History of the Domain

Our family is established in Chablis and has been devoted to the vine since 1792, the birth of the First Republic. From generation to generation, the men and women in our line have passed on to their descendants their love of the land, their passion for their profession and their concern for a job well done.

Towards the middle of the 20th century, the Chablis vineyards experienced unprecedented growth.

Jean, son of Marius and Agnès Collet, founded Domaine Jean Collet in 1952 and was one of the pioneers of Chablis bottling in France, as well as exporting to Northern Europe, England, the USA in the 1970s and Japan in 1980.

It was also in 1952 that Jean married Janine, daughter of Henri and Suzanne Costal, also winegrowers in Chablis. In addition to her knowledge of vineyard work, Janine contributed land in the Chablis and Chablis Premier Cru parcels: Vaillons, Sécher, Montmains and Mont de Milieu.

The couple had a son, Gilles, and a daughter, Yannick. It was Gilles who, after studying at the Lycée Viticole in Beaune, went into partnership with his father in 1979, when the estate became Domaine Jean Collet et Fils.

Petit Chablis and Chablis Vieilles Vignes were added to the estate in 1981, when Gilles and Dominique, daughter of Raymond and Collette Tupinier, owners in Villy, married.

Today, Domaine Jean Collet et Fils farms the best plots in the Chablis vineyards, thanks in part to the union of the COLLET, COSTAL and TUPINIER families.

With Romain, tradition and modernity coexist, always in search of unique expertise.

On the strength of this heritage, Domaine Collet has grown with respect for the soil, the mirror of the Chablis character, and has turned to sustainable agriculture, which Romain has legitimised by having part of the estate certified as Organic.

In the same vein, the wines are made with only one guiding principle in mind: the terroir, allowing their true nature to express itself, in particular through spontaneous alcoholic fermentation and moderate human and mechanical intervention.

The 2018 vintage is the reward for all this hard work and respect for the environment, with the arrival of organic certification for a large proportion of our wines.

Romain, awakened to taste from an early age, studied the winemaking profession in Beaune, like his father. From winemaking to international trade, he was able to practise in the field, completing internships in Nuits Saint Georges, Banyuls, and then in New Zealand and Australia.
A confirmed globe trotter like his father and grandfather, Romain has honed his palate by practising wine tasting in France and around the world, and was voted best wine taster in Europe at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris in 2007.

He has since taken over the management of the family business.