2020 Chablis Valourent
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Tasting notes
The 2020 Chablis Vaulorent 1er Cru has a reductive bouquet, opening with aeration. It's minerally with chalk dust and flint. This feels a little suppressed by the SO2 at the moment, but wow, it just soars when I return to the glass after ten minutes. The palate is well-balanced with good concentration, unapologetically backward. It's tangy towards the finish with a seam of orange rind and marmalade. The 2020 needs a tad more persistence on the finish, but that will come with time. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting.
Critic scores
Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy
Allen Meadows, Burghound
More reviews and scores
One of the finest wines in the portfolio this year is the 2020 Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent, a taut, youthfully reserved bottling of immense promise. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of citrus zest, beeswax, crisp white peach, white flowers, freshly baked bread and oyster shell, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and seamless, with terrific tensioning intensity in a tightly wound format. It's warmly recommended, though patience will be required.
Cask sample. Excellent nerve and acidity with real cut and potential. GV (JR)
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.