2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Vaudesir Grand Cru

The counterpoint of juicy, ripe, succulent white peach and pink grapefruit with piquantly cyanic peach kernel and pungent citrus zest characterize the Fevre 2008 Chablis Vaudesir, a bottling that makes up in sheer richness and roaring intensity for what little it might sacrifices in clarity or mineral intrigue vis-a-vis the other best wines of this collection. A vintage-typical sense of energy certainly doesn’t flag in the finish, which clings with borderline bitter intensity. Here is another likely candidate for most of a decade’s delight. 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. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY; tel. (212) 605-6706

Aged 12-15 months on fine lees in oak. Exciting first impression – tight but lithe and polished. Classic top-notch Chablis. (JH)

(domain wine) Pale, green-tinged yellow. Pungent, enticing aromas of pink grapefruit, lime and minerals. Suave and brisk on entry, then wonderfully intense and vibrant in the middle, with impressive volume and an impression of sucrosite leavened by penetrating grapefruity acidity. A wonderfully energetic wine that finishes with an almost painful whiplash of flavor and outstanding length. The acidity here is in the 4.6 range, with a very low pH around 3.0.