Winemaker Notes
William Fevre Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru has a pronounced nose of fruit and flowers, with lovely freshness and a few mineral touches. Generous palate, with lovely roundness.
Professional Ratings
-
Jasper Morris
Mostly in Vaillons itself, with Chatains, Roncières and Mélinots. Another translucent pale lime colour. The nose is a little lighter than Montmains, very fine, lime and lemon notes throughout, it tastes as though filtered through a bed of tiny stones. Graceful and persistent. Barrel Sample: 92-94
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Delivering scents of orange oil, white flowers and oyster shell, the 2022 Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons is medium to full-bodied, satiny and suave, with racy acids and a saline finish, showing little trace of the hot, sunny vintage. As usual, it's derived from old vines in Les Minots (that are a source for the Fèvre massal selection), as well as holdings in Roncières and Chatains.
-
Wine Spectator
Well-balanced and harmonious, this white delivers peach, apple and herb flavors, with a hint of stone. The firm structure keeps this fresh and extends the finish. Drink now. 150 cases imported.
Domaine William Fèvre is a historical and environmental pioneer in Chablis. The domaine covers a total of 78 hectares, including 15 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards as the largest Grand Cru landowner in Chablis. The domaine is also comprised of 16 hectares of Premiers Crus, including icons such as Vaulorent, Montmains, and Les Lys, among many others. William Fèvre has been committed to a strong environmental approach for more than 20 years, receiving their HVE3 certification in 2014. Domaine William Fèvre does everything possible to express the most subtle variations in Chablis' climats and to offer wines that give everyone, from novices to connoisseurs, the opportunity to enjoy an experience characterized by a superb expression of purity and minerality.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The source of the most racy, light and tactile, yet uniquely complex Chardonnay, Chablis, while considered part of Burgundy, actually reaches far past the most northern stretch of the Côte d’Or proper. Its vineyards cover hillsides surrounding the small village of Chablis about 100 miles north of Dijon, making it actually closer to Champagne than to Burgundy. Champagne and Chablis have a unique soil type in common called Kimmeridgian, which isn’t found anywhere else in the world except southern England. A 180 million year-old geologic formation of decomposed clay and limestone, containing tiny fossilized oyster shells, spans from the Dorset village of Kimmeridge in southern England all the way down through Champagne, and to the soils of Chablis. This soil type produces wines full of structure, austerity, minerality, salinity and finesse.
Chablis Grands Crus vineyards are all located at ideal elevations and exposition on the acclaimed Kimmeridgian soil, an ancient clay-limestone soil that lends intensity and finesse to its wines. The vineyards outside of Grands Crus are Premiers Crus, and outlying from those is Petit Chablis. Chablis Grand Cru, as well as most Premier Cru Chablis, can age for many years.