Raveneau Montee de Tonnerre retrospective

Trying two top-notch flights of Raveneau in two nights is surely what dreams are made of. Our dear friend Marco Defreitas, Cellar Tracker poster extraordinaire, was in town with his lovely wife so we took the occasion to look at some Raveneau. After the Butteaux retrospective the night before at VVW, I was ready for more minty truffley hazelnutty goodness. We pulled from our cellars and were graced with a lovely Grand Cru starter, absolutely stunning, and five Montees ranging in age from 4-9 years old. I tend to find the 8-12 year mark a perfect drinking window for Raveneau, and the ’00 was a beauty. The younger wines showed fairly well but would be best in 2-5 years. Our small group was incredibly generous with food and Scott’s seafood appetizer was a great foil for Raveneau…

A very generous pre wine from Scott, showed beautifully, paired with assorted finger foods that worked well -- parmesan and lemon cucumber picked fresh from my garden...

• 2003 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  Marco and gang Raveneau-a-thon – A generous "pre wine" for a flight of Montees. Wow, absolutely seamless and gorgeous Raveneau. Had more nuance than the Montees, absolutely spectacularly spicy and elegant at the same time. Stone fruit, white truffle oil, white chocolate, white powdery jasmine flowers. Wow.

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The "main event" and a great look at this amazing vineyard. Marco's lovely wife Penny discusses the flight under a sliver of moon...

• 2000 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Marco and gang Raveneau-a-thon – One of the favorites of the flight of Montees. Gorgeous and balanced, more light and sleek than a Raveneau I’d expect at the close to decade mark, but a beauty nonetheless with nice jasmine infused honey and a touch of white truffle.

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• 2001 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Marco and gang Raveneau-a-thon – Hmmm, the second disappointing ’01 Raveneau in a week. These ’01s seem to have a real heady, funky, sweaty handful of copper pennies type thing going on. Like the ’01 Butteaux recently tried at VVW in Palo Alto, you see some good sides (good acidity and palate, nice toasted hazelnut oil and white truffle), but the funkiness is off putting. Hmmm…

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• 2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Marco and gang Raveneau-a-thon – Middle of the pack of tonight's Montees. Nice and silky with good balance, a bit reserved but it did open up I thought beautifully throughout the night to the classic minty truffley seashell, so I upgraded it from about 90 to 92 or so pts.. (whatever that means, hehe).

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• 2003 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Marco and gang Raveneau-a-thon -- Showed much softer and almost "powdery" next to the other Montees. Many thought this was the most drinkable now. I found some nice cream lemon pie, soft round tropical notes. Not the typical wonderful minty seashell meets white truffle Raveneau here, but a crowd pleaser.

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• 2005 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Marco and gang Raveneau-a-thon – Middle of the pack of tonight's Montees. I detected some funkiness and almost a teeny bit of corkiness. Spicy and funky, with a tad of almost a "swimming pool" note. Had a harder time with this, maybe too young. Some of the classic Raveneau lurks beneath however, with citrus and hazelnut wafting in and out...

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Next up was savory for the red course--Paolo Bea gems. When I get more time I'll enter those notes, but it goes without saying these were wild and powerful beauties. Cheers to Raveneau, and a great evening...