Clotilde Davenne

The move from cellar labor to leadership is often described neatly, but in practice it is usually a matter of repetition, patience, and exacting attention. In Préhy, that early experience became the basis for a larger responsibility, where each decision still reflects the measured discipline of those first vintages.

Her current work is technical and closely timed, shaped by the need to read the vintage as it unfolds and act before the window closes. “In 2022 we harvested very early – I always try to harvest early enough to not pass 13° – in 2023 we did some early and some later.” The pace of that sentence matches the harvest itself: alert, mobile, exact. She also tracks fermentation with precision: “2022 was a bit harder to ferment than the 23s – mainly because the malos tried to ferment before the alcoholics were done, Fortunately, it was more orderly in 2023.” The work depends on orchestration, not abstraction, with multiple processes moving at once and timing deciding the result.

Clotilde's signature wines include St.Bris La Préferé, St.Bris Vieilles-Vignes, and Bourgogne Aligoté Vieilles-Vignes. Together, they point to a cellar practice that stays close to varietal character and detail, with the estate's precision expressed across different cuvées rather than in ornament.

Her lasting credential is oenology, carried through a career that led from Chablis winemaker to director of her own named estate. The recognition here is continuity: technical training, disciplined timing, and the ability to turn that judgment into wines that read clearly from their place.