Sunday Lunch with Raveneau Chablis and Chave Hermitage (Piccino Restaurant, San Francisco): Healthy yellow color. A weird but highly aromatic mix of honey and grapefruit. As odd as it sounds, the nose reminded me more of Riesling or Sauvignon than Chablis. By far the roundest, most glycerine wine of the flight. A touch of exotic fruit (pineapple), then driving acidity and real soil. The juxtaposition of all of these elements was jarring, and they have certainly not integrated at 21 years of age. A crazy quilt, as atypical as the 2004 is classic.
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Great Grand Cru Burgundy Dinner with Friends (S.K.Y. Restaurant - Chicago IL): Served alongside the glorious 2005. Open 45 minutes before serving and decanted because of some odd aromas. This never fully came around, with my thinking it stuck in a state of reduction and David thinking it slightly oxidized! Still, tasty and enjoyable.
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From Paris with Love, 2018 Edition; 11/16/2018-11/18/2018 (Paris (Girafe, La Tour D'Argent & Epicure)): A great wine especially when sourced from a pristine cellar like the one at La Tour D'Argent, Paris. But one needs to like the style of this oldie and we have to admit we prefer them younger and more fresh. Honey touches, tertiary fruit, well evolved, still citrus and flinty touches. We will not rate as our palate preferences would not reflect the real value of this albeit we did not rate it badly at all! ( for us it was a 93 for Andreas 95 for Nicoletta but we were split a lot about it)
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Amazing clarity, lightly yellow but barely seems to have developed at all. Gorgeous white flowers, chalky, cottage cheese, honey and talc fragrance. Very refined, has some delicacy but with a tight core of fine acidity giving it excellent structure. The flavours go on and on, pure fruits, citrus and a little honey, zesty mineral spice, but very well balanced. No sign of developed old characters. Very impressive.
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Light gold colour, lustrous. Perfect honeysuckle fragrance. Lightly honeyed, gentle white flowers. Gorgeous. Nicely aged fruit, definitely has softened and broadened. Wet stones and chalky minerality. Limes and lemons with a little honey. Firm acidity, powerful structure still evident while the flesh is starting to fade. Delicious aged Chablis.
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Tasted blind, this wine had a light yellow center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose displayed lemons, green apples, honey and white flowers.
Not surprisingly, this wine needed a ton of air. Apparently, this bottle was decanted 4 hours beforehand. It got better and better during the tasting but was still somewhat restrained. In the mouth, it was medium bodied nice richness, firm acidity, and great balance. All the ingredients were there for greatness.
While this is still pretty tight, it appears to have a lot of potential. I would be willing to bet it will pick up a point or two in 5-10 years.
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7 Vintages of Raveneau Valmur 2000 to 2007 (ex 2003) (Vin, Vino, Wine): Mild mustiness and off aromas compete with and ultimately win out over the lemony Raveneau signature. The palate has very little tension, and shows rounder and sweeter and almost sauterne like for a brief moment. Medium finish, I think this bottle is flawed, and it was ranked last out of 7 wines.
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Raveneau made excellent 01’s and this is a beauty. There’s some apricot, mandarin, honey and toast to the aroma. It is full and fleshy in the mouth with layers of citrus fruit flavour. An undercurrent of salty iodine is refreshing and whilst acidity is modest it leaves a strong mineral impression once swallowed.
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Pronounced aromas of chalky minerals and toast from old barrels, in addition to yellow fruits. Extremely elegant and intense for being a 2001. Has developed nicely and drinks well now.
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The nose was so big that several people guessed Riesling of all things but on the palate there is no mistaking where it's from...strong acidity, fruit flavors giving way to secondary and tertiary, in balance and beautiful.
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Prime drinking window, very expressive and still showing primary fruit. Glorious nose that had everyone nodding with approval and saying "mmmmmm." This is everything I hope for in Raveneau.
Properly stored bottles should be showing well for at least a few years, but I would err on the side of consuming this wine sooner than later. It's doubtful it would get better and it's quite wonderful today.
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Full yellow. A touch of oxidation at first, but this rallied and progressively became more pure with Raveneau beeswax and intense salinity on the nose. While it seemed heavy and woody to start, it also lightened and became more linear in the mouth. Very good to excellent in the end, but it certainly has a dose of 2001 botrytis and weirdness.
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RAVENEAU Tasting @ Restaurant De Eendracht (Rotterdam , Netherlands): The medium intense canary yellow core displays bright golden highlights and distinct clearing appears at the rim. The medium-plus intense nose initially offers up notes of butter, botrytis/diesel and riper–indeed tropical– fruits. When poured, this has diversified to physalis, toast, menthol, honeyed orange rind and a musky flower component.Over time the wine seems to have put on weight, as it is now medium-plus bodied and coupled with not quite medium-plus acidity it is a rich wine indeed in the context of this afternoon. On the mid-palate the botrytis has integrated to produce a cornucopia of medium-plus intense honeyed quince, white peach and green sherbet flavours, while the minerality seems briny in a Sercial Madeira kind of way. The 20-25 finish shows very nice integration of flavours and structure, but falls apart somewhat after that point. And so, while this wine is not for Chablis purists, it provides a wild ride for those open to more adventurous sensations. 90 points and for my palate this wine is as good as it is ever going to be ..... TN Mike de Lange
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Good right out of the bottle with sweet, buttery, lemony fruit and nice mineral notes but, to me, this is atypical Raveneau in it's lack of real tension and taut acidity. Quite flavorful and even a crowd-pleaser but I could've identified this as California chardonnay blind which is not what I'm looking for (and rarely see) in my Raveneau. I think this needs to be drunk now.
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Medium yellow. This began as a dead ringer for Cote de Beaune Grand Cru-broad and textural with only a faint glimmer of more Chablisien elements on the nose, but then it turned into Chablis. Gradually, leaner, showing more acidity, broth and sea breeze. Big wine, none of the botrytis that some 2001 Chablis show. May have a few more years of development but essentially mature now. Excellent if not as distinguished as Raveneau Valmur can be.
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This wine doesn’t get much love, but it was my fourth bottle and I really like it for what it is. Medium intense canary yellow, with a clearing rim. Medium-plus intense straight off the bat, the nose was quite complex and clearly showed evolution with notes of tangerine, more tropical fruits, almond and an ashy mineral backdrop. It was medium bodied with quite refined texture, but medium-plus acidity and ditto intensity kept it nervously styled. The finish approached the 30 second mark.Four and a half hours don’t make any difference colour-wise, but the nose now shows clear botrytis influence in its spicy cardamom and sweet Turkish delight notes, with a hint of diesel to boot. This is also the first wine to show the typical fatty Serein clay note on the nose, aside from typical almondy goodness and more candied fruits.Whether its comes from the weaker vintage (although Bernard Raveneau seems to prefer it over his 2000s) or additional bottle age, this slightly more than medium bodied wine seems to be somewhat lower in acidity at not quite medium-plus. This does however, make it a nice break from the enamel-stripping acidities encountered before and with its smooth texture, it is quite the crowd pleaser to those who don’t object to its botrytized nature. Pronouncedly intense flavours of almost red fruit –redcurrant comes to mind– fennel shoots and fatty mineral clay caress the palate and take their sweet time to softly fade after 25 seconds. Additionally, a saline licorice note asserts itself, while another indication of breed can be found in its balanced intensity on the finish. If I have to pick a nit, it would be that this Valmur does not possess the length of great vintages, but that doesn’t keep it from being a great drink. If you have any, do give it a few hours of slow-ox and you’re in for a treat. 94 points and it will keep for at least 4 to 5 years.......TN Mike de Lange (Raveneau Tasting).
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still lightly greenly lemon yellow. grapefruit, flint, honey smell. light acidity with a little sweetness, minerals. medium body, 4sec. length after taste.
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beautiful and detailed Chablis with tons of sea salt. has a somewhat viscous mouthfeel, but is easily lifted by the slight raciness. became more etched as it aired out. great now or over the next 5 years easy.
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A mild Chablis in a pale, rather than bright, style, with good purity but without the customary sharp cut. Flavors reminiscent of a lemon cream filling with notes of white chocolate and vanilla bean make it an enticing drink with a profile that gives it a different function than might be customary for Chablis. It's more confectionary than mineral without the finishing burst of seashells, a serviceable but not transcendent match with scallops and clams.
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Oh boy, this is good stuff. Still tightly wound, but already showing nicely ripe apple fruit with tons of baking spices, roasted pear, cheese and mountains of minerality and salinity. Unctuous in the mouth with admirable length, but I think this will improve with more cellaring -- seems there's a lot in reserve here. Very much Grand Cru, but perhaps not at the top level. Nonetheless, it's delicious and very sophisticated. I like!
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An excellent Chablis, it was a bit of a diva, demanding the perfect temperature. At first it was a bit too warm, but after a bit of ice time it was fabulous with a fine minerality, a hint of lemon citrus and honey. Great acidity that demanded food. A long finish of crushed rocks and sweetness. Well balanced; a fantastic marriage of acidity and ripe fruit. When it got a little cold, the nose shut down but blossomed again as it warmed up. By the end of the meal, it had gone to its dressing room leaving nothing but the acidity. While termpermental, when it was on, it was just beautiful and a wonderful change of pace from New World Chardonnay.
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San Francisco Bay Area Leoville Barton Vertical (Moraga): Pale straw yellow. This really is an extraordinary wine, mostly for its ability to combine apparent opposites of sweetness with acidity and minerality. The nose is positively perfumed, showing distinct notes of white flowers, honey, and botrytis mixed with rock dust. In the mouth, the Sauterne-like character seems to persist, with a sweet, viscous, palate-coating finish that is preceded by a classic Chablis attack of rock flour, acidity, and intensely flavored ripe fruit. Really extraordinary the way this wine shows so many of the classic characteristics of Chablis, especially in the finely comminuted rock dust on the palate and the initial acid attack, but then follows with an almost Sautern- like viscous, sweet finish. A wine just oozing character, this has to be the best 2001 Chablis I have tried.
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Floral nose with good spice but quite ripe fruit, which continued on to the palate. So not characteristically "Chablis" flavor profile for me. Lots of power in the middle, then good minerality on finish. Very good but I somehow expected more from Raveneau Grand Cru.
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Raveneau Tasting (Pike & Western, Seattle, WA): The nose showed campfire and candied elements. The palate was thick and weighty with nutmeg and obvious botrytis. This wine would considered long for most Chards, but it was not nearly as long or complex as the others tonight. I prefered this a bit over the Montee de Tonnere because it showed more precision and focus.
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9/18/2022 - drwine2001 wrote:
Sunday Lunch with Raveneau Chablis and Chave Hermitage (Piccino Restaurant, San Francisco): Healthy yellow color. A weird but highly aromatic mix of honey and grapefruit. As odd as it sounds, the nose reminded me more of Riesling or Sauvignon than Chablis. By far the roundest, most glycerine wine of the flight. A touch of exotic fruit (pineapple), then driving acidity and real soil. The juxtaposition of all of these elements was jarring, and they have certainly not integrated at 21 years of age. A crazy quilt, as atypical as the 2004 is classic.
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6/10/2020 - fcxj wrote: 94 Points
Lemon zest, exuberant aromatics. Needs 1-2 hours to build weight on the palate, then real heft and substance.
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8/9/2019 - fcxj wrote: 92 Points
Some bruised, ripe, slightly botrytis aromatics. Weightless palate.
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5/16/2019 - Burgundy Al wrote: flawed
Great Grand Cru Burgundy Dinner with Friends (S.K.Y. Restaurant - Chicago IL): Served alongside the glorious 2005. Open 45 minutes before serving and decanted because of some odd aromas. This never fully came around, with my thinking it stuck in a state of reduction and David thinking it slightly oxidized! Still, tasty and enjoyable.
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11/17/2018 - Papies wrote:
From Paris with Love, 2018 Edition; 11/16/2018-11/18/2018 (Paris (Girafe, La Tour D'Argent & Epicure)): A great wine especially when sourced from a pristine cellar like the one at La Tour D'Argent, Paris.
But one needs to like the style of this oldie and we have to admit we prefer them younger and more fresh. Honey touches, tertiary fruit, well evolved, still citrus and flinty touches. We will not rate as our palate preferences would not reflect the real value of this albeit we did not rate it badly at all! ( for us it was a 93 for Andreas 95 for Nicoletta but we were split a lot about it)
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11/17/2018 - Papies wrote: flawed
Corked, lightly but exploded post 30mins. The excellent La Tour D'Argent in Paris replaced it even after 30mkns. Proper.
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7/8/2017 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 95 Points
Amazing clarity, lightly yellow but barely seems to have developed at all.
Gorgeous white flowers, chalky, cottage cheese, honey and talc fragrance.
Very refined, has some delicacy but with a tight core of fine acidity giving it excellent structure. The flavours go on and on, pure fruits, citrus and a little honey, zesty mineral spice, but very well balanced. No sign of developed old characters. Very impressive.
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6/10/2017 - tinybubbles wrote: 90 Points
Minerality underneath, but an oddly obtuse palate. Even for the vintage, this wasn't a great showing. 90-
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12/24/2015 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 93 Points
Light gold colour, lustrous.
Perfect honeysuckle fragrance. Lightly honeyed, gentle white flowers. Gorgeous.
Nicely aged fruit, definitely has softened and broadened. Wet stones and chalky minerality. Limes and lemons with a little honey. Firm acidity, powerful structure still evident while the flesh is starting to fade. Delicious aged Chablis.
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7/18/2015 - fclarity wrote: 94 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had a light yellow center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose displayed lemons, green apples, honey and white flowers.
Not surprisingly, this wine needed a ton of air. Apparently, this bottle was decanted 4 hours beforehand. It got better and better during the tasting but was still somewhat restrained. In the mouth, it was medium bodied nice richness, firm acidity, and great balance. All the ingredients were there for greatness.
While this is still pretty tight, it appears to have a lot of potential. I would be willing to bet it will pick up a point or two in 5-10 years.
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3/26/2014 - llink wrote: 88 Points
7 Vintages of Raveneau Valmur 2000 to 2007 (ex 2003) (Vin, Vino, Wine): Mild mustiness and off aromas compete with and ultimately win out over the lemony Raveneau signature. The palate has very little tension, and shows rounder and sweeter and almost sauterne like for a brief moment. Medium finish, I think this bottle is flawed, and it was ranked last out of 7 wines.
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10/7/2013 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
Raveneau made excellent 01’s and this is a beauty. There’s some apricot, mandarin, honey and toast to the aroma. It is full and fleshy in the mouth with layers of citrus fruit flavour. An undercurrent of salty iodine is refreshing and whilst acidity is modest it leaves a strong mineral impression once swallowed.
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10/4/2013 - AudunG wrote: 91 Points
Pronounced aromas of chalky minerals and toast from old barrels, in addition to yellow fruits. Extremely elegant and intense for being a 2001. Has developed nicely and drinks well now.
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9/9/2013 - BillBell73 wrote: 95 Points
The nose was so big that several people guessed Riesling of all things but on the palate there is no mistaking where it's from...strong acidity, fruit flavors giving way to secondary and tertiary, in balance and beautiful.
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9/8/2013 - Biskuit Likes this wine: 93 Points
Love this one, nose had me thinking Riesling, spatlese. Of course the Chablis kicked in on first sip.
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6/28/2013 - Alex G. Likes this wine:
Prime drinking window, very expressive and still showing primary fruit. Glorious nose that had everyone nodding with approval and saying "mmmmmm." This is everything I hope for in Raveneau.
Properly stored bottles should be showing well for at least a few years, but I would err on the side of consuming this wine sooner than later. It's doubtful it would get better and it's quite wonderful today.
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3/18/2013 - drwine2001 wrote:
Full yellow. A touch of oxidation at first, but this rallied and progressively became more pure with Raveneau beeswax and intense salinity on the nose. While it seemed heavy and woody to start, it also lightened and became more linear in the mouth. Very good to excellent in the end, but it certainly has a dose of 2001 botrytis and weirdness.
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3/11/2013 - Barry Rothof wrote: 90 Points
RAVENEAU Tasting @ Restaurant De Eendracht (Rotterdam , Netherlands): The medium intense canary yellow core displays bright golden highlights and distinct clearing appears at the rim. The medium-plus intense nose initially offers up notes of butter, botrytis/diesel and riper–indeed tropical– fruits. When poured, this has diversified to physalis, toast, menthol, honeyed orange rind and a musky flower component.Over time the wine seems to have put on weight, as it is now medium-plus bodied and coupled with not quite medium-plus acidity it is a rich wine indeed in the context of this afternoon. On the mid-palate the botrytis has integrated to produce a cornucopia of medium-plus intense honeyed quince, white peach and green sherbet flavours, while the minerality seems briny in a Sercial Madeira kind of way. The 20-25 finish shows very nice integration of flavours and structure, but falls apart somewhat after that point. And so, while this wine is not for Chablis purists, it provides a wild ride for those open to more adventurous sensations. 90 points and for my palate this wine is as good as it is ever going to be ..... TN Mike de Lange
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12/16/2012 - dcwino wrote: 90 Points
A lazy Sunday afternoon gathering –Leroy, Gibourg, Dujac, Drouhin and others (Washington D.C.): Ripe, oily but no finesse. Certainly a correct bottle. Need time? I don’t know.
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7/14/2012 - cardsandwine Likes this wine:
Excellent Chablis. Crisp with nice acidity, balance and lengthy finish.
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5/11/2012 - lepetitchateau wrote: 93 Points
Significantly more interesting bottle than previous; stalky nose, clean, sweet and dignified.
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7/25/2011 - lepetitchateau wrote: 90 Points
Stony and crisp on the nose but this leaves the impression of being a bit flat on the palate. Touch of sweet syrup and not much finesse. Skip
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7/17/2011 - dream wrote: 87 Points
Good right out of the bottle with sweet, buttery, lemony fruit and nice mineral notes but, to me, this is atypical Raveneau in it's lack of real tension and taut acidity. Quite flavorful and even a crowd-pleaser but I could've identified this as California chardonnay blind which is not what I'm looking for (and rarely see) in my Raveneau. I think this needs to be drunk now.
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4/19/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Medium yellow. This began as a dead ringer for Cote de Beaune Grand Cru-broad and textural with only a faint glimmer of more Chablisien elements on the nose, but then it turned into Chablis. Gradually, leaner, showing more acidity, broth and sea breeze. Big wine, none of the botrytis that some 2001 Chablis show. May have a few more years of development but essentially mature now. Excellent if not as distinguished as Raveneau Valmur can be.
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2/4/2011 - Barry Rothof wrote: 94 Points
This wine doesn’t get much love, but it was my fourth bottle and I really like it for what it is. Medium intense canary yellow, with a clearing rim. Medium-plus intense straight off the bat, the nose was quite complex and clearly showed evolution with notes of tangerine, more tropical fruits, almond and an ashy mineral backdrop. It was medium bodied with quite refined texture, but medium-plus acidity and ditto intensity kept it nervously styled. The finish approached the 30 second mark.Four and a half hours don’t make any difference colour-wise, but the nose now shows clear botrytis influence in its spicy cardamom and sweet Turkish delight notes, with a hint of diesel to boot. This is also the first wine to show the typical fatty Serein clay note on the nose, aside from typical almondy goodness and more candied fruits.Whether its comes from the weaker vintage (although Bernard Raveneau seems to prefer it over his 2000s) or additional bottle age, this slightly more than medium bodied wine seems to be somewhat lower in acidity at not quite medium-plus. This does however, make it a nice break from the enamel-stripping acidities encountered before and with its smooth texture, it is quite the crowd pleaser to those who don’t object to its botrytized nature. Pronouncedly intense flavours of almost red fruit –redcurrant comes to mind– fennel shoots and fatty mineral clay caress the palate and take their sweet time to softly fade after 25 seconds. Additionally, a saline licorice note asserts itself, while another indication of breed can be found in its balanced intensity on the finish. If I have to pick a nit, it would be that this Valmur does not possess the length of great vintages, but that doesn’t keep it from being a great drink. If you have any, do give it a few hours of slow-ox and you’re in for a treat. 94 points and it will keep for at least 4 to 5 years.......TN Mike de Lange (Raveneau Tasting).
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12/4/2010 - pll4 wrote: 93 Points
Tasted at Thanksgiving...no formal notes taken. Still a lot of wine there and peaking and the mouthfeel is fabulous
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9/19/2010 - TOTOM wrote: 91 Points
still lightly greenly lemon yellow. grapefruit, flint, honey smell. light acidity with a little sweetness, minerals. medium body, 4sec. length after taste.
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8/13/2010 - cellarid wrote: 87 Points
Flabby.
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8/2/2010 - PatrikO wrote: 91 Points
fresh and floral, as it matures in the glass you get stong notes of peach and honey.
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4/26/2010 - cct wrote: 91 Points
lots of toast, good clarity and focus, with a fine, clean minerality. Lovely flesh and balance. 91 pts.
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8/4/2008 - cellarid wrote: flawed
Not right. Not oxed. But not right.
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1/2/2008 - cellarid wrote: 93 Points
beautiful and detailed Chablis with tons of sea salt. has a somewhat viscous mouthfeel, but is easily lifted by the slight raciness. became more etched as it aired out. great now or over the next 5 years easy.
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10/15/2007 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 90 Points
A mild Chablis in a pale, rather than bright, style, with good purity but without the customary sharp cut. Flavors reminiscent of a lemon cream filling with notes of white chocolate and vanilla bean make it an enticing drink with a profile that gives it a different function than might be customary for Chablis. It's more confectionary than mineral without the finishing burst of seashells, a serviceable but not transcendent match with scallops and clams.
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8/26/2007 - kstoddard wrote: 93 Points
Pretty, fresh tropical fruit nose. Pineapples, caramel, pears and lemon. Great mid palate depth and a very complex finish. Outstanding wine.
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1/27/2007 - cellarid wrote: 93 Points
Oh boy, this is good stuff. Still tightly wound, but already showing nicely ripe apple fruit with tons of baking spices, roasted pear, cheese and mountains of minerality and salinity. Unctuous in the mouth with admirable length, but I think this will improve with more cellaring -- seems there's a lot in reserve here. Very much Grand Cru, but perhaps not at the top level. Nonetheless, it's delicious and very sophisticated. I like!
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2/9/2006 - bsherwin wrote:
An excellent Chablis, it was a bit of a diva, demanding the perfect temperature. At first it was a bit too warm, but after a bit of ice time it was fabulous with a fine minerality, a hint of lemon citrus and honey. Great acidity that demanded food. A long finish of crushed rocks and sweetness. Well balanced; a fantastic marriage of acidity and ripe fruit. When it got a little cold, the nose shut down but blossomed again as it warmed up. By the end of the meal, it had gone to its dressing room leaving nothing but the acidity. While termpermental, when it was on, it was just beautiful and a wonderful change of pace from New World Chardonnay.
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12/11/2005 - CSteefel wrote:
San Francisco Bay Area Leoville Barton Vertical (Moraga): Pale straw yellow. This really is an extraordinary wine, mostly for its ability to combine apparent opposites of sweetness with acidity and minerality. The nose is positively perfumed, showing distinct notes of white flowers, honey, and botrytis mixed with rock dust. In the mouth, the Sauterne-like character seems to persist, with a sweet, viscous, palate-coating finish that is preceded by a classic Chablis attack of rock flour, acidity, and intensely flavored ripe fruit. Really extraordinary the way this wine shows so many of the classic characteristics of Chablis, especially in the finely comminuted rock dust on the palate and the initial acid attack, but then follows with an almost Sautern- like viscous, sweet finish. A wine just oozing character, this has to be the best 2001 Chablis I have tried.
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11/6/2005 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Floral nose with good spice but quite ripe fruit, which continued on to the palate. So not characteristically "Chablis" flavor profile for me. Lots of power in the middle, then good minerality on finish. Very good but I somehow expected more from Raveneau Grand Cru.
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3/30/2005 - Jason wrote: 89 Points
Raveneau Tasting (Pike & Western, Seattle, WA): The nose showed campfire and candied elements. The palate was thick and weighty with nutmeg and obvious botrytis. This wine would considered long for most Chards, but it was not nearly as long or complex as the others tonight. I prefered this a bit over the Montee de Tonnere because it showed more precision and focus.
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6/22/2004 - AJ72 wrote: 89 Points
A good wine but lacks the concentration of other vintages. Quite open and drinking well now.
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2/14/2004 - Joe Belmaati wrote: 87 Points
Not as good as the Montée de Tonnerre I had about 4 weeks ago. This wine seemed a bit tight and hard, and perhaps with a bit of a sour note to it.
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