2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Valmur Grand Cru

The first grapes picked from the marl-rich upper portion of this site near Vaudesir, Fevre’s 2007 Chablis Valmur nonetheless displays (as in 2006) a dramatically different personality from their Vaudesir. Fresh lime, red currant, tangerine, grapefruit, and peony mingle in a Riesling-like effusion of fruit and flower, underlain by a salty and iodine-tinged mineral soup that seems as deep as the sea. Soundings reveal citrus zest, fruit pits, kelp, pine resin, and oyster shells. This should be an almost inexhaustible source of intrigue and pleasure over the coming decade. You’ll never get to the bottom of it, but so much the better for you and the wine! Fine as the 2006 was, this 2007 seems to illustrate the extent to which slow ripening, high extract, and bright acids best complement Valmur’s inherent character. Didier Seguier and his team have managed to follow up their amazing 2006s with an equally remarkable collection of 2007s (though he insists that 6 to 9 months after bottling – when I tasted them – “is the worst time for expressing the purity of fruit”!). Harvesting here began early, on September 6 – the earliest start on record save for 2003 – but without feeling any compunction about taking one’s time, Seguier emphasized. Even so, the task was completed in 11 days, harvesting fruit of impeccable ripeness and harmonious though prominent acidity at a time when many growers were wise not to have begun yet. Without question, the rigorous sorting that all of the grapes undergo here is among the keys to the purity and the transparency to nuance of these wines. As usual at this address, even when one reaches the roughly 80% level of barrique (none, new, though) a smell or taste of wood is the farthest thing from one’s mind. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY; tel. (212) 605-6706