Chablis is the northernmost vineyard of Burgundy, closer to Champagne than to the Côte d'Or and separated from the rest of the region by a hundred kilometres of farmland. Only Chardonnay is planted. The defining ground is Kimmeridgian marl, a grey limestone and clay packed with small fossil oysters laid down when this was a warm sea, and it is credited with the chalky, saline cut that the wines are known for.

The climate is the constraint. Spring frost regularly threatens the crop, and growers fight it with water sprayed onto the buds to freeze into a protective shell, or with heaters among the rows. The grand crus occupy one south facing slope above the town, with the premier crus spread either side. Oak is used sparingly or not at all, which leaves the wine bare: lean, high in acid and firmly mineral in youth, and capable of ageing far longer than its weight suggests.