Fourchaume is the largest and best known of the Chablis premier crus, running along the right bank of the Serein just north of the grand cru slope and sharing much of the same aspect. It is the warmer, more generous side of Chablis, where the Kimmeridgian marl with its fossilised oyster shells produces wines with flesh as well as the customary mineral bite.
The nose is bright and characterful, with lemon, white peach and green apple over a distinct note of crushed shell and wet stone. The palate is fuller than the Chablis stereotype, with ripe citrus fruit carried on a firm acid line, a chalky texture through the middle and a long, saline, gently smoky finish.
Le Domaine d'Henri is Michel Laroche's second act. Having sold the 100 hectare Domaine Laroche in 2010, he kept back the parcels he had inherited from his father and started again under a new name in his honour, releasing a first wine in 2012. He holds three small plots on the Fourchaume slope, and the Laroche family connection to Chablis vineyards runs back as far as 1695.
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