WTN: 2 Fevre 2004s

There has been talk that the curse of premature oxidation is beginning to affect Chablis from the 2004 vintage. This was a vintage that appealed to me with its crisp acidity, and I own a decent amount, so I opened Les Clos with trepidation. At first sip, I thought I was safe. It was clean, but not quite as acidic as I like, and with time it began to show an apple juice element I equate with ageing. A dull wine and a disappointment since I wanted the fresh citrus that I expected, to pair with last night's dinner of sea bass and angel hair oreganata. Instead of enduring this disappointing wine, I immediately pulled Les Preuses to check on its condition, and it had fresh acidity with a citrus overtone that I crave in Chablis, and, indeed, was a lovely pairing.

2005, 2006, and 2007 Chablis have been drinking nicely, albeit with vintage variations, and I think each time I plan to open a 2004, I will have one of these other vintages within easy reach.

Too bad about the Les Clos. Of course the thing about the PremOx is that it's so random, at least in the beginning. But it seems to me that once you start having random poxed bottles, odds get worse with time. I know that for instance the '99 Drouhin Mouches blanc was about 75/25 great to oxidized for a couple years, then it seemed like 50/50, and in last year I haven't heard of a good bottle. I've got one bottle of Fevre Montmains from both '02 and '04, as soon as I finish them I am going for '05s. I think they upped sulfur in 2006, so less worries.

[David M. Bueker]

I bought a few 2008 Fevre wines, but I remain cautious and will consume in the near term.