2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Les Preuses Grand Cru

Both marine and smoky, fusil, crushed chalk mineral elements confront the taster already in the nose from the Fevre 2008 Chablis Preuses, along with fresh lime, mirabelle, apricot, and cherry distillate. Adamant stoniness; iodine; apricot kernel, plum pit, and cherry stone bitterness as well as a firm texture lend the palate a certain austerity and restraint, without the meltingly savory crustacean or musky animal dimensions I usually associate with this site. But there is more than compensatory complexity of alternate sorts as well as sheer density. A late burst of sheer lusciousness of citrus and pit fruit beautifully complements the depth of piquant and saline mineral notes, and sets up an oscillating dynamic in a strikingly sustained finish. Give this a few years in bottle before revisiting and anticipate at least ten or a dozen years of high-performance. 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

Pale green-yellow color. Sexy, subtly perfumed nose offers lime and lemon zest, crushed stone and white pepper, plus a steely nuance. Sweet, supple and fine-grained; very suave and silky but still quite young, conveying a brooding impression of energy and a touch of spice. Best today on the very youthful, palate-dusting aftertaste. Compared to this bright and perfumed wine, the Bougros is almost exotic.

Aged 12-15 months on fine lees in oak. More citrus and nutty aromas than the Valmur. Very intense, dry but mouthwatering. Cleansing and pure and very long. (JH)