Known as the Golden Gate of Burgundy, Chablis is a charming village famous for its prestigious wine, located 20 kilometres from Auxerre. This welcoming community, surrounded by the vines that cover its more or less sloping hillsides, is a major wine-producing area in Burgundy. The local vineyard, planted exclusively with the Chardonnay grape variety, covers 4,800 hectares, making it the largest in Yonne.
This precious, world-famous heritage is not its only wealth. Its old village, nestling on the banks of the River Serein, has some hidden treasures to discover. The 12th and 13th-century Collegiate Church of St. Martin with its south portal, whose leaves are decorated with 111 horseshoes, the old Obédiencerie and its remarkable lever press, the Noël Gate and its two round towers, and the picturesque washhouse with its nine arches are all places not to be missed.
With its rich forest environment, Chablis is a must for lovers of white wine and gastronomy, old buildings and history, walkers, and anyone looking for a change of scenery!
With its miseries and joys, the history of Chablis resembles that of France.
The first written quote Chablis back to the year 867, when King Charles the Bald, grand-son of Charlemagne, donated the "cellam Capleiam (Chablis monastery), its churches, its houses, vineyards and deer of both sexes capita to Tours of canons. " These fleeing Normans, took refuge with the relics of St. Martin from 872 to 877. Therefore, religious settled in Chablis, planted vines and set value that already existed.
Since the Middle Ages, wine was exported to England Chablis by Rouen, to Picardy and Flanders via Compiègne.
Therefore, the village of Chablis developed the "high city" with St Peter's Church, the Hôtel-Dieu, Saint-Cosme priory and the "lower city" around the Saint-Martin collegiate church. It's the Hundred Years War which explains that at the beginning of the fifteenth century, they raised the walls of the "lower city" with 29 square towers, 3 doors and 3 posterns, known as "St. Lawrence", "On Master "and" Chenneton ".
In 1478 Peter the Red obtained the Royal Privilege to establish the fifth printing Chablis France.
1568: Black February for Chablis: the Wars of Religion ablaze the city Chablis was sacked by the Huguenots, but the "lower city" dodged the fire that had ravaged the Faubourg Saint-Pierre ("high city") by the payment of a ransom. We had to wait long for Chablis to recover.
Unfortunately, all the vineyard was destroyed by phylloxera in the nineteenth century; 14-18 Great War left the devastated country. After decades of hard work, the vine flourished again.
During the Second World War, the bombing of June 15, 1940 destroyed the historic heart of Chablis. 1949 marked the rebirth of the city and its vineyards: wine could find the road that had led them on tables around the world.
It is from the 60s that the vineyard knows, through mechanization (tractors) and the protective device against spring frosts, which definitively launches the development on the way to its current fame.
The Chablis Region Tourist Office offers a guided tour (charge) of the Saint-Martin collegiate church and the city of Chablis.
Tourist Office of the Pays Chablis - 1 rue du Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny - 89800 Chablis - Tel. : +33 3 86 42 80 80 - Mail: ot-chablis@chablis.net
