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Chablis Les Preuses, Domaine William Fèvre 2008

RegionBurgundy
Subregion France > Burgundy > Chablis
ColourWhite
TypeStill
Grape VarietyChardonnay

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Label

Tasting Notes

It will not surprise lovers of this wine that in the 2+ years that have passed since I last reviewed this wine from bottle, not a great deal has changed. As such, it seems appropriate to simply repeat that review here: This would be almost impossible to miss this wine's origins as the marine influence on the pungently mineral, airy and superbly elegant nose is extremely strong with Chablis character to burn. The seductive middle weight flavors brim with dry extract, which does a perfect job of buffering the structural elements on the mouth coating and sappy finish that seems to go on and on. This is very Preuses in its Zen-like sense of harmony and is clearly very classy juice. I would add however that this seems a bit further along than the Vaulorent and actually could be enjoyed now even though it's still definitely on the way up. Note that two other bottles tasted in July 2016 were completely premoxed and undrinkable.

95
Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (40), October 2010

Both marine and smoky, fusil, crushed chalk mineral elements confront the taster already in the nose from the Fevre 2008 Chablis Preuses, along with fresh lime, mirabelle, apricot, and cherry distillate. Adamant stoniness; iodine; apricot kernel, plum pit, and cherry stone bitterness as well as a firm texture lend the palate a certain austerity and restraint, without the meltingly savory crustacean or musky animal dimensions I usually associate with this site. But there is more than compensatory complexity of alternate sorts as well as sheer density. A late burst of sheer lusciousness of citrus and pit fruit beautifully complements the depth of piquant and saline mineral notes, and sets up an oscillating dynamic in a strikingly sustained finish. Give this a few years in bottle before revisiting and anticipate at least ten or a dozen years of high-performance.

The 2008 collection fielded by Didier Seguier and his team maintains their recent streak of excellence, but in a reversal of vintage typicity, seems, if anything, more dominated by its acidity and minerality than the 2007s, and less effusive than many of its vintage. Between poor flowering and dehydration, the crop was down around 20% in 2008 even from that of its hail-trimmed predecessor. The wines as usual were racked from barrel after malo (which this year, meant in April); some were bottled during the summer but the grand crus and most of the premier crus were bottled last November and December. Several of the wines that I tasted (noted in the text, and of course labeled without the word "domaine") incorporate purchased fruit, but beginning with this vintage, the Fevre team not only calls the shots but does the picking for all of the grapes that inform wines labeled with their name. Like Hugel in Alsace, Fevre has been impressed enough with the new generation of DIAM composite corks to adopt them for a majority of their bottlings, in fact with this vintage for everything save grand cru - so let's hope their confidence is well-placed! It perhaps also bears repeating that in my opinion there isn't a track record for aging yet that one can apply to Fevre's last three collections, the quality having improved too much to extrapolate with any reliably from previous vintages, so please take my prognoses as intuitive hunches.

94
David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate (191), October 2010
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.