Luminous bottling. I didn't love this on release, but man this has gotten super impressive. Rounded, powerful, and rich, with clear delineation of red fruit and a broad, complex palate that also shows just the right amount of acidity to cut through all of that material. Sappy, rich, and powerful. This has developed very well. In my past experience, the Dom Rosé has always come off a bit steely on release, but a few years really does wonders.
Absolute stunner. Best at the end of the night. Krug is Krug -- there's really not much to say, except to give these babies plenty of air. The opulence and decadence that air lends to these wines are a marvel to behold. Lean from the vintage, but with the old-school Krug weight, this is something in fantastic harmony. I'm sure it can only get better with time, given the sheer amount of material there is in this wine.
If this is any indication of a stylistic shift with Isabella and Maxime... holy shit. This was ripping from the get-go, with intense minerality, seashell, and lemon zest. The freshness of this is stupendous, and I love the balanced yet heightened citric acidity on this. It's so crisp and brilliant, and there is more of a lightness here than in Raveneau of yore (though those are good in their own right). So much jam-packed minerality and seashore in a single bottle of wine. Only upside here.
Another Raveneau in that slightly waxier style, but the vintage gives this an extra kick of freshness. Plenty of salinity and minerality here, and very much in line with the 2020 in style, though perhaps there's more palate weight (though not more complexity). Served next to the Chapelot, this was clearly the underdog(!). It just lacked the old-vine extracted quality, but on its own, this would already be brilliant.
For my palate tonight, head and shoulders above the MdT. This is the same wine but more concentrated and with more extract on the palate. There's so much minerality that this feels chewy, tannic, bitter... I just love when white wines can manage that sort of intensity and complexity. A real saline mineral bomb, and with that citric acidity to freshen things up. One of my favourite bottles tonight, among so many...
Man, I really didn't like this bottle when it was originally released, and I passed on buying it. What a clown. It took a while for this to really shape up, but by the end of the dinner, this came off like a good bottle of Keller. Initially, fat and rich, as I remembered it, but with more minerality and acidity, and more shapely than the bottle many years ago. And it just tightened up more and more over the course of the night. Splendid stuff. Oh, the woeful mistakes of youth.
Certainly my least favourite bottle in the lineup tonight. It's more of a ready-to-drink, lighter style, but what perturbs me the most is the clear dose of 2011 green on the palate here. That said, this is very true to the vintage (ha!) but I do enjoy the lightness of this wine as a contrast to the more opulent and richer wines that we had in the lineup tonight. But it's not a vintage I'm running out to buy more of.
One thing that struck me with all the Raveneau bottles tonight was how true to the stereotypical description of the vintage they all were. And even the weaker vintages were still very good wines. This is very 2009 -- ripe and broad, with lots of fruit, even though the palate does feel a little thin relative to the ripeness of the wine. Undergirding it is still a good dose of acidity, and like the 2012, this did tighten up with more air, but in general this came off as a bit diffuse relative to the tauter vintages.
Ugh, this is so good. Like the 2014, this is pure mineral extract, with the same intensity and chewy density that its younger sibling had. But what stands out here is the very 2008 hint of botrytis. And while in general I'm not particularly keen on noble rot in my chardonnay, that hint here, coupled with all the mineral extract works fantastically well. Complex, layered, and chiselled. What a wine.
Vineyard Brands bottle. I've always been a bit wary of Dauvissat -- something about the wines just never clicks with me. But this bottle was seriously good and held its own against some pretty esteemed company. This is crisper and arguably more archetypal Chablis, but the vintage gives this a roundness that I really liked. It's got more salinity and less opulence, but the fruit is there. It also doesn't have any botrytis influence that I could detect either.
I love these old LdH whites so much, even though they are admittedly weird and honestly a touch hard to pair. But there's something about that waxy complexity here that I really dig. It's saline in the way a sherry can be, but without all the alcohol. Salty and funky with a furry type of quality, this actually reminds a little of Allemand in the way that the feral notes are also restrained and slightly domesticated. But just a little bit.
2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé 95 Points
France, Champagne
Luminous bottling. I didn't love this on release, but man this has gotten super impressive. Rounded, powerful, and rich, with clear delineation of red fruit and a broad, complex palate that also shows just the right amount of acidity to cut through all of that material. Sappy, rich, and powerful. This has developed very well. In my past experience, the Dom Rosé has always come off a bit steely on release, but a few years really does wonders.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 160eme 95 Points
France, Champagne
Absolute stunner. Best at the end of the night. Krug is Krug -- there's really not much to say, except to give these babies plenty of air. The opulence and decadence that air lends to these wines are a marvel to behold. Lean from the vintage, but with the old-school Krug weight, this is something in fantastic harmony. I'm sure it can only get better with time, given the sheer amount of material there is in this wine.
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2020 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
If this is any indication of a stylistic shift with Isabella and Maxime... holy shit. This was ripping from the get-go, with intense minerality, seashell, and lemon zest. The freshness of this is stupendous, and I love the balanced yet heightened citric acidity on this. It's so crisp and brilliant, and there is more of a lightness here than in Raveneau of yore (though those are good in their own right). So much jam-packed minerality and seashore in a single bottle of wine. Only upside here.
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2014 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Another Raveneau in that slightly waxier style, but the vintage gives this an extra kick of freshness. Plenty of salinity and minerality here, and very much in line with the 2020 in style, though perhaps there's more palate weight (though not more complexity). Served next to the Chapelot, this was clearly the underdog(!). It just lacked the old-vine extracted quality, but on its own, this would already be brilliant.
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2014 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Chapelot 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
For my palate tonight, head and shoulders above the MdT. This is the same wine but more concentrated and with more extract on the palate. There's so much minerality that this feels chewy, tannic, bitter... I just love when white wines can manage that sort of intensity and complexity. A real saline mineral bomb, and with that citric acidity to freshen things up. One of my favourite bottles tonight, among so many...
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2012 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Man, I really didn't like this bottle when it was originally released, and I passed on buying it. What a clown. It took a while for this to really shape up, but by the end of the dinner, this came off like a good bottle of Keller. Initially, fat and rich, as I remembered it, but with more minerality and acidity, and more shapely than the bottle many years ago. And it just tightened up more and more over the course of the night. Splendid stuff. Oh, the woeful mistakes of youth.
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2011 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Certainly my least favourite bottle in the lineup tonight. It's more of a ready-to-drink, lighter style, but what perturbs me the most is the clear dose of 2011 green on the palate here. That said, this is very true to the vintage (ha!) but I do enjoy the lightness of this wine as a contrast to the more opulent and richer wines that we had in the lineup tonight. But it's not a vintage I'm running out to buy more of.
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2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
One thing that struck me with all the Raveneau bottles tonight was how true to the stereotypical description of the vintage they all were. And even the weaker vintages were still very good wines. This is very 2009 -- ripe and broad, with lots of fruit, even though the palate does feel a little thin relative to the ripeness of the wine. Undergirding it is still a good dose of acidity, and like the 2012, this did tighten up with more air, but in general this came off as a bit diffuse relative to the tauter vintages.
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2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Chapelot 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Ugh, this is so good. Like the 2014, this is pure mineral extract, with the same intensity and chewy density that its younger sibling had. But what stands out here is the very 2008 hint of botrytis. And while in general I'm not particularly keen on noble rot in my chardonnay, that hint here, coupled with all the mineral extract works fantastically well. Complex, layered, and chiselled. What a wine.
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2008 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Vineyard Brands bottle. I've always been a bit wary of Dauvissat -- something about the wines just never clicks with me. But this bottle was seriously good and held its own against some pretty esteemed company. This is crisper and arguably more archetypal Chablis, but the vintage gives this a roundness that I really liked. It's got more salinity and less opulence, but the fruit is there. It also doesn't have any botrytis influence that I could detect either.
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2001 R. López de Heredia Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia 95 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
I love these old LdH whites so much, even though they are admittedly weird and honestly a touch hard to pair. But there's something about that waxy complexity here that I really dig. It's saline in the way a sherry can be, but without all the alcohol. Salty and funky with a furry type of quality, this actually reminds a little of Allemand in the way that the feral notes are also restrained and slightly domesticated. But just a little bit.
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