A pure, cool, airy and exceptionally stylish nose of mineral reduction, green fruit, citrus zest, iodine and shellfish slides gracefully into rich, round and brilliantly well-delineated medium-bodied flavors that possess a silky mouth feel and an explosively long and bone dry finish. This impeccably poised, brilliantly concentrated yet understated effort is a textbook example of Les Preuses with its Zen-like harmony and sheer class. Along with the Les Clos, this is arguably one of the very best wines of the vintage.

(97+) By this point in the lineup, the quality level of these grand crus was starting to really become a bit overwhelming to the senses, but the stunning quality of the 2010 Les Preuses had no difficulty making an impression! This too had been bottled the week before. The utterly classic and pure bouquet offers up a haunting nose of grapefruit, green apple, kaleidoscopically complex soil stones redolent of chalky, oyster shell and stony minerality, white flowers and a pungent topnote of beeswax. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very, very racy, with great purity and precision on the attack, stunning mid-palate depth, great focus and balance and an endless and rapier-like finish. (Drink between 2020-2060)

Tasted alongside the corresponding 2012 and 2011, Fevre’s 2010 Chablis Les Preuses accentuates both the sweet-saline savor of scallop and the briny, nutty, oyster liqueur and seaweed that are also part and parcel of the subsequent renditions, resulting in an experience that taps the imagination and salivary glands with equal urgency. Struck flint smokiness and fusil notes lend persistent pungency and bittersweet floral perfume further allure, while fresh citrus serves for luscious refreshment. This finishes with superb complexity and much of the mystery and clarity found in the 2012. When one considers the contrast between baked-in concentration of a torrid mid-August in 2012 and the cool but desiccating north wind of September 2010, I wonder that the two wines are not even more strikingly different. But perhaps the contribution of the site itself is, after all, definitive. - David Schildknecht