by frost and limited mechanization. A dedicated estate in Chablis followed in 1973. Those two dates give the domaine its shape: a family beginning in difficult vineyard conditions, followed by a more defined estate built around the Chablis appellations.

Lyne Marchive later expanded the seven hectares handed to her by her parents. Since the generational transition that began in 2017, her children Richard Rottiers and Amandine have managed the domaine. Richard brought experience from Beaujolais back to the family vineyards, while the estate continued to grow across several Chablis appellations.

The estate material does not state a grape variety, so the clearest way to read these bottles is through their appellation, vineyard location and cellar work. Petit Chablis, Chablis and Premier Cru wines occupy different places in the range and carry different fruit and mineral registers.

Place

The domaine farms 29 hectares across a broad group of Chablis sites. Petit Chablis comes from parcels in Beines and Lignorelles. Chablis holdings include Préhy, Chablis, Milly and La Chapelle Vaupelteigne. The Premier Cru vineyards include Vau de Vey and Côte de Léchet.

That spread gives the labels a practical meaning. Petit Chablis is the fresh, early-drinking end of the portfolio. Chablis brings vivacious citrus and mineral character. The Premier Crus show more specific vineyard signatures, with Vau de Vey combining exotic fruit and strict minerality, while Côte de Léchet leans toward flint, smoke and an almost dusty mineral finish.

Soil And Site

The available site descriptions are carried most clearly by the wines themselves. Côte de Léchet has an almost dusty mineral character, with flinty and smoky fruit notes. Vau de Vey pairs exotic fruit with strict minerality and a persistent balanced finish. Chablis carries citrus against mineral freshness, giving the middle of the range a cleaner, brighter profile.

These descriptions avoid invented claims about slope, elevation or geological layers. The useful comparison is in the glass: fruit shape changes from white peach to citrus and exotic fruit, while the mineral register moves from fresh and clean to chalky, flinty, smoky and dusty.

Story

The estate's history moves through three generations and several changes in scale. The dedicated Chablis estate established in 1973 gave the family a permanent base after the earlier Fourchaume harvests. Lyne Marchive then expanded the original seven-hectare holding during her stewardship. Her work turned a small family inheritance into a 29-hectare portfolio spread across several appellations.

Richard Rottiers and Amandine took over during the 2017 to 2018 transition. Richard returned from work as a Beaujolais producer, bringing experience from another Burgundy region into the family domaine. The next change came in the vineyards: organic conversion began in 2019, with the first certified organic vintage released in 2022.

Vineyards And Cellar

Organic farming now guides the estate after the conversion that began in 2019. Replanting uses mass selection, which preserves genetic diversity across the vines instead of relying on a single uniform planting source. Selective plowing with draft horses is used for soil aeration, placing the work close to the soil and between the vine rows.

Petit Chablis is vinified in stainless steel and rests for 6 to 8 months in stainless steel. That cellar choice keeps the wine focused on white peach, freshness and a clean, direct profile, with no sourced oak character added to the description. The cellar therefore supports the role of the wine within the range: open, fresh and suited to earlier drinking.

Wines

Petit Chablis is the most immediate bottle in the portfolio. Its fleshy white peach fruit and fresh, pure profile give it an early-drinking role. Stainless-steel vinification and 6 to 8 months of stainless-steel rest preserve the fruit and keep the palate clear.

Chablis occupies the centre of the range. The domaine describes vivacious citrus balanced by minerality. The 2023 vintage adds lemon, white flowers, mint, apple, thyme and seashell aromas, with a medium body and a bright, clean palate. Another tasting description finds ripe pear, tropical fruit, zesty length and a chalky mineral finish.

The Premier Crus divide into distinct vineyard readings. Vau de Vey brings exotic fruit, strict minerality and a persistent balanced finish. Côte de Léchet is more marked by almost dusty mineral character, flinty fruit and smoky notes. The wines therefore differ through fruit shape, mineral feel, palate weight and finish length, not simply through their place in the appellation hierarchy.

In The Glass

The range begins with the soft, rounded impression of white peach in Petit Chablis. Stainless steel keeps that fruit fresh and pure, while the wine's early-drinking role leaves the finish clean and direct.

Chablis moves into a brighter sequence. Citrus rises first, followed by white flowers, herbs and a saline seashell note. The palate is medium-bodied, with lively acidity carrying the wine through a crisp attack and a clean finish. Chalky mineral notes lengthen the close, while ripe pear and tropical fruit add breadth in the 2023 vintage.

In Vau de Vey, exotic fruit meets a firmer mineral line and stays persistent through the finish. Côte de Léchet brings the most tactile mineral impression, with flint and smoke giving the fruit a darker edge. The vineyard names are felt as changes in aroma, palate weight and the way the finish holds.

A Bottle To Understand It

Domaine des Malandes Chablis 2023 is the first bottle to open. It sits between the fleshy, early-drinking Petit Chablis and the more marked Premier Cru wines, so its profile gives a useful view of the estate's central style.

The nose brings mint, lemon, white flowers, apple, thyme and seashells. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, bright and clean, with a crisp, lively and tangy attack. Ripe pear and tropical fruit add volume, while zesty length carries the wine toward a lingering chalky mineral finish. It is a bottle where fruit, freshness and Chablis mineral character arrive in sequence.

Anecdote

In 1949, the founding generation harvested the estate's first grapes in Fourchaume. Frost had made the season difficult, and the work took place with limited mechanization. The family still gathered the grapes and began the estate's story in the vineyard, under conditions that demanded more manual effort and offered fewer mechanical solutions. Fourchaume was the starting point, before the dedicated Chablis estate existed and before the holdings expanded beyond the original family work. The first harvest came from those vines in Fourchaume, with frost in the season and limited mechanization in the fields.

Final Word

Domaine des Malandes is a Chablis estate built through expansion, generational change and a recent organic conversion. Its bottles give the appellation names practical meaning, moving from white peach and early freshness through citrus and chalk to the flint, smoke and persistent mineral character of the Premier Crus.

Sources

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