TN: 3 William Fevre Chablis

[geo t.]

The more I drink the wines of Chablis, the more I like them. I'd been eying these from William Fevre for a while, but kept hesitating because of the price. Finally, curiosity got the better of me, and I went for a couple of 375s.

2000 William Fevre Chablis Les Clos, 375 ml, $29.99, 13% alc.: Kim didn't much care for this medium straw colored Grand Cru Chablis, saying that it reminded her of "burnt peanut butter," and indeed, when I first stuck my nose in the glass, there was something a little peanut butter - ish going on, but it quickly gave way to show a funky wet stone over quince and green apple, with some bees wax on the tail. A few of my friends might refer to the funky quality as "swamp water," but it's really GOOD swamp water, if you ask me. If it was a dominant factor in the wine's flavor profile, it might be unpleasant, but being in the background as it is, it simply makes for one of those irresistible "dogshit French wines," to quote one crazy Canadian. Crisp and fairly rich, despite the funk and stones, with good length on the finish, this is a wine I could get to know very well over the next five years and beyond.

2001 William Fevre Chablis Les Clos, 375 ml, $29.99, 13% alc.: Medium straw to pale gold in color, this one gives up bees wax, butterscotch and wet stones on the nose, and following through on the palate with a certain earthiness and a hint of that "swamp water" underneath. The wine has good presence, acidity and finish, but seems to need some bottle age to tone down the dominant bees wax and butterscotch, which I'd gladly trade for a little more swamp water and wet stones.

A week after trying those two, I ran into the '01 Fevre Valmur, and couldn't resist, especially with a preferred customer discount on the price listed.

2001 William Fevre Chablis Valmur, $45.99, 13% alc.: I enjoyed this medium straw rather more than the '01 Les Clos; it's all about chalky wet stones and honeycomb - bees wax, with some underripe apple underneath it all in both flavor and aroma. It shows nice balance and good presence, opening more and more with air, becoming ever richer as long as there's some left in the glass. I'd like these wines from Fevre even more if they cost just a little less, but we do what we must to drink what we like, do we not?

Imported by Clicquot, Inc., New York, NY

-From Warm Weather Whites

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

Edited April 4, 2005 by geo t. (log)