Raveneau Montée de Tonnerre Vertical

Vin Vino Wine, Palo Alto, California
Tasted Friday, December 31, 2010 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 1,168 views

Introduction

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This was a delightful way to spend a New Year's Eve afternoon. Vin Vino Wine in Palo Alto has a tradition of special verticals for New Year's Eve, and this was the first year they made it a vertical of whites.

I've written a lot about Raveneau here, because I love Chablis and Raveneau is one of the top two or three producers. The brothers Raveneau, following in their father François's footsteps, make gorgeous wines. For more about the Domaine, see my recent post here: http://www.rjonwine.com/chablis/raveneau-dauvissat-fevre/

Montée de Tonnerre is consistently cited as the top premier cru vineyard in Chablis. Like the other two top Chablis premier crus, Fourchaume and Mont de Milieu, it lies on the right bank of the Serien, immediately southeast of the Grand Crus, sharing their southwest facing orientation. It is separated from the Grand Cru Les Blanchots Vineyard by a narrow ravine. It is a large vineyard, at 40.22 hectares. Many critics agree that, in the hands of the Raveneaus, Montée de Tonnerre is as good as the Grand Crus of most other producers.

I've tried nearly all of these vintages of Montée de Tonnerre one or more times before, but this was my first time tasting them side by side, and it was instructive. There is a weight to them that distinguishes them from the premier cru Chablis of other producers. I thought they varied a lot in taste profile, speaking very much of their vintages, with the exception of the '01, of which I've had much better bottles in the past (the one in this tasting was somewhat oxidized). The '03 had the ripeness one expects from that hot vintage, although somewhat obscured by the reduction that dominated this bottle. Both the '05 and '01 hinted at some botrytis. My favorites were the '04 (the most stunning of a few bottles I've had of this vintage which, strangely, doesn't seem to have shut down like Chablis typically does at this age), followed by the 2000 and the '06. The one older bottle in this line up, the '96, was definitely showing its age. It was still very appealing, with the hazelnut and buttery quality I expect from top Chablis with 15 or more years of age, but from this bottle, at least, it's hard to see that it is going to last as long as many older Raveneaus I've tasted (i.e., 25 years or more).

Flight 1 (9 Notes)

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