Dom. William Fevre
Les Preuses Grand Cru
Chablis
2020

The producer

Founded by William Fevre in 1959, this is one of Chablis’ most substantial domaines with nearly 78 hectares of vineyards across the different ranks and parts of the Chablis area. With 12 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards and an impressive 16 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards, Domaine William Fevre is the biggest owner of Grand Cru land in Chablis. 

The domaine was sold to Joseph Henriot of the eponymous Champagne house in 1998, following which all the Grand Cru vineyards were converted to biodynamic farming and general oak use was reduced in order to emphasise purity and fruit precision in the wines.  The Premier Cru wines are generally vinified in 40-50% oak, the Grand Crus in 70-80% oak but no new oak is used for either. Average age of wood in cellar is five years old. 

Along with Raveneau and Dauvissat, Domaine William Fevre is one of the best producers in the area with an exemplary range of Chablis and the Grand Cru Les Clos – produced from vines averaging over 50 years old are among the best wines from Chablis year in, and year out.

The wine

Les Preuses is known as being rounder and less aromatic, with less gunflint minerality than the other Grand Crus. Fevre owns 2.55 hectares of south/southwest facing land here and produces an intensely pure and floral wine with textural full body and refined smoky minerality. 50% of the harvest is fermented in oak barrels, the other half in stainless steel, and the finished wine is allowed to mature for a little over a year in small French oak barrels.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.