2020 Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevres Chablis Grand Cru les Preuses

The Fèvre family is no stranger to Chablis: Gilles Fèvre can trace its roots in the area to the year 1745, at the same time making it clear that this branch of the Fèvre family has always worked in the wine industry. Nathalie and Gilles even have a common ancestor in the person of Zéphyr Fèvre, who worked in the Vaulorent vineyard (now a Premier Cru Chablis) in the nineteenth century. Gilles and Nathalie met at university, where they studied oenology. Both have winemaking experience outside Chablis and outside France, but Chablis is their home.

The Domaine Fèvre covers about 42 hectares of vineyard. The production is relatively small: less than 100,000 bottles on average per year. While Gilles is mainly concerned with work in the vineyards, Nathalie is responsible for the wines. In 2004, a private cellar was built with a number of temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks for vinification. In order to be able to vinify each individual plot separately, they vary in size from 20 to 50 hectoliters. A small part of the Grand Cru (30%) matures in barrels of (used) oak.

Fèvre is a big name in the Chablis region. And not for nothing. The name guarantees flawless and expressive Chardonnays, to which Chablis owes its reputation. You will definitely find this style in the wines of Nathalie et Gilles Fèvre. The results can rightly be called an ode to the unique Kimmeridge soils.

The Les Preuses vineyard has a subsoil of marl and calcareous Kimmeridgien, which enables the vines to develop an extensive root system and to take full advantage of the unique terroir. The wine is vinified at controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks and partly in used barrels. The wine then matures on the yeast cells ('sur lie') for 15 months, 30% of which in oak barrels. This makes the wine softer and gives the wine extra complexity.

The Chablis Grand Crus Preuses has a modest start, but with some oxygen the true nature emerges and the wine becomes super elegant, tight, chalky and expressive. In the nose and later on we smell and taste citrus fruit, fresh acidity, tones of resin and some orange peel in the back of the palate. The wine certainly needs some more years to develop further and the ideal drinking window for the top chablis is from 2022-2032

Chablis is officially part of the Burgundy wine region, but is quite isolated a long way to the northeast. The climate is wetter and cooler than Burgundy itself, which determines the choice for planting mainly chardonnay. A strong, white grape that also ripens in cool regions. But even with chardonnay you have to be careful, because the early shoots run the risk of freezing in the spring. That is why mist installations and heaters are used in the vineyards to prevent this. Chardonnay is of course also widely planted in other parts of Burgundy, but the wines from Chablis have their own character. They have a mineral flavor with generally higher acidity and an aroma reminiscent of flint or pebble.

Not only the cool climate gives Chablis its unique taste, but also the special soil of marine origin. The vineyards lie on a rock that was the bottom of the sea hundreds of millions of years ago and is called Kimmeridge. It is a mixture of lime, clay and fossil oyster shells and was formed in the Jurassic period by billions of shellfish that lived on the seabed.

The best vineyards - seven Grands Crus and several dozen Premiers Crus - can be found on this type of soil and are located around the town of Chablis. The Grand Cru vineyards are located on the southwest slopes of a calcareous ridge immediately northeast of the town.