1997 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

Community Tasting Notes (10) Avg Score: 92.1 points

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  11/22/2023 - MN Wine Junkie Likes this wine: 94 Points

  PnP at a restaurant (Wine Not) in Chablis. Yes, this wasn't cheap (but much cheaper than the US), but who could pass up an opportunity to taste this wine? I will say a couple things: First, while I thoroughly enjoyed this wine, there is no doubt that some others would have enjoyed this much more! Second, I can see why Raveneau is a heralded producer in Chablis. Outstanding for a 26 year old Chablis!
  
  The wine: For me, the wine still had fruit and acidity, but it was way tamed down and lacked a bit of crispness that I would have enjoyed more. First, the color was amazing...still light and showing no signs of its age. The nose (and palate) initially showed some funk, that had me worried that the wine was flawed (the noses was rather woodsy and the palate showed weird herbal notes, especially on the finish). It didn't seem flawed or bad, just something that didn't quite fit the profile of Chablis or Chardonnay in general. However, the nose blew off after a few minutes of air, and the palate opened up. The wine did still have some fruit and acid, but it had tertiary flavors in spades! Mushroom, oyster and limestone, but with some stone fruit, baked apples and hints of honeycomb and oak. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine (after all how often will an opportunity like this come along?). It is always a treat to taste aged wines, and especially hard to find wines. I would drink sooner than later (at least for my palate). I would also recommend opening the bottle (not decanting) about 15-30 minutes before consuming (or about 5 minutes in the glass) as this wine does seem to need a little air to open up.
  
  Solid 94 for my palate, but I typically enjoy more freshness and believe this wine would have been in my wheelhouse even more about 5-10 years earlier. For those who truly enjoy wines with a lot of tertiary flavor, my score will seem super-conservative!

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  10/18/2019 - tinybubbles wrote: 87 Points

  From magnum. Not completely gone but significant oxidation here.

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  2/9/2017 - lepetitchateau wrote: flawed

  Very curious nose on this, had some damage along the way. Not Chablis in character.

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  8/9/2016 - rnellans wrote: 92 Points

  Light color for age. MIneral, citrus...not as much complexity and interest as expected. No flaws

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  3/24/2015 - Alex G. Likes this wine:

  Tropical fruit, very exotic, good minerality and balance.

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