2013 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru

Under the direction of Didier Seguier, William Fèvre picked between September 15 and 22 in 2014. This estate is often the first in the village to start harvesting but Seguier noted that they were beaten to the punch by Vocoret and Droin in 2014. “We had perfect skin health at harvest,” said Seguier, “but the grapes benefited from getting a bit softer after the 20th.” Potential alcohol levels ranged from 11.5% to 13% and yields for the crus were between 30 and 40 hectoliters. The wines, said Seguier, show good minerality and acidity (about 4.5 grams per liter, comparable to the levels in 2012 and 2010). “Two thousand fourteen is a vintage with a rare precision,” noted Seguier. “It’s a very saline vintage and the wines make you salivate.” Seguier also pointed out that organic farming practices are “augmenting minerality and tension in our wines. Bio isn't resulting in earlier ripening but is helping the vines retain acidity.”

There’s never any batonnage here, as Seguier believes that this technique “costs minerality and precision.” He uses “a lot of recent oak” for the grand crus but no new barrels (Fèvre gets its barrels from Bouchard, which is also owned by Joseph Henriot).

Seguier told me that he started using DIAM corks in 2013 and that he has used these closures exclusively since 2010. He's very satisfied with them and maintains that “there have been no returns,” adding that DIAM is now used for more than 50% of all Chablis bottles.

Fèvre was a very early harvester in 2013, starting on September 26 and picking virtually everything but a bit of Lys before the rains on October 4. There was very little botrytis prior to that rain, Seguier maintained, but the very long flowering had set the stage for heterogeneous ripening, even within bunches. “The vines were tired by the time of the rain,” said Seguier, with potential alcohol ranging from 11% to 12.5%. The estate’s '13s are less exotic than most due to the early picking, but yields averaged a mere 25 hectoliters per hectare, or about half of a regular crop. “The wines may evolve quickly like the 2001s but then remain stable for many years,” said Seguier.

William Fèvre winemaker Didier Seguir describes 2013 as a year with a very difficult flowering that started late, around June 10 and lasted well over a month. Disease pressure was already high, so Seguir chose to open the canopies in July to allow for as much air circulation as possible. Coulure (shatter) was a big issue because of the cool spring and wet summer. August weather was within normal parameters, but rain returned in September, sparking an outbreak of botrytis. Fèvre is always among the first to pick, so it is hardly surprising to see that the harvest here began on September 26. Yields were around 18-20 hectoliters per hectare for the 1er and Grand Crus, dramatically lower than normal because of the poor climactic conditions. Post malo acidities are in the 4 grams per liter range, which is to say lower than 2012 and around the levels of 2011. I tasted all of the 2013s from tank. As a matter of practice, Seguir likes to blend as late as possible. The 2012s, which I tasted from bottle, largely confirm my very positive impressions of the wines from barrel. Stylistically, 2012 is like 2010, but with more power and richness. The combination of textural density and healthy acidities (higher than 2013) makes for wonderfully complete and well-balanced wines across the board.

This estate, which does not use anti-rot sprays, did a lot of leaf-pulling on the morning-sun side of the vines in order to aerate the clusters and get more sun on the fruit, said head winemaker/director Didier Seguier.The harvest started early here, on September 26, then finished up quickly after the rainy weekend of October 5 and 6, after which "everything rotted in 48 hours," according to Seguier.The wines were racked after the malos but were still on their lees in cuve at the time of my visit.Seguier prefers to keep the gas and maintain freshness, and thus he does not do any lees stirring for fear of losing precision and terroir character.The estate is also trying to maintain purity by picking fruit in 13-kilo cases, which prevent the grapes from being crushed.Seguier described the 2013 crop of wines as "a riper, more concentrated version of 2011."The fruit was picked with potential alcohol between 11.5% and 12.5%--"with no surmaturite"--and the wines were lightly chaptalized.Post-malo acidity levels are in the range of 4 to 4.3 grams per liter.Two thousand twelve, Seguier added, is more like 2010 and 2008, with the crus finishing with healthy acidity in the 4.5 gram-per-liter range. "Although our 2012s are rounder than the 2010s due to better ripening and more summer heat, they are still wines for purists," he added."There's a lot of dry extract in 2012:the wind concentrated the grapes and thickened the skins."Incidentally, Seguier noted that his use of DIAM corks, which thus far are proving to be very effective, has allowed him to slightly reduce the amount of free sulfur at bottling.Unless otherwise noted, all of the wines reviewed below are estate bottlings. Also recommended:2013 Petit Chablis (86).