2013 Chablis Vaillons
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Tasting notes
Pale straw-yellow. Soil-driven aromas of flint and baked bread; not a fruity style but not exotic either. Rich and sweet in the mouth, with ripe peach and earth flavors coming across as a bit aggressive following the 2014s here. Has the texture to drink young, but finishes slightly spiky.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2013 Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons has a lifted chalky bouquet with touches of Mirabelle coming through with aeration. The palate is well balanced, quite crisp and taut with fine mineralité and energy. This is one of the very few William Fevre 2013s that is on par with, if not better than, the 2014. Let's see how they both mature.
A wine of structure, depth and gravitas, the 2013 Chablis Vaillons is endowed with serious intensity and minerality. The flavors are remarkably transparent and translucent in this striking, chiseled Chablis. There is plenty to look forward to here. This warm, sunny site is one of the first vineyards Fèvre harvests, along with Vaudesir.
Pale, green-tinged color. Aromas of green apple, lime and white peach; displaying more exotic yellow-fruit character than the foregoing samples, as well as a suggestion of earthy terroir. Round and supple in the mouth; showing less definition today than the domain Montmains but this very ripe vin de plaisir really spreads out on the palate. Finishes with a lingering note of peach. Director/winemaker Didier Seguier noted that the late pickers in Chablis in 2013 tended to get more rot and an element of heaviness in their wines "like in 2001."
About the producer
Established in the late 1950s, William Fèvre was one of the leaders in Chablis’s renaissance. Today he crafts benchmark expressions of fine Chardonnay from some of the top vineyard sites in the region, working with many of the best Premier and Grand Cru vineyards.