Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Premier Cru ‘Vaillons’ 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Back in the early naughties, we were hoovering Chablis from the early 1970’s. When the Tsunami hit, wheelbarrows of Grand & 1er Cru’s were arriving from the auction at houses at around $14 a bottle. By the time it receded, they were up at a round $40 a bottle and still a bargain. Purity, complexity, amazing texture, lovely lines of acid were the hallmarks of these incredible wines. Testut et Fréres Grenouille featured! Such a great vineyard.

About William Fèvre

Fèvre is a major producer that boasts one of the most impressive arrays of Premier and Grand Crus. Didier Séguier has been head winemaker for several years now. Under Séguier guidance, the Domaine veered away from their rather zealous oak regime to a more prudent approach that mixes barrel ageing with stainless steel.

The domain uses old barrels with an average age of 6 years rather than new oak, in order to preserve freshness and minerality and enable the subtle nuances of Chablis’ terroirs to fully express themselves.

1959, the year in which William Fèvre declared his first crop, marked the birth of the domain. Descended from a family which had lived in the Chablis region for over 250 years, it was only natural that he set up as a winemaker with 7 hectares of vineyards.

Over the years the domain has acquired new vineyards in Chablis, all located in the historic terroirs. William Fèvre has become one of the biggest land owners in Chablis with 78 hectares of prestigious vineyards, of which 15.9 are classified as Premiers Crus and 15.2 as Grand Crus.

In the Vineyard

Fèver owns the largest array of Premier and Grands Crus vineyards in Chablis (39.29 acres Premier Cru and 37.56 acres Grand Cru)

Farmed organically since 2000 with selected parcels farmed biodynamically

In the Winery

Didier Séguier makes a range of wines with wonderful harmony. I believe the interplay of fruit, oak and texture can make or break a Chablis. And in the case of Fèvre, Séguier absolutely nails it. 

Across the board, the Fèvre wines offer a tremendous expression of place and season, plenty of minerality, power, energy and texture, all delivered with a real sense of balance. 

If you like classical Chablis with concentration and tension, these wines will take you to a happy place.

The 2021 Vintage at Fèvre

Régisseur Didier Séguier called 2021 a “vintage with a wild growing season! Consider that we had 17 nights with less than 0° C for temperatures that put the crop at risk. For 15 of those nights, we protected at least some of the vines using water aspersion for 10 and smudge pots or warming candles for another 5. Even so, we suffered significant damage in certain sectors as it’s impossible to protect everything. Even after that we had bouts of disease pressure, mostly mildew and oidium, so it was absolutely essential to be constantly vigilant. The flowering, which took place in mid-June, passed reasonably well.

The months thereafter were different in their own ways as July was relatively cool, August was dry and September was moderately humid as we had some 80 mm of rainfall, with some during the harvest. We finally chose to begin picking on the 17th of September as it was clear that the sanitary condition of the fruit was becoming increasingly delicate and toward the end, it was barely acceptable, so we picked very fast.

The September rain and generally humid conditions triggered a severe attack of botrytis and since the grapes were pumped full of water, the skins were fragile. We did a thorough sorting and for some but not all wines, this was followed by a longer lees settling regimen than usual, in order to ensure as much as reasonably possible that the musts were clean. Yields though weren’t great as the villages vineyards averaged around 20 hl/ha, the 1ers between 25 and 35 hl/ha and the grand crus between 15 and 25 hl/ha. Potential alcohols came in between 11 to 12.5% and we chaptalized to around 12.5%. The acidities were strong with quite a bit of malic acid so the post-malo pHs were in the 3.2 to 3.3 range, which is very good though I stress, not particularly low.

Overall, I would describe the growing season as similar to 2001 though the style of the 2021s doesn’t really remind me of any recent vintages. The wines are wonderfully pure with plenty of citrus and white fleshed fruit aromas allied with a palate impression that offers good precision, density and aging potential.” While not all of the Fèvre 2021s are excellent, a number of them are terrific and worth your interest. To that end, Séguier noted that the 1ers and grand crus are being raised in 30 to 35% old wood. In the same vein, the now bottled 2020s, reviewed below, are also very impressive.

Allen Meadows, Burghound

When I asked Didier Séguier how he managed to farm such a large estate this way [organically], when so many smaller producers balk at the challenge, he explained that part of the secret has been fully engaging the Fèvre team: everyone is trained to spot signs of mildew and disease and share them on a team WhatsApp group; there are even prizes for the most vigilant employees.

The approach certainly seems to have paid off in 2021, in any case, delivering wines with an old-school aesthetic but contemporary precision and charm; and the fact that they are bottled under Diam means that their gracious evolution in the cellar is assured. While the 2021s can’t quite match the sheer concentration and intensity of 2019 and 2020, their classical profiles and clear differentiation by site will delight Chablis purists.

William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Detailed Map of Fèvre’s Chablis Holdings

Click on a map to enlarge 🔎