2006 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Les Preuses Grand Cru

Fevre owns or controls nearly one quarter of the acreage in Preuses. Their 2006 Chablis Preuses marries fruit from a southeast-facing parcel just above the Cote de Bouguerots and conducive to “cool” fruit and overt minerality, with a southwest-facing parcel inherently inclined toward richness that was harvested at hugely high ripeness even before this year’s ban de vendange. From its aroma through its impressively dense and expansive palate display, through its lingering finish, this sensually extravagant expression of Preuses (in a manner distinctly reminiscent of Vincent Dauvissat’s) is totally suffused with the savory salinity and sweetness of shrimp and lobster shell reduction. White peach and lime occupy a discreet position, iris and lily a more prominent one, wafting alluringly throughout. This silken-textured beauty should be worth holding for a dozen or more years. Didier Seguier has presided over a remarkable surge in quality at this address during the past decade in which Henriot has owned Fevre. The wines are now every bit as impressive as the estate’s vast and superbly-situated acreage, not to mention uncannily consistent in quality. Somehow, Fevre has acquired a reputation in some quarters simply for their widespread use of oak. In fact – just as at the region’s other top addresses, Dauvissat and Raveneau – the wood here is nearly always discreet, and Seguier is keen to finish the elevage on most of his wines in tank once he deems them to have spent long enough in barrel. Hand-harvesting and two sorting tables help insure quality of fruit, and Seguier’s insistence that botrytis was unproblematic for him in either 2006 or 2005 is ably supported by the gustatory evidence. Fermentation was relatively rapid, he relates, and the malo-lactic transformation not especially profound, due to the dominance of ripe, tartaric acid in the fruit. With one exception, the grand cru wines (all of which are vinified ca. 80% in barrel) had just been prepped for bottling (including cross-flow filtration) when I tasted them, but that did not prevent them from showing brilliantly. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY; tel. (212) 605-6706

Pale yellow-green. Very ripe aromas of yellow peach, pepper and spices; far less intellectual than the Valmur. Plump, sweet and easygoing, with full ripeness and a suggestion of slightly elevated alcohol. This is more aggressive than some of the other grand crus here but offers the advantage of earlier approachability. This fruit was obviously very ripe: the team picked it on September 14, two days before the ban In fact, I happened to be at William Fevre that morning in 2006 and recall tasting the grapes as they went into the vat.

Extremely closed, Archetypal wet stones with a fine dustiness. Oatmeal flavour and texture and finely integrated acidity. Power and length with tight freshness all the way through. (JH)