diff --git a/hexbytes/_utils.py b/hexbytes/_utils.py
index bc99e14..f4e3388 100644
--- a/hexbytes/_utils.py
+++ b/hexbytes/_utils.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def hexstr_to_bytes(hexstr: str) -> bytes:
 
     try:
         ascii_hex = padded_hex.encode("ascii")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError as err:
+    except UnicodeEncodeError as err:
         raise ValueError(
             f"hex string {padded_hex} may only contain [0-9a-fA-F] characters"
         ) from err
diff --git a/tests/core/test_hexbytes.py b/tests/core/test_hexbytes.py
index 36cf1f6..80d0cb4 100644
--- a/tests/core/test_hexbytes.py
+++ b/tests/core/test_hexbytes.py
@@ -73,6 +73,13 @@ def test_invalid_integer_inputs(integer):
     assert str(integer) in message
 
 
+def test_invalid_non_ascii_hexstr():
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError) as exc_info:
+        HexBytes("0x0é")
+
+    assert "may only contain [0-9a-fA-F] characters" in str(exc_info.value)
+
+
 @given(st.integers(min_value=0))
 def test_integer_inputs(integer):
     wrapped = HexBytes(integer)