Sweet spice hints accent the green apple, greengage plum and mineral flavors in this lean, laser like white. Lanolin and spice accents linger on the fresh, persistent aftertaste.
A big wine constructed from chalky rock, this has bee-pollen savor and transparent layers of white-gold grape-skin flavor, allowing the alcohol to feel more like electric energy at the center of this grand cru. As tight and undeveloped as it may be for the moment, it has generous richness and impressive clarity.
Pale, bright yellow. More feminine on the nose than the Valmur, offering aromas of citrus fruits, pear and white flowers plus a soupçon of oak spice. Very silky, seamless and refined but also shows terrific intensity and floral lift. Harmonious acidity leavens the density of this wine, giving it an almost weightless impression in the mouth. Perfectly integrated and balanced from the start. The impressively long, rising finish features piquant notes of citrus peel, minerals and flowers. I'd give this fine-grained beauty a good five years in the cellar before pulling the cork.
The 2015 les Preuses from Domaine Fèvre is also a great wine in the making and it will be fun to compare its evolution over the coming decades to that of the Valmur. The wine is gorgeously complex on both the nose and palate out of the blocks, soaring from the glass in a blend of apple, par, beeswax, chalky minerality, a touch of tangerine and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, young and very mineral in profile, with a superb core, laser-like focus and a very, very long and racy finish. Classic juice.
Along with the Côte Bouguerots and Les Lys, this possesses the most elegant nose in the range with an ultra-pure mixture of green fruit, tidal pool, white flower, citrus rind and iodine hints. There is terrific intensity and delineation to the attractively textured and refined yet powerful flavors that exude a fine bead of minerality on the gorgeously long, balanced and Zen-like finale. The Vaudésir and Les Clos are both genuinely remarkable but there is another dimension present here. Once again it’s worth pointing out that this is going to need plenty of cellaring.
Superfine, powerful and flinty with a linear and long shape. Like an arrow on the palate. This has quite an aloof and regal style. Very closed and steely. Long and mouthwatering. Supreme intensity, which makes it exhilarating.
Pale green. Very ripe aromas of white flowers and white pepper, plus an intriguing suggestion of small red fruits. Silky, round and seamless in the mouth; in fact, almost soft for this grand cru, not showing the cut of the better vintages. This plush wine is delicious already but I wanted a bit more energy. Finishes dusty and persistent.
(from two parcels of vines that total 2.55 ha, or 22% of the entire appellation). If the Côte de
Bouguerots is the biggest wine in 2011 then the Preuses is arguably the most aromatically complex with a broad ranging nose
of perfumed and ripe scents of oyster shell, sea water, citrus and white flowers. The silky and refined flavors are wonderfully
seductive with an intense minerality to the austere, bone dry and balanced finish that exudes hints of saline and iodine. In
Bright pale yellow. Elegant, refined aromas of yellow peach, lime leaf and white flowers. Densely packed and urgent, conveying outstanding intensity but no undue weight to its flavors of stone fruits, flowers and yeasty, iodiney oyster shell. Subtle treble notes of lime and mint lift the nose and palate. Wonderfully complex, silky, classy wine with a very long, seamless, subtly mounting finish. Séguier figures he'll like this wine best in 5 to 10 years but believes it will still be outstanding in 15.
The 2015 Chablis Grand Cru les Preuses has a backward bouquet and only reluctantly reveals those traits of orange blossom and granite that it showed out of barrel. The palate is well balanced with a crisp line of acidity, gently building in the mouth with a vein of nutmeg and white pepper toward the harmonious and elegant finish, with a hint of licorice on the aftertaste.
