2014 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru

Didier Séguier, who has a history of harvesting early, began picking on the Thursday after the hail and heavy rainfall in 2015—the same day he had originally planned to start but not with the same vineyards. Following a hot, dry year with what Séguier described as “no bad weather events,” William Fèvre lost 30% to 50% of its potential production to the hail in Montmain, Forêts, Butteaux, Monteé de Tonnerre, Blanchots and Les Clos, carrying out a strict triage to eliminate damaged grapes. The 2015s remind Séguier of the 2009. “Actually, I first thought of the 2006s but the '15s are fresher, purer wines. They’re not classic like the 2014s but they’re not extreme like the ‘06s and 03s, and they will be very pleasant for consumers to drink young.”

Séguier, who maintains that early harvesting was particularly critical in 2015, believes that these wines have the structure and material to age. Total acidity levels are on the soft side (around 3.8 grams per liter) but pHs are in the healthy 3.15 to 3.25 range, he told me. He's convinced that the estate’s organic farming practices “reinforce the freshness of a hot vintage like 2015.” The fruit was picked with between 12% and 13% potential alcohol and only the lighter wines were chaptalized. The alcoholic fermentations went quickly and the malos finished between January and March, so the wines were racked and assembled in April and May.

Séguier rates 2014 as “un grand millésime de garde--a more concentrated version of 2008 and also like 2010.” The wines were bottled between December and February, with a bit less total sulfur than previously thanks to Fèvre’s use of DIAM corks.

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.