2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Vaudesir Grand Cru

The Fevre 2007 Chablis Vaudesir exhibits a more adamant, chalky, oyster shell-like mineral cast than other crus in this collection, yet that goes hand in hand not only with a saline dimension, but with luscious, honey-tinged pineapple and peach, and a silken, faintly creamy textural tone. This finishes with an amazing indelibility of chalk and salt that’s like an incrustation. The big fruit and implacable mineral sides to this wine need some years to entirely come to terms with one another, but the whole will be bigger than the sum of both of them, and this wine should excite over at least the next decade. 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