William Fevre – 2013

24.2.2015billn

DSC05927Tasted in Chablis with Didier Seguier, 13th January 2015.

Domaine William Fèvre
21, avenue Oberwesel
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 98 98 98
www.williamfevre.com

Didier on 2013:
“A 40-50% lower harvest, and that was despite starting early and avoiding the post rain botrytis . The principle reason was the poor weather in June and the coulure which was the result. The wines good richness but with a minerality which will accentuate with time.”

Discussing seals, Didier make a telling comment: “We are using DIAM 5 on smaller wines, and from the Montée de Tonnerre onwards, DIAM 10. Since our first commercial bottles in 2004/5 and increasing the proportion of DIAM seals every year, we have never had a single (DIAM!) bottle returned for cork-related problems!”

The wines…

All 1er and grand crus were bottled in November and December. The only exception was 1er Beauroy which was bottled last week, so Didier didn’t want to show it so early.

Really classic freshness and energy at this address – you’d hardly know the positioning of this vintage towards the ‘rich’ end of the spectrum!

2013 Petit Chablis
Wide some herb and freshness. Big in the mouth, some saltiness, round and fresh. Definitely not the richest or ripest in 2013, but tasty and extremely drinkable.

2013 Chablis
Deep and fresh nose with green herb. Really lovely mouth-watering intensity super precision and tension yet with a balancing hint of richness. This is excellent.

2013 Chablis 1er Montmains
”2-3 years in bottle and this will be magnifique…”
Also a fine fresh nose but one with an added sweetness and complexity. Fresh but round with very fine, sweet complexity – this is really lovely in the finish. Very moreish!

2013 Chablis 1er Vaillons
A hint of agrumes reduction that’s quite attractive (‘normal for diam’). More sweetness and a little more weight of flavor, but still very fine. This is a lovely wine of real energy.

2013 Chablis 1er Les Lys
A little hint of vanilla in the nose here, but also a lovely width of aroma. (There’s no more oak here than other 1ers but it’s possible that there are a few younger barrels.) This is a round ball of energy but with an exquisite flavour intensity in the mid-palate, and onto finish . Gorgeous!

2013 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu
Also a little oak here too, but on a much lower aromatic order. Good weight and nice freshness overall. Fine, mouth-watering intensity here, with just an edge of sucrosity. Very tasty wine indeed. Again really super intensity in the finish. Super-Yum!

2013 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
Also a little biscuity reduction – behind is a ripeness of fruit. Large-scaled, silky, with fine, fresh intensity – again we have a winner. Here is an extra mid-palate complexity in the flavour. Really, really super – slowly a little more seashore on the nose as it cleans up…
2013 Chablis 1er Vaulorent
A fine panorama of aroma – faint high tones and a suggested depth of fruit. Very faint gas here, really beautiful, insinuating flavour, indeed intense flavour. Slowly lingering finish. Gorgeous!

2013 Chablis Bougros
Wide, complex, hints of seashore, with some suggestion of fruit weight below. Large wine, rich and concentrated but with very fine balancing acidity. This is extremely tasty wine. Super easy to appreciate…

2013 Chablis Vaudesir
Always the first vines to be harvested.
A very faint, mineral reduction. Large-scaled, hyper-intense and energetic in the mouth. Opulent is a good word but it’s not easy to get at that opulence due to the fine and intense acidity. Wow!

2013 Chablis Valmur
Only 22-23 hl/ha in this vintage , principally due to coulure.
A discreet nose of airy notes and a faint herb below. A wine that starts narrow but really opens up on the palate – really concentrated and with a fine lingering fresh and complex palate of flavours – less obviously energetic and intense as the Vaudesir. Super wine…

2013 Chablis Les Preuses
A deep, intense nose of ripe but not fat fruit – very direct and inviting. A little richness, and quite some freshness too but really this has a massive intensity of flavour underpinning everything. Dense, silky, wonderful wine!
2013 Chablis La Côte de Bougerots
Wide, airy, quite a waft of the seashore. Quite the first wine with an obvious salinity yet with super intensity and good freshness too. Mineral and powerful. Totally different but also wonderful.

2013 Chablis Les Clos
Virtually all the holdings are at the top of the vineyard, planted by the father of William in the 1940s.
A high-toned nose with a little herb – not the most demonstrative nose but with a nice sweetness of fruit below and eventually a suggestion of the beach. A hint of gas but really here you have a fine panoramic width of flavour. An intense, tight core of fruit yet still with wonderful intensity. Probably the best finish of the lot though a little less personality than the last two… Really brilliant length though!

Blind wine:

2007 Chablis 1er Vaulorent…
Young colour. Deep, with a faint reduction but lots aromatic interest here, slowly there is a faint note of barrel in the depth. Big in the mouth, lots of saltiness and brilliant intense line of flavour and quite some saltiness in the finish too. I find this a hybrid of the 2013 Preuses and Cote de Bougerots in flavour and complexity, and judging by the pale colour, I will guess a 2010 – but no more…

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