Domaine Nathalie et Gilles Fèvre
Appellation: Chablis
Proprietor: Nathalie & Gilles Fèvre
Size: 53 hectares
Farming Practice: Organic
The Long Game
Domaine Nathalie and Gilles Fèvre shows what’s possible in Chablis when you combine five generations of vineyard expertise with a 21st-century winery.
There’s nothing like sunrise to reveal the vitality of Julie Fèvre’s feeling for her family’s domaine in Chablis. “Dew on the spider webs, game in the vineyards,” she says. Organic viticulture has reinvigorated the family’s slopes on the right bank of the Serein River, where rabbits, deer, boar and birds flit out from hedgerows that frame vines her forebears planted in Jurassic limestone. Gazing down the valley, she looks left toward their Premier Cru plot in Vaulorent. To the right lies the Premier Cru Fourchaume, where the Fèvres have tended Chardonnay since the days when horses plied vine rows that twisted and turned before tractors came to the valley.
The landscape is a historical document to those who know to read it, and no family has more practice than the Fèvres, who trace their roots in Chablis to 1745. The upper reaches of the plots reach back the furthest, for the threat of spring frosts long discouraged planting on the bottoms where cold air can pool. Not until the 1980s did frost-protection systems (and then climate change) alter that calculus. Indeed, Julie’s great-grandfather once turned down the chance to buy a Grand Cru site near Bougros—because the four-kilometer horse ride was just too long to reach vines that could lose all their fruit in a single cold snap.
Hindsight can sting. But uncommon foresight has actually been the Fèvre family’s calling card. In 1923, gripped by a holistic vision of Chablis’ future, Marcel Fèvre helped to establish La Chablisienne—which would become arguably the most influential cooperative in the history of French winemaking. His son Bernard served as president, as did Bernard’s son Jacques. For 80 years the family delivered all their fruit to the co-op, which was instrumental in solidifying the region’s reputation. That deep involvement carried into the present generation through Jacques’ son Gilles—whose wife Nathalie served as La Chablisienne’s chief oenologist for 12 years. Bit by bit, the family’s holdings also grew: replanting a phylloxera-ravaged plot here, converting an old field there, and acquiring prized parcels like a 2.3-hectare slice of the Grand Cru Les Preuses containing vines that date back to 1950—and a contiguous section of Vaulorent whose southwest-exposed Kimmeridgian marl makes it arguably an even brighter jewel in a warming climate. Savvy moves and a few strokes of good fortune have endowed them with 50 hectares sprinkled around the Serein’s right bank.
In 2003 Gilles and Nathalie opened a new chapter in their family’s history, pivoting toward bottling their own wine for the first time. The next year brought the completion of a state-of-the-art winery—a gravity-fed facility they’ve kept so squeaky clean you could eat gougères off the floor.
The timing was perfect. Gilles had embarked on a viticultural journey that would culminate with organic certification—and is now deepening into biodynamics. Meanwhile Nathalie, through her work at La Chablisienne, had developed a profound expertise in understanding the various terroirs of Chablis. They wanted to combine their strengths in order to produce truly authentic wines, practicing parcel-by-parcel vinification to preserve the unique character of each climat. “The major difference compared to before,” says their daughter Julie—who brings degrees in agronomy, viticulture, and oenology to the table as a fifth-generation Fèvre—“is being able to directly see in the wines the efforts put into the vineyards.” It is, she adds, “a beautiful reward.”
When you combine five generations of viticultural know-how with a 21st-century winery, the results speak for themselves. Vinifying primarily in temperature-controlled stainless steel, the Fèvres foreground freshness and purity in all of their cuveés. French oak is used judiciously where the fruit can handle it, most notably in the Montée de Tonnerre, whose rich core is in vibrant tension with a flinty tautness and sapid minerality that mark the Premier Cru and village-level bottlings alike. Aromatics vary from the pale stone fruit of Les Preuses, to the citrus-zest florality of Vaulorent, to the tart apple and honey of an overachieving AOC Chablis drawn from parcels just northeast of the Grand Cru hill. But they are united by the persistent oyster-shell minerality and back-palate tang that epitomize what Marcel Fèvre recognized in these hillsides a century ago.
And that, above all else, is what his great-great-granddaughter has internalized from her parents’ bold revitalization of this estimable domaine. “The family has passed down a heritage, and it’s my responsibility to continue the beautiful story,” says Julie, before emphasizing exactly what that means:
“We don’t make ‘Chardonnay.’ We make Chablis.”
Wines:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The 1.65-hectare parcel is located around the commune of Tonnerre (15 minutes east of the winery in Fontenay-près-Chablis)—vines are spaced between 6,500 and 7,000 per hectare.
Soil: The rich clay soils consist of Kimmeridgian calcareous marl with many fossilized oyster shells.
Elevation: 200 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Traditional barrel fermentation on the fine lees
Maturation: Five months in oak barrels
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The Petit Chablis is drawn from a single parcel called "Le Clos" which is situated on a steep section of hillside within Fontenay-près-Chablis. The vines are young and planted at high density (9,500 plants per hectare).
Soil: Calcareous (Portlandian Iimestone)
Elevation: 250 meters
Exposure: East-Southeast
Vinification: Fermentation and maturation entirely in stainless steel at low temperature
Maturation: ~10 months in stainless steel
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The Chablis comes from various plateau and hillside plots all around the commune of Fontenay-près-Chablis where the winery is located. The majority of the vines are between 15 and 25 years old along with some older vines that were planted in the '50s by Julie Fèvre's great-great-grandfather, Marcel Fèvre. Spacing ranges from 5,700 to 9,000 vines per hectare.
Soil: White, stony topsoils over pure Kimmeridgian limestone
Elevation: 200 meters on average
Exposure: Varying aspects
Vinification: Fermentation and maturation in stainless steel for 10 months
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The Chablis Vieilles Vignes is drawn from 7 hectares of old vines in Fontenay-près-Chablis. These vines were planted in the '50s by Julie Fèvre's great-great-grandfather, Marcel Fèvre.
Soil: White, stony topsoils from the Jurassic era over pure Kimmeridgian limestone
Elevation: 200 meters on average
Exposure: Varying aspects
Vinification: Fermentation and maturation in stainless steel
Maturation: 18 months
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The Fourchaumes are located on the right bank of the Serein river and cover a long stretch of hillside north of the Grand Cru slope. They feature mostly west-southwest aspects where Fèvre own a plot in the lieu-dit of L'Homme Mort (1er cru Fourchaume). Of Fèvre's 10 hectares that were planted between 1942 and 1989, the larger portion is concentrated around Fourchaume's southern spur in the enviable south-southeast-facing lieux-dits of Vaupulent and Côte de Fontenay. Fèvre's Fourchaume 1er Cru bottling is therefore a blend of three different sites in order to achieve the best balance and purity of fruit.
Soil: Kimmeridgian limestone
Elevation: 180 meters
Exposure: East-southeast-south
Vinification: Fermentation and maturation in stainless steel
Maturation: 12 months
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The Mont de Milieu is drawn from a half of an hectare. Being the most southern of the Fèvre's Premier Cru range, combined with its southern exposures, it's the warmest.
Soil: Clay-limestone marl with lots of chalk over Kimmeridgian limestone bedrock
Elevation: 200 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Vinification in barrel
Maturation: Minimum 12 months in older barrels
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: The Montée de Tonnerre comes from a .17-hectare plot in the climat of Pied d'Aloup—a spur to the south of the Grand Cru row. The elevation is highest in this section of Montée de Tonnerre and the vines are an average of 45 years old.
Soil: Shallow topsoils of clay-limestone marl with many fossilized shells over limestone bedrock
Elevation: 200 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Vinification in barrel
Maturation: Minimum 12 months in older barrels
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: Vaulorent is an enclave of Fourchaume and its southernmost climat which abuts Grand cru Les Preuses. The entire vineyard is just 9 hectares. Fèvre's 2.2 hectares were planted between 1955 and 1975.
Soil: Clay-limestone marl with many fossilized oyster shells over Kimmeridgian limestone bedrock
Elevation: 190 meters
Exposure: Southwest
Vinification: Fermentation in stainless steel (80%) and new oak barrels (20%)
Maturation: 12 months
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: Fèvre owns 2.3 hectares of continuous vines in a section of Les Preuses closest to the forest above—vines were planted between 1950 and 1973. Vine spacing is 6,500 plants per hectare.
Soil: Mixtures of relatively deep clay marl and chalk over Kimmeridgian limestone bedrock
Elevation: 190 meters
Exposure: Southwest
Vinification: Fermentation in stainless steel (70%) and new oak barrels (30%)
Maturation: Minimum 15 months
Marketing Materials:
