Tasted alongside the corresponding 2012 and 2011, Fevre’s 2010 Chablis Les Preuses accentuates both the sweet-saline savor of scallop and the briny, nutty, oyster liqueur and seaweed that are also part and parcel of the subsequent renditions, resulting in an experience that taps the imagination and salivary glands with equal urgency. Struck flint smokiness and fusil notes lend persistent pungency and bittersweet floral perfume further allure, while fresh citrus serves for luscious refreshment. This finishes with superb complexity and much of the mystery and clarity found in the 2012. When one considers the contrast between baked-in concentration of a torrid mid-August in 2012 and the cool but desiccating north wind of September 2010, I wonder that the two wines are not even more strikingly different. But perhaps the contribution of the site itself is, after all, definitive.
Didier Seguier and his team (consult previous Wine Advocate reports on Chablis for much more about their strikingly successful methods) began picking already on September 20, 2012 and, with allowance for two days break due to rain, finished on October 2. Yields, especially in the upper classificatory echelons, were low – typically between 28 and 35 hectoliters per hectare (though in one instance a mere 18!) depending on cru. “The wines,” says Seguier – who’s obviously very bullish on them – “are consequently ripe, concentrated, and plenty rich, with natural alcohol between 12.8-13.2% and acidity as ample as that of 2010. They have the same level of minerality as the 2010s, too, but are even a little more concentrated.” While the 2011 harvest here – which began already at the end of August – broke all but 2003’s record, Seguier was at pains to point out that this is virtually where the similarities between those two vintages end, and that indeed, it was 2012, not 2011, that brought extreme heat – though then only in mid-August. Most of the Fevre 2012s did not finish malo until May, which Seguier attributes to the musts’ low pHs, a feature he points to as an index of their relatively high – hence felicitous – ratio of tartaric to malic acids. The premier crus were set to be bottled through the autumn; the grand crus in December or January. Fevre is completing the process of converting its grand crus to a biodynamic viticultural regimen and will soon commence that transition on the Left Bank. (Based on quite consistent pricing in recent years, I have taken the liberty of inserting retail benchmarks based on other recent vintages, which also permits readers to see which Fevre bottlings are typically offered stateside.)
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