Louis Pinson himself retired in 1983, having made some fabulous old-style Chablis wines. His great-granddaughter, Charlène, along with her father, Laurent and her uncle Christophe have now taken over. Everything is hand-harvested, with sorting of the grapes both in the vineyard and winery. Fermentation is mostly in stainless steel using selected yeasts, then the wines are transferred to barrel for the maturation process.

This goes into 15 percent new wood and 85 percent tank for vinification, then maturation over 12 months in one-, two- and three-year-old wood. While the wood appears from time to time on the nose, the fruit soon kicks it to one side. With very significant weight on the palate, the wine shows the opulence of the year without losing its Chablis roots.

Fèvre has 10 plots in all, comprising just over four hectares, mostly very old vines, and mostly higher up the slope. The nose has it all: some peaches and plums, along with the stern approach of great Chablis. This is really very fine indeed. The sensational volume of fruit in the mouth fattens out towards the back then finishes with a linear drive. Absolutely complete.  Very long finish indeed. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

The domaine began picking on 26th September, the first to do so in Chablis and ahead of many in the Côte d’Or. It was the right decision since with their low yields and well aerated bunches the grapes were ripe enough, harvesting conditions were good, and everything was picked before the horrible weather of 5th and 6th October. As a result these are wines of exceptional intensity and potential longevity.

Kept in barrel until December this is bright and clear in colour. Picked early, the fruit bounds out of the glass, no sign of the oak. Displaying a whole raft of different fruits, the oak lends support behind. In particular the fruit acid balance impresses. Great Chablis. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Picking began on 30th September, stopped for the rainy weekend, then the small amount remaining was finished afterwards. The Pinsons have been making such good wine for several years now, and 2013 certainly continues that story.

Brilliant, pure and pale in colour, the bouquet of this wine requires careful attention because there are so many notes on offer. There is a magical weight from the start and the same intense volume of fruit is maintained all the way through. This is a wine of extraordinary length, with waves of fruit returning again and again to complement the mineral acidity.
(Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director)

Picking began on 20th September, earlier than many Cote d’Or estates, and most grapes were brought in quickly before the rain at the end of the week. It was necessary to sort the grapes by hand to remove botrytis from the later picked vineyards, but the resulting range is not only exceptionally powerful but also very pure. Yields are very substantially reduced here (where they are always low in any case) so prices have risen a little. Didier Séguier thinks that 2010 is a truly great Chablis vintage for the long term.

Where the Mont de Milieu is about power, Pinson’s Les Clos is the epitome of finesse, albeit every bit as intense. The fruit has a serene quality to it, fills out the middle palate, then continues to an immensely long finish. This is a fabulously complete wine and a bargain at that!
(Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director)

Laurent Pinson thinks 2010 will be the longest lasting in the recent succession of successful vintages in Chablis, combining the intensity of 2009 with the invigorating acidity of the previous year. Though volume is down as for everybody, prices remain stable – meaning that this excellent address offers superb value. The Premier and Grand Cru wines are a blend of barrel and stainless steel maturation, though the wood component never dominates the wine.

Pale but intense and ultra-concentrated, this displays very dense white fruit and an edge of smokiness. Highly impressive, there is weight and fruit richness, with lovely lemon-scented notes,  brilliant intensity and a fine suave finish. Another great example of Les Clos magic. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Benoît began harvesting on 26th September so almost everything was picked before the rain. Supply is down 30 percent because of the flowering but there was very little rot. It all passed off without problem during vinification and in the cellar.

The warmth and the weight of the year are evident in Droin's 2009 Grand Cru Chablis Les Clos with excellent acidity and a powerful mineral core creating a perfect balance. It is reminiscent of flinty minerals and baked rich Madeira cake, and will be monumental when it is ready.

From first sniff, this is a fabulous wine. Tasting it, even in its youth, brings a smile to the face. There is a brilliant rich white fruit bouquet and a great density of flavour on the palate. This wine displays a serene quality, with tremendous intensity of fruit, yet light on its feet. Terrific!
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director

This long-established family domaine impresses us more and more with every vintage. The Pinsons have always picked by hand and they are now using natural yeasts for the vinification process. Most wines are vinified in stainless steel, with a small percentage in barrel for the top wines, then matured in barrel for up to a year. The only bad news in 2012 is the quantity: 20% down for straight Chablis, 25-30% less across the Premier Cru vineyards and minus 50% on the Grand Cru which was affected by frost.

Part vinified in new wood and all aged in barrel before bottling after 15 months, this wine is up to the same standard of their great 2010. It has a fabulous nose, the wood perfectly integrated with a fine depth of powerful white fruit, excellent acidity and exceptional long term potential.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Every year we like these wines, and every year when we try the wines that we bought the year before, we like them even more. Laurent Pinson and his daughter Charlène are doing a wonderful job and producing outstanding Chablis for very reasonable prices. All of the wines are hand harvested and the 1ers Crus are matured in barrel, though without the influence of new wood.

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Less trenchant than the Bougerots, Les Clos has amazing weight and multiple layers of tissue on top of the bones. The Fèvre holding is in eight plots, with vines averaging 50 years or more. The quality of this great terroir shines through.
(Jasper Morris MW, BBR Buyer)

With a pale colour, this has a nose that suggests a wine of great potential power. It shows all the majesty of Les Clos, and the fruit is usefully supported by a touch of oak. Full and fine, with great grace and depth of fruit, this is exceptionally long. It clearly needs much more time though.

Laurent Pinson is happy to report better volumes than in recent vintages, and more typical Chablis in style. The grapes ripened nicely yet retained very good acidity. The crop was picked by hand in good weather, and fermented with natural yeasts. The crus are all barrel-aged, with a small proportion being barrel fermented. As usual, we see not just great quality but also excellent value for money at this estate.

As ever, this wine is the most backward in its youth. There is a touch of wood on the nose but the fruit dominates. It is very tightly wound; a grand classic for the long term, but hard to pick out the details yet. Massive concentration, and potentially very enchanting.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director

Benoît Droin is the 14th generation of the family producing wine in Chablis, looking after a 25-hectare domaine with an impressive range of Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. Overall Benoît’s crop was down 15%, largely in straight Chablis after frost, and in the early ripening plots which suffered from drought. The wines are very backward this year as the prolonged cold spring inhibited the malolactic fermentation. However, it is very clear that these are wines of great concentration and real potential.

The bouquet here is not yet ready to speak but it suggests great density and poise. There are powerful shoulders to the wine and while it has not yet had time for the finesse to show, it is certainly present and waiting. Wave after wave of flavour covers the palate, with spicy notes attached to the flesh and deep fruit, before an utterly explosive finish.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Picking started as early as 31st August at Domaine William Fèvre, which is extraordinarily early for Chablis, but a good decision seeing as it preserved the essential acidity in grapes which were ripe in their low-yielding vineyards. The crop was reduced on the right bank after a touch of frost slightly disturbed flowering and hail which arrived on 28th June. Didier Séguier, the talented winemaker, draws some parallels with 2000 and, in terms of the moderate but balanced acidity, 2002 – both of which are fine vintages indeed for Chablis. All of the wines listed below were farmed organically in 2011.

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The flagship wine is fermented and aged half in wood and half in tank. Overall this is a full, complete, beautiful wine- a great expression of Chablis. Tight, powerful and concentrated, each component is there but it's hardly showing the detail yet. The very lively but caressing mid palate leads to an amazing aftertaste.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director The 2011 vintage has turned out very well here, better than Benoît initially expected. It was a normal sized crop, picked early (from 31st August) in order to maintain acidity in a vintage which otherwise has the weight of 2005 or 2009. We were very impressed by the whole range, with each vineyard offering a different set of flavours. As usual, Benoît employs a different oak regime for each wine according to the needs of its terroir.

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Pale in colour with a fine, light green tint, this is massively concentrated and flinty. Although backward, you can see what will happen when it is eventually ready. The most complete wine of all in the mouth, with striking minerals wreathed in concentrated fruit, this is ripe but not over-ripe.

The vineyards near to Chablis itself were affected by the heat at Whitsun, which damaged the flowering, so the quantity of wine is no better than last year. Outlying communes, however, were less impacted. Benoît began the harvest early, on 11th September. He compares 2014 to 1996, 2007 (only richer) and 2010 (only more mineral). A recent development here is for the wines to be fermented using their own indigenous yeasts.