Reviews & Awards

The 2015 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte de Bouguerots was the standout wine when I tasted the range of William Fèvre from barrel. Now in bottle, the nose has closed down, but there remains a brooding intensity here and superb minerality. The palate is very well balanced with a touch of orange zest and quince on the entry. There is a keen line of acidity here and quite a powerful finish that lingers long in the mouth.

Lemon butter and almond pastry from time spent in four- to six-year-old barrels. Sweetly fragrant white flowers and a fine minerally thread. This makes a very composed, fresh and sleek impression on the palate. Long and slightly fleshy white-peach finish.

Pungent yet elegant white peach nose displaying discrete power. Fine attack, precise and lifted, with ample fruit and a light touch. Silky and refined with a clear minerality on the finish.

Once again, based on the nose alone, this could be nothing else but Chablis with its mélange of tidal pool, mineral reduction, citrus blossom and discreet spice nuances. There is fantastic detail to the focused, mineral-driven and powerful middle weight plus flavors that do a slow build from the mid-palate all the way back to the explosively long, balanced and bone dry finish. This too should amply reward longer-term cellaring but be approachable after only 6 to 8. In a word, wonderful.

On the austere side, this white exhibits flavors of green apple, lemon and grass, with hints of stone. Racy and firm, with a mouthwatering essence.

Bright, pale yellow-green. Precise aromas of lemon, lime and oyster shell, plus a note of mineral reduction. In the mouth, a sexy toasty nuance complements the ripe stone fruit and saline mineral flavors. Nicely pliant wine but also boasts very good inner-mouth tension and purity. Finishes tactile and long, showing very little impact of the vintage. Superb.

Once again, based on the nose alone, this could be nothing else but Chablis with its mélange of tidal pool, mineral reduction, citrus blossom and discreet spice nuances. There is fantastic detail to the focused, mineral-driven and powerful middle weight plus flavors that do a slow build from the mid-palate all the way back to the explosively long, balanced and bone dry finish. This appears to be drawn directly from liquid Kimmeridgian and should also amply reward longer-term cellaring. In a word, brilliant. 96/2026+

Pale, green-tinged yellow. Subtle, discreet nose offers hints of citrus fruits, spices, white pepper and minerals. Then almost shockingly massive and powerful in the mouth, boasting bulletproof citrus and white peach flavors energized by harmonious acidity (but barely four grams per liter, according to Didier Séguier). More robust and masculine than the Preuses and drier and more bracing on the long finish, this sappy wine needs time to harmonize. But as with all of these 2015s, there's nothing hard about this grand cru.

This is also completely classic and even more aromatically complex with a plethora of sea shore nuances to the cool green fruit scents. On the palate this is dense, powerful and quite serious with brooding flavors that brim with dry extract that buffers the firm acid spine on the intensely mineral-driven and explosively long finish. This is the biggest wine in the range yet impeccably well-balanced and if not exactly refined, then certainly not rustic either. If this can add even more depth than I am projecting my predicted score will seem to be overly conservative.

Fèvre owns 15.39 acres of Bougros, almost half the total cru. They separate out a 5.2-acre parcel on the steepest slope for Clos Bouguerots, using the balance for this grand cru. About 60 percent of the wine ages in older French oak casks (averaging six years of age), which helps point up the savory structure of the wine, reading in pale umami notes of miso. The fruit of the wine is youthfully pale as well, powerful in its delivery of chamomile, dried hay and jasmine scents of white grapes. A mouthwatering young Chablis, this is built to age.