2006 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Valmur Grand Cru

Fevre’s 2006 Chablis Valmur represents a dramatically different expression of Chablis character from the Vaudesir. Peony, musk, marzipan, and candied lime are the key notes (along with hints of lanolin and spice) in this rich, sweetly-perfumed, almost confectionary wine. As with the corresponding Bougros, this exhibits an uncanny sense of lift and near-delicacy for all of its creaminess and amplitude. The pure, long finish is almost ethereal in its suggestions of heady flowers and delicate mineral shadings. This may well be the sort of Chablis some growers and critics have in mind when they say (as if that were to denigrate the wine) “tastes like Cote d’Or,” but if so (and I disagree with the characterization, anyway), I say “bring on more of the same!” Precisely the dramatic range of expression of which Chablis is capable even in a single vintage – and which this year’s Fevre collection so faithfully illustrates – is one of this region’s great strengths. Perhaps this Valmur should be drunk within a decade – a little sooner than some of the other Fevre 2006 crus – but I am sure only time will tell. 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