About Domaine William Fèvre

Founded and extensively developed by the eponymous William Fèvre between 1957 until his retirement in 1998, this Domaine’s wines are amongst the most sought-after and frankly exceptional in the entirety of Chablis, a region populated by more than its fair share of great labels.

A measure of the ambition and vision of the estate’s founding father, Fèvre began with a modest 7 hectares of Chardonnay vines spread across Chablis. By the time of his selling to Maison Joseph Heriot (of Champagne fame) in 1998, his eponymous Domaine was comprised of 48 hectares dotted around the very greatest Grands and 1er Crus.

The change in ownership heralded the arrival of Didier Séguier, previously of Bouchard in Beaune, a vigneron who has subsequently shepherded Domaine William Fèvre to new and breath-taking heights, building on the extraordinary work of its founder. Overseeing a continuation of practices such as pure hand-harvesting, Séguier is also working hard to shift the Domaine to fully biodynamic methods in order to extract the full potential of the exceptional terroir at his disposal. The most immediately noticeable development in these wines, however, is the reduction in new oak.

Always a controversial topic, especially in Chablis known for its crisp salinity and pure minerality, William Fèvre’s penchant for new oak drew as many detractors as ardent fans. Today, no new oak at all is used in the various cuvées, but rather Séguier utilises his former employers Bouchard as a supplier of one year old barrels to be used in a ratio of up to 80% for those Grands Crus which can take it.