A distinctly toasty nose, still reticent, with lime and apple fruit. Broad and rich, the palate shows ample sucrosity and intensity, lifted by fine acidity with a pungent and saline finish. Nutty and very long, and the wood seems well integrated.
Pale green-tinged yellow. Smoky silex minerality, rhubarb and a hint of vanilla on the complex nose. Rich, broad, fine-grained and voluptuous, offering excellent concentration to its yellow fruit and smoky mineral flavors. Finishes very long but a bit youthfully aggressive. Not yet showing the complexity of the Bougros Côte Bouguerots but this needs time.
The 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos is 70% vinified in oak barrels for six months before maturation in stainless steel only. It has a very precise but powerful bouquet with lemon rind and flint scents, though it takes time to really open up. The palate is fresh and crisp with lime and apricot on the entry. The acidity is sharp and penetrating, gently building toward an intense, bitter-lemon finish that is elegant and refined. This is very impressive.
Very pale lemon-green. Pure, discreet, thoroughly ripe aromas of lime confit, white flowers, wild herbs and crushed stone. Broad and ripe on the attack, but with a magically weightless impression and outstanding inner-mouth energy to the flavors of lime and orange zest, grapefruit, white flowers and minerals. Utterly seamless, densely packed Clos with great rising, palate-saturating length. William Fèvre owns eight parcels representing a total of four hectares of vines in this great site, mostly at the top of the cru.
Pale, green-tinged yellow. Captivating but youthfully reticent scents and flavors of citrus peel, white pepper, fresh herbs, crushed stone and white flowers, plus a whiff of rhubarb. Quite broad and full but not at all heavy in the mouth. This wine doesn't have the acid edge of the Bougros Côte Bouguerots but is wonderfully silky and horizontal, coating every square millimeter of the palate--and it's hardly short of energy! Most impressive today on the superb dusty, mounting finish.
The complexity, concentration and drive make this an excellent Clos in 2016. The fruits vary from citrus to exotic stone fruits. Green tropical and white floral notes, too. The palate has a staggeringly concentrated core of acid-drenched lemons, lime, peaches and green mangoes. Incredible depth, high acidity and a very long finish. A great Clos!
A broad ranging and wonderfully elegant array features notes of spice, green apple, grapefruit, lemon rind and copious Chablis elements. Remarkably for a wine that is gorgeously refined, the medium-bodied and concentrated flavors are even more powerful than those of the Bougros and Valmur, all wrapped in a superbly complex, saline and balanced finish where the citrus character telegraphed by the nose reappears on the explosive finale. There is a bit of wood in evidence but I doubt that it will take very long before it is fully integrated. In sum, this is one to strongly consider.
Due to the hail damage in the domaine’s smaller parcel in this vineyard, overall yields were only thirty-five hectoliters per hectare in 2015, but the wine has turned out utterly brilliant and is the best of the range this year at Domaine William Fèvre. The bouquet is very pure and nascently complex, delivering a magical blend of apple, pear, flinty minerality, white flowers, wet stones and a youthful topnote of citrus peel.
A distinctive aroma of sandalwood leads into flavors of vanilla, peach and melon in this balanced white, which has good cut, just needs time to shrug off the initial oak influence.
The perfumed and penetrating nose is unusually expressive for a young Les Clos and there is so much iodine, mineral reduction and oyster shell nuances present that this could be from nowhere else but Chablis. The big, powerful and imposingly scaled flavors ooze both dry extract and a pungent minerality yet the balance is perfect on the intensely saline finish that is markedly dry but once again not really austere. This should be terrific though note that moderate patience will be required in the hopes that a bit more depth will develop with time in bottle.
