When sitting outside with friends on a warm day, Rick Arline, a sommelier in Los Angeles, says he always reaches for a bottle of Chablis. For him, this is the ideal time to drink the wine.

“I love the raciness, the acidity, the lean texture, and the way it seems to crackle when it hits your palate,” Arline says. “There’s nothing like Chablis.”

Arline joins a long legacy of sommeliers who share an affinity for Chablis. From the northern reaches of France’s Burgundy region, Chablis, made from the Chardonnay grape, is beloved for its complexity, its ability to transmit a sense of place, and its ease in pairing with a variety of foods.

Chablis has undeniable versatility at the dinner table. Master Sommelier Craig Collins of Austin, Texas, says he sees it as one of a handful of wines that can be served as an aperitif, as well as straight through a meal. While oysters are the classic pairing (the brininess of the bivalves is wonderful with the crisp wine), Chablis also has the bandwidth to stand up to spicy ceviche and richer dishes like pasta with lemon butter and king crab.

“It’s the perfect wine to bring to a dinner because you know it will pair with at least one course,” echoes Cristie Norman, sommelier at Spago Beverly Hills. That said, she’s been known to drink it poolside, too.

Confessing that she once subscribed to the misconception that Chablis was a “simple white wine,” Norman says that after tasting her way through many bottles, she now considers it one of the most layered and dynamic. It was Chablis that really helped her understand how terroir (a term that encompasses the soil, climate, and topography from which a wine is made) is translated through the final product.

Even though the region of Chablis is technically part of Burgundy, its wines tend to be more mineral-driven and have higher acidity than those made from Chardonnay from farther south in the Côte de Beaune. This distinction comes down to the cooler climate and the dramatic difference in soils.

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words: Stephanie Cain

photography: Joel Gesvres