Coming from a family that has been in the Chablis region for more than 250 years, William Fèvre’s father was already a great wine-maker after World War II. His son William founded the Domaine de la Maladière and announced his first harvest in 1959.

For many years, William Fèvre (who to this day enjoys a very good reputation as a defender of historically renowned terroirs), has worked each plot keenly and skilfully so as to make wine whose personality reflects the authenticity of the soils from which they spring.

In 1998, the venerable Henriot family from Champagne succeeded him. To continue these focused efforts, the Domaine was taken up with the constant desire to make indisputably genuine and fine wines, and above all with bringing along a very personal expertise in Chardonnay. All the efforts have but one goal – to finely express the most subtle variations in the greatest Chablis crus.

This attachment to the value of the terroir has also allowed the William Fèvre Domaine to establish an exceptional estate by acquiring some of the best Chablis vineyards.

With its 47 hectares Domaine, of which more than half are in Chablis Premier Cru (12 hectares) and Grand Cru (15.2 hectares), William Fèvre owns the widest array of Grands Crus and benefits from ideal conditions to produce excellent Chablis.

Located on “historical” terroirs, dating from before the extension of the vineyard areas that occurred in the 1970’s, the William Fèvre Domaine is at the very heart of the vineyards, on soil that mixes marl and clay-rich lime, as well as a Kimmeridgian subsoil rich in minerals and oyster fossils that give Chablis its unique mineral character.

At William Fèvre, everything is done, to reach this goal. Grapes are hand-picked and put in small crates, the bunches are rigorously sorted out, pressings are short, the must carefully settled, and a fine balance is established, according to the vintage, for the vinification between vat and cask. Since the 1998 vintage, the proportion of new casks was reduced so as to not dampen the subtle variations of Chablis terroir. These methods and precautions allow us to obtain rich wines of a very high aromatic purity that hold on their typicity, whose principle characteristics are minerality and freshness.