2022 Domaine William Fevre
Domaine William Fevre is yet another domaine that needs no introduction. I’ve been buying and selling their wines since the infancy of Vins Rare. With some of the best holdings in Chablis, it's no wonder the Rothschild family quietly stepped in last year and purchased William Fevre for an undisclosed sum. I fear I've written about this ad nauseam, so last words: you know they paid a BUNDLE!
Didier Seguier, Fevre's longtime winemaker, and I had a catch up while he was in Los Angeles for a tasting event earlier this year. He was beaming as he poured a selection of their 2021 releases. I commented numerous times to anyone who’d listen, these were some of the best wines in the room. They have never been better! When I asked about the Rothschild acquisition, Didier was empathic; it is business as usual under the new ownership.
Below is a selection of 2022’s. The press is eye-popping and confirms this is another tremendous vintage across the entire range. These are wines to buy in quantity!
2022 William Fevre Chablis
There is slightly better Chablis typicity present on the aromas of mineral reduction, iodine and cool white fleshed fruit. There is also slightly better volume and richness to the delicious medium weight flavors that possess a lovely sense of underlying tension, all wrapped in a refreshing, clean, dry and sleek finale. This is very good for its level plus it should reward a few years of keeping if desired.
- Burghound, 89-91 Top Value
VINS RARE NOTES:Â This is the domaine bottling, released only in Europe. It's one of the best values in all of Chablis!
An elegant, pure and wonderfully airy nose more freely reflects its aromas of white flowers, prominent mineral reduction and plenty of seashore elements. There is at once more volume but, somewhat surprisingly, even better refinement to the medium weight plus flavors that retain excellent detail while also flashing an almost pungent stoniness on the driving, firm and impeccably well-balanced finale. One to look for as this is very impressive.
- Burghound, 92-94 Sweet Spot Outstanding!
Here too there is slightly more evident wood that stops short of fighting with the ripe aromas of various white orchard fruit scents that are nuanced by hints of tidal pool, algae and oyster shell. The denser, powerful and quite serious big-bodied flavors possess a gorgeous texture if not nearly the same level of refinement while displaying superb length on the robust finale. This firmly structured effort is also pretty much a textbook example.
- Burghound, 92-95 Don't Miss!
This is the coolest and most restrained of this group of 2022s with its elegant aromas of prominent mineral reduction, lemon-lime, spice and oyster shell. There is almost painful intensity to the intensely stony and strikingly well-detailed larger-bodied yet still beautifully refined flavors that display huge length on the impeccably well-balanced finale. Like the Preuses, this is very classy and built to repay extended keeping.Â
- Burghound, 93-95 Don't Miss!
