Domaine William Fèvre, Chablis

William Fèvre began with just 7 hectares and had soon increased this to 48ha, planting widely in the best of the 1ers and grands crus where the vineyards had fallen by the wayside. However, the Fèvre penchant for new oak was not to everybody’s taste. Since the Henriot purchase, the wines have been made by the talented Didier Séguier, who had previously been with the Bouchard team in Beaune.

The domaine wines include 12 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards and no less than 16 hectares of grand crus. The whole crop of their domaine wines, straight Chablis included, is harvested by hand, and the Grands Crus are harvested in small ‘cagettes’, with a sorting table back at the winery to ensure the quality of the raw material. The 1er Cru wines are vinified in 40-50% oak, the grands crus receiving 70-80%, but without using new wood – instead, the domaine receives a plentiful supply of one-year-old barrels from Maison Bouchard, and the average age of wood in the cellars is 5 years old.

The barrel and vat components are blended after four to six months, for bottling before the end of the year. In 1991, he joined forces with the Chilean producer Victor Pino, and Vina William Fèvre was established in the heart of the Maipo Valley just outside Santiago.