Tasted in Viviers with Arnould Lefébure, 14 March 2024.
Château de Viviers
2 Rue des Fourches
89700 Viviers
Tel: +33 7 56 00 42 29
www.chateaudeviviers.co
Domaine Instagram
The Château de Viviers is a beautiful old house with a 17th-century facade – and unless the large gates are open, it’s quite well hidden from passers-by…
The vines and AOC land had long been in the family of the château but were rented out ‘en fermage‘ to the Beaune maison of Albert Bichot who, together with Arnould’s father, replanted much of the château’s fallow land in the 1980s. In 2019, Arnould Lefébure, a marine biologist by training, decided that together with his wife – Isabelle – it was time for a change and to exploit the family’s vines at the château itself.
It’s 9-9.5 hectares that are currently in production. Eventually, it will be 12.5 hectares as more has been planted but it is planned that all will be commercialised by the château – “But it is still a small volume,” says Arnould, “Less than 30,000 bottles.”
“I don’t intervene – except in occasional vintages where I have to warm the cellar to start, or restart, the malos – but the malos came very easily in 2022 and 2023. My only interventions are with sulfur before the bottling… I like to use not just wax capsules – vegetable-based wax! – I also have the corks beeswax coated.”
The wines…
This is a higher priced domaine versus the Chablis average but the wines are excellent – I would have some patience as most are marked by their barrel elevage. If you like that, then it’s fine, but my taste is for less oak so I’d be waiting 3-4 years for many of these bottles – but, still, they are excellent….
2023 Chablis Cuette Haute
A little barrel spice – but there’s only 1 barrel and this wine is not yet bottled – it will be done after about 10 months of elevage. Supple, with plenty of fresh energy – the barrel is quite strong today – as you might expect, but the finish has a nice linearity and persistence.
2022 Chablis Cuvée B&B
Named after Bernard and Bridget – Arnould’s parents. A blend of 3 parcels
Airy and attractive – there’s no barrel to see here – but about an 1/8th sees barrel elevage. Quite a good volume in the mouth. The finish is broad and delicious with a very complex agrume – it’s a super finish!!
2022 Chablis Sous les Plantes
330 metres of altitude so quite high. Not a lot of soil here… It’s a big parcel 5.78 ha…
A pretty nose of freshness and precision. Open, with more clarity of flavour – more instantly delicious flavour with super finishing flavour, again. A great pure but still complex agrume finish – that’s an excellent wine!
2022 Chablis Côta Grand Claude
3.6 ha here – but very low production. With 13 months of ageing, all wood.
A very bright, open and pure nose – despite a frame of oak aroma. The clarity and structure are first-class – very juicy. The finish has a little orange-zest character – plus of course, some barrel flavour too. I’d be waiting as much as 3 years to taste this without the oak…
2021 Chablis Cuvée Poseidon
‘A very cold vintage with a terrible frost here in 2021. The mix of bottles and magnums combine to bring less than 2k bottles.’
The nose is fresh and attractively reductive too. Open, smoky, but juicy too. The flavour only very slowly fading. A beautiful wine – despite the smoky character…
2020 Chablis Côta Grand Claude
That’s a fine, fresh, energetic, even floral nose. The scale of this wine in the mouth is impressive and so is the fine intensity – and it’s long too – I find it really delicious again…
2020 Chablis Cuvée Cana
‘I wanted to make a wine that you drink throughout a meal – fish, white meats, cheese – even chocolate – not just something to start a meal with…’
Here the nose retains a lot of barrel character. Large scale – really a wine of fresh energy. A lovely architecture and a fine finishing salinity too – though clearly lots of oak today – very creamy finishing. I would still be waiting 4 to 5 years …
2022 Chablis Cuvée Cana
Bottling will be done in April – ‘it’s a wine that we want because it gives a nice hug – a kiss even!’
A breadth of nicely fresh aroma – there is wood but it’s less strong already than the 2020. Open, complex, a nice grain of zesty tannin. Super intensity in the finishing flavours and again the wood is on a low, finely judged level. I think it really excellent.