2005 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru

After picking early in 2005, William Fevre got an early jump on the harvest in 2006 as well, beginning three days before the ban de vendange with their holding in Les Preuses and finishing by September 21. Winemaker/director Didier Seguier is obsessed with making classic, minerally Chablis from clean fruit picked with healthy acidity levels. "Our grapes were healthy in 2006, with no botrytis," he told me. Little or no sorting of the fruit was necessary-in contrast to 2005, when hail in July and rain in late August triggered some rot, not to mention high sugar levels. Perhaps for this reason, the '06s tended to finish a bit drier than the earlier set of wines, and Seguier gives the edge to the '06s for their greater purity of aromas and flavors. This was one of the few 2006 sets I saw that showed the green tinge of classic Chablis with firm acidity and minerality. Seguier emphasized that although the domain wines are aged partly in oak, William Fevre purchased just 5 new barrels in '06 (out of a total of 800!). The barrels used here average four to five years old. Unless otherwise noted, I tasted only domain wines. (Henriot, Inc., New York, NY) Previously recommended: 2005 Chablis Domaine (88), 2005 Chablis Beauroy (89), 2005 Chablis Montmains (89), 2005 Chablis Les Lys (89+?), 2005 Chablis Vaillons (88), 2005 Chablis Mont de Milieu (89+?), 2005 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre (92), 2005 Chablis Fourchaume (91), 2005 Chablis Fourchaume "Vignoble de Vaulorent" (92), 2005 Chablis Grenouilles (90), 2005 Chablis Vaudesir (92+?), 2005 Chablis Valmur (93).

This superb producer had just begun harvesting its grand cru Les Preuses on September 13, the day before my visit here, or five days before Maison Bouchard was set to begin its white wine harvest on the Cote de Beaune. While we tasted, the large team of pickers was attacking the Valmur (under the Henriot ownership, there are as many as 200 pickers, and many of them were scheduled to be trucked to Beaune to start harvesting on the 18th). Winemaker Didier Seguier, by all accounts making some of the most brilliant wines in Chablis in recent years, picked early and quickly in 2005, and was able mostly to avoid getting grapes with golden skins and rot problems. Rain at the end of August brought botrytis in some spots, reported Seguier, especially on vines that had been affected by hail in July. The result was some surmaturite, which raised grape sugars to 14% or even higher in some spots. Seguier describes 2005 as a vin de garde, with good acidity and no dilution. But the 2004s will have excellent ageability too, he added: "Due to the age of our vines, we didn't get a huge crop." Fevre's 2005 premier crus had been bottled at the time of my visit, but the house was just starting on its grand crus, and a few were not slated for bottling until November.