I always enjoy the drive out to Fontenay-Prѐs-Chablis, the hamlet where Domaine G&N Fèvre are based. It sits in a sea of vines, two steps from their tasting room and you are into the vineyard, white soil beneath your feet, the ground littered with limestone pebbles. Gilles and Nathalie Fèvre, now joined by their daughter Julie, produce wines which clearly show Chablis’ unique terroir – in their aromas and textures one can find an obvious marine influence. Now land locked, the vineyards of Chablis were once a seabed- It is the accumulated fossils of millions of sea creatures which has given us the limestone on which the vines grow, and the distinctive flavours we find in the glass.
The Fèvre’s follow a sustainable approach to Viticulture, they farm their domaine Grand Cru and Premier Cru organically, and the entire domaine is certified to France’s highest environmental standard.
2020 is the best Chablis year since 2017, and perhaps 2014. Although conditions were hot and mostly dry, some useful rain fell in August and refreshed the grapes and improved yields. The resulting wines are concentrated – both in terms of fruit, but also acidity and the other elements needed to produce balance. Yields were low, and with the really tiny yielding 2021 to follow, don’t miss these wines!
Tasting notes from Jasper Morris / www.insideburgundy.com
To order any of the wines below please just email jack@robertrolls.com and let me know what you would like.
Chablis 2020
£20.00 per bottle inc VAT / £114.00 per case six
The Fevre village Chablis is a blend of over 50 small plots scattered throughout the appellation. The vines average 40 years old. By blending so many different plots together the domaine is able to produce a wine that is textbook Chablis, dry, flinty and full of zesty citrus fruit.
“Just bottled this week. Light lemon colour, very classic bouquet. Incisive, a little lemon scented, pure and crystalline. This is very good and doesn’t feel like a hot vintage at all. Around 12.5%”
89pts JM 4 stars
Chablis Fourchaume 1er Cru 2020
£29.95 per bottle inc VAT / £170.72 per case six
Amongst the most recognisable of the Chablis 1er Cru vineyards is Fourchaume, sitting just above the Serine River. The Fevre vines lie in the section with a south-westerly aspect, planted on near pure limestone. This wine always has a richness from its sunny exposition which is countered by a fine mineral spine from the Limestone below.
“Another lively pale colour, the nose suggests a certain opulence, this is rich wine with its usual Fourchaume affability, some yellow fruit with a lemony touch. Easy-going with some depth.”
90-93 JM 3 stars
Chablis Vaulorent 1er Cru 2020
£33.50 per bottle inc VAT / £190.95 per case six
Nathalie thinks this wine has ‘the memory of the sea’. Vaulorent lies within the better known Fourchaume 1er Cru just above the Grand Cru les Preuses. It has a particularly rocky soil as well as a very good south-western exposure. It sees a little oak, around 15%, for structure rather than flavour.
“Made partly in tank, and partly in barrel with a touch of new wood. Lovely light lime touch to the colour, opulent but not exotic bouquet. There is a really impressive length of flavour here, indeed waves of flavour which really kick on. An optimum yield of 50 hl/ha helps explain the excellent balance. Really good.”
93-95 JM 5 stars
Chablis Montée de Tonnerre 1er Cru 2020
£33.50 per bottle inc VAT / £190.95 per case six
Probably the most famous 1er Cru in Chablis. A new negotiant wine, currently not farmed organically, but in conversion. Famous for the tiny, concentrated grapes it gives, and the balance and complexity of its wines.
“A new negociant addition to the range, with a pretty pale lemon colour. This is steely through the middle, and then with characteristic opulence behind. Older barrels mark the wine less. Long ripe spicy finish. 90-93 JM 3 stars
Chablis Mont de Milieu 1er Cru 2020
£33.50 per bottle inc VAT / £190.95 per case six
To the east we find Mont de Milieu, where a slightly cooler microclimate and very poor soils give elegant wines with racy acidity and feather like complexity. Although not as powerful as some these wines can age magnificently in good vintages.
“Pale lemon colour, a little whiff of coconut, but the wine is not too exotic. Some wood here. Lovely depth to the fruit here, a little bitterness at the finish which works quite well alongside the suavity and depth of fruit.” 90-92 JM 3 stars
Chablis Les Preuses Grand Cru 2020
£60.00 per bottle inc VAT / £342.00 per case six
Lying between Bougros and Vaudésir with a near perfect southwest aspect. The soils here are deeper than in Vaulorent above, giving wines which combine oyster shell minerality with a deep power grounded in the earth. Les Preuses is a wine of geology.
“Lime tint to the colour. One third has been made in barrel, which does not show. A light spice, a real depth of fruit, starting to bring out a depth of ripe yellow fruit with an excellent spicy touch, intense, opulent, balanced and persistent.” 93-96 JM 4 stars