1996 Rhone and Burgundy (Bronte): youthfully pale straw colour classic fragrance of lemon curd and a hint of cottage cheese, with citrus zest perfectly structured, elegant attack with well defined citrus and mineral zest, long middle and a finish that opens up with a hint of aged complexity but still remaining very youthful and fruit driven. a spectacular 27yr old Chablis.
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Three 96 Rav Grand Crus mano a mano. All of these bottles looked solid with yellow centers and clear rims.
The Valmus seemed the most closed and the nose took quite a while to develop. It showed green apple, pear, minerals, and citrus.
This should be quite good but still needs time in the cellar. Start drinking this in 5 years and it should last 20 years or so (if your bottle is not poxed). This wine should gain a point or two with time.
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WOTN vs some DRC and other gems. This was absolutely firing on all cylinders. Light to medium color. The nose was everything you want - sea shells, lemon curd, baking spices, iodine, minerals and yellow flowers. The palate was equally as generous with a rich, supple, nuanced yet powerful explosion of flavors. Drank over an hour and saved a glass til the end of dinner 2 hours later and it was even more nunaced with some air and warmer temp. A great effort.
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Absolutely gorgeous. Richly textured and like hitting an absolute cement wall of sea shells and rock salt. Quite a bit of initial acid which subsided relatively quickly. Beautiful experience.
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Nose off the pop was intensely lemon citric with big sulphur. The first tastes were searing acid and lemon pith. The bottle opened up considerably over 90-minute lunch, but overall seemed screechy and young. The power and intensity is undeniable, but the depth and ripeness of fruit is a little short. I guess I wanted this to be more like a '90 or '86, and perhaps in time it will round out and show that way, but today this was too much of a laser beam without weighty fruit beneath the acid.
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Huge, almost aggressive nose. Not much acid left but still complex and structured, floral notes with hints of super-ripe citrus (almost like lemon meringue) and minerality at the end. As others have mentioned, I was pretty surprised to learn how old this wine was.
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cp 50 (Gentofte): Young and quite light in comparison, but the fruit is great, there is citrus here, minerals galore, so young – and with a great future. 93+ points
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13%. No Pre-Mox! You can see the light-med golden is vibrant and shining!
Slightly darker golden (compared to Clos). Expressive fr the start, seductive, complex bouquet of mineral and bright acidity core, almond nut, red currant, yellow fruits and Oyster shell. Laser likes focus, good grip. This near 20yrs old Valmur is still youthful. The mineral is complex but still "hard", hence the slight bitterness at the mid palate. (I guess). Long finish, transparent and pure. Another decade? Sure
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Beautiful medium yellow color. Rich fruit, honey, lemon custard, and a nice buttered popcorn finish that just lingers. Amazingly bright and fresh. Superb.
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Birthday lunch for KG, Alex and William (Hua Ting, Orchard Hotel): The essence of Chablis - this was brilliant. Like the last bottle we had earlier in the year, the nose was rather more developed than the palate, starting out with some sweet stone fruited notes of apricots and peaches, even pineapple pineapple scents, than some cream and flowers, and a slightly funky, savoury earthiness. A little hard to place at first, but as the wine warmed up slightly and took on a bit of air, the Chablis character came streaming out of the glass, with deep wafts of chalky, flinty, oyster-shell minerality cutting through the ripe fruit aromas. Very nice, very distinctive – it was hard to guess anything other than Raveneau just on that nose. The next question though was which vineyard. The palate certainly had Grand Cru depth on it, with a thick, almost oily texture and deep flavours of apricots and peaches on a bed of slightly oxidative browned apple notes. Not quite enough oxidation to call it a flaw, or even a distraction I think, but there was definitely something there in the background. What struck me most though was the beautiful cut and minerality on the wine – this was just amazing with flinty, chalky, oyster-shell notes and a lovely spine of acidity spearing through the rich viscosity of the wine to give it a wonderfully lithe, focused and controlled feel from the initial attack all the way into a long, incredible mineral-laden finish, where some lemony notes and shades of smokiness were pierced with shafts of chalk and flint. With that cut and thrust, this really could only have been the Valmur. Great stuff – I thought this bottle showed even better than the last. That hint of oxidation aside though, this was still so incredible youthful – it needs years, even a decade or more to come around.
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Really identical to my last note, this is drinking really well and should hold for a while. Some signs of age in color and on the nose, but only slight, and overall very enjoyable. Only would wish for a touch more length to the wine, but very good and wish I had waited on this to compare to the 2000. A-
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Light, crisp, acidic wine with plenty of minerals. The only real sign of its age is on the nose, but overally this is holding well and a great way to start the evening. A-
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Lemon color, very fresh-looking. Fantastic nose. Super fresh and citrus, saline and mineral. Amazingly complex palate. No signs of premature development of any kind. This was edgy and crisp. Good fruit concentration, and it kep evolving and showing different layers. Nice Medium++ finish. I'd guess bottles from good provenance like this could hold for another 10 years easily. Although the wine is just beautiful right now.
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High acidity. Very high. Almost harsh. Super high. A bit hard to swallow. Taste like lemons. Super high sour lemons. Supposed to be great? Taste sharp like an 07 .With time this is really opening. Softer citrus fruits,,became soft white stonefruits. Needs a lot of time. This doesn't taste a day old. Hard to judge and I probably would put all my raveneaus aside for 15 yrs before drinking.
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Post-Dinner Cellar Raid with Ludovic Belin and Vincent Rapet (Extra Space, Singapore): Good stuff, but amazingly, this was rather too young to drink. It was really tight at first, so tight that, apart from the fact that it was recognisably a Chablis, one could barely guess at the vinatge or Cru level. Only with about an hour in the glass did it really start opening up to show some lovely saline chalk and seashell notes on the nose alongside some wet earth and mushroomy hints and a core of white fruited pear and citrus scents. The palate started out slow as well, with tons of 1996 acidity and bright, rather high-toned citrus notes. There was not much else to show apart from that until it too started opening up too, showing in slowly unfolding layers of depth, almost like an underground river of white fruited notes, flowing along in a creamily textured stream beneath the cloak of brighter, citrus notes - think apples flesh with a spike of lemons and grapefruited brightness. Still so primary and almost a tad simple, but there was great purity here that spoke of the wine's quality. There was also a really solid spine of saline minerality that carried through into the wine's clingy, slightly spiced finish that had great length to it. It was a real pity that we did not have the time to savour this wine, because it was really far too young to drink straight from the bottle even at 13 years of age. I would say it only started showing really well at the 2nd hour, opening up more and more to show some delicious licks of salty mineral wed to the fruit and some of lovely definition and laser-sharp focus that you would expect from a top Valmur. Very solid, but so very young. Give this another 5 years at least.
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Steaks and LaLa's-light yellow and green color. very young looking. eaten with lobster rolls and oysters this wine was an excellent choice as it had a great flavor of shells, seaside and butter. a touch of fruit sweetness to it as well this wine is quite young and is only showing a small bit of what it will be , i think
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Clear clean yellow green color. Gun smoke and flint on the nose. This was a smokey,mineraly, lemony treat that got better and better as it sat in the glass. Early days for this wine, will get better and better over the next 7-10 years
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Dinner at the Book Bindery in Seattle with J&M (Seattle Washington): Seemingly immortal. Easily three shades lighter than the Dauvissat Clos consumed in the same flight. Initially more restrained than the more flamboyant/flashy Clos. Around the 6 hour mark it poured it on like a freight-train and overtook the Clos for white-of-the-night. Intense beeswax lead the charge with just about every textbook smell and taste with want/need in a Chablis of the stature. A stratospheric wine that will prove to be a wine of my lifetime with more patience. If you have a stash it's certainly fun to drink now provided you give it a few hours in the decanter to unwind, but for those with only a few I'd give it at least 5 more years before giving this wine a go.
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Bryan's Dinner Party Offline (The Ledbury, London): Slightly fuller yellow than the Fevre 99 Preuses. A slightly honied nose with richness and depth behind it. More body here. Rich, mineral and saline palate. Good grip and length. Proper. Just getting there. First time a Raveneau had really wowed me. ****
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French-No Duds Here (Nopa, San Francisco): Very light yellow. Tart lemon and then white flowers. A real crescendo of acidity and power on the palate with marvelous creamy texture and a lactic quality. This did not quite match up to the other bottles I was lucky enough to consume, but a formidable Chablis by any measure.
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Pristine cork. Very clean nose. Light dry hay color with no green tinge remaining. No hint of premature oxidation. Brisk and clean on the attack. This is classic Chablis with plenty of green apple and pear fruit. No obvious new oak overlay and more citic than mineral. Lip smacking acidity. Another 1996 Burgundy in perfect condition - thank goodness.
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Mostly Burgundy Dinner (Nopa, San Francisco): My good fortune to drink this for the second time this year. The lightest color of all 4 Chablis tonight despite being older than 2 of them. Magnificent once again, starting out all lemon and sea breeze, then adding mint and flowers to the nose and viscosity, texture, and complex layering to the flavors. Perhaps showing even younger and more focused than the last bottle, this is simply a tour de force. It clearly stood above everything else tasted tonight.
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On a night of 3 clearly great wines, this stole the show. To merely list all of its Chablis characteristics would be grossly understating its harmony and depth. Still light yellow retaining some green. Poised on a knife's edge between its vibrant primary traits including fantastic acidity, salinity, and orange rind, and the incipient development of rich, honeyed tones. Sophisticated and symphonic in its complex layering of high and low tones, driving stoniness, and underpinning of soil. Glorious texture. This easily has another decade or two left in it. Not only one of the handful of greatest Chablis in my experience, but one of the most profound, powerful, and haunting wines that has ever crossed my lips. A Grand Cru in every possible dimension-absolutely transcendent!
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Finally--a wine in pristine condition. The 96 Raveneau Valmur is an excellent young Chablis that is more than a decade away from prime drinkability. It's currently painfully intense and even austere, with razor-sharp riveting acidity that drives the lemon/grapefruit/mineral tastes right to the brain. It's got great young green/yellow color, has a haunting bouquet and palate, endless length and superb focus. It's a wine drinker's wine and I'm happy to own more; I hope the other Raveneau Chablis are in as good a condition. alan
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2/16/2024 - shifter Likes this wine: 93 Points
Jon's 50th Birthday Dinner: Opened for two hours. Good balance and nice weight.
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8/5/2023 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 95 Points
1996 Rhone and Burgundy (Bronte): youthfully pale straw colour
classic fragrance of lemon curd and a hint of cottage cheese, with citrus zest
perfectly structured, elegant attack with well defined citrus and mineral zest, long middle and a finish that opens up with a hint of aged complexity but still remaining very youthful and fruit driven.
a spectacular 27yr old Chablis.
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5/21/2023 - fclarity wrote: 95 Points
Three 96 Rav Grand Crus mano a mano. All of these bottles looked solid with yellow centers and clear rims.
The Valmus seemed the most closed and the nose took quite a while to develop. It showed green apple, pear, minerals, and citrus.
This should be quite good but still needs time in the cellar. Start drinking this in 5 years and it should last 20 years or so (if your bottle is not poxed). This wine should gain a point or two with time.
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9/12/2021 - bill00 wrote:
Too advanced for me. Seems like a great wine underneath if you could get a fresher bottle.
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11/29/2020 - Kemo Sabe Likes this wine: 96 Points
WOTN vs some DRC and other gems. This was absolutely firing on all cylinders. Light to medium color. The nose was everything you want - sea shells, lemon curd, baking spices, iodine, minerals and yellow flowers. The palate was equally as generous with a rich, supple, nuanced yet powerful explosion of flavors. Drank over an hour and saved a glass til the end of dinner 2 hours later and it was even more nunaced with some air and warmer temp. A great effort.
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8/9/2019 - fcxj wrote: 92 Points
Citrus aromatics. This is quite saline, marine. More so than I prefer.
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4/21/2019 - bthatton Likes this wine: 95 Points
Absolutely gorgeous. Richly textured and like hitting an absolute cement wall of sea shells and rock salt. Quite a bit of initial acid which subsided relatively quickly. Beautiful experience.
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12/18/2018 - Berge65 Likes this wine:
Had at Kevin’s holiday blind tasting
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12/18/2018 - kstoddard wrote:
Acidic. No fruit.
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6/12/2018 - tinybubbles wrote: flawed
Corked.
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10/11/2017 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 92 Points
Nose off the pop was intensely lemon citric with big sulphur. The first tastes were searing acid and lemon pith. The bottle opened up considerably over 90-minute lunch, but overall seemed screechy and young. The power and intensity is undeniable, but the depth and ripeness of fruit is a little short. I guess I wanted this to be more like a '90 or '86, and perhaps in time it will round out and show that way, but today this was too much of a laser beam without weighty fruit beneath the acid.
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3/13/2017 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 94 Points
Rich and full palate. Nice finish. Put on needed weight with air time.
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8/29/2016 - JoachimS Likes this wine: 94 Points
Huge, almost aggressive nose. Not much acid left but still complex and structured, floral notes with hints of super-ripe citrus (almost like lemon meringue) and minerality at the end. As others have mentioned, I was pretty surprised to learn how old this wine was.
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8/4/2016 - BradE wrote: flawed
Corked.
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3/8/2016 - REWindsor Likes this wine: 92 Points
Still fresh. Acid is gone, yielding full on flavors of minerality and nuttiness and flowers.
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1/23/2016 - beatles Likes this wine: 93 Points
cp 50 (Gentofte): Young and quite light in comparison, but the fruit is great, there is citrus here, minerals galore, so young – and with a great future. 93+ points
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7/27/2015 - Sleepy Dave wrote:
A Grand Valmur!
13%. No Pre-Mox! You can see the light-med golden is vibrant and shining!
Slightly darker golden (compared to Clos). Expressive fr the start, seductive, complex bouquet of mineral and bright acidity core, almond nut, red currant, yellow fruits and Oyster shell. Laser likes focus, good grip. This near 20yrs old Valmur is still youthful. The mineral is complex but still "hard", hence the slight bitterness at the mid palate. (I guess). Long finish, transparent and pure. Another decade? Sure
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4/5/2015 - FYC wrote:
Beautiful medium yellow color. Rich fruit, honey, lemon custard, and a nice buttered popcorn finish that just lingers. Amazingly bright and fresh. Superb.
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11/7/2014 - johnh1001 wrote: 93 Points
Raveneau Dinner (Les Nomades Chicago): Concentrated, ripe fruit. More smoke and flint on this. I was surprised at how old this was.
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9/30/2014 - Burgundy Al wrote: 93 Points
Raveneau Dinner (Young and Mid-Aged Wines) (Les Nomades - Chicago IL): Tasted blind at Raveneau dinner, in what turned out to be Valmur 1996-1999 vertical. Ripe apple and lemon curd with spice hints. Fruit driven with moderate structure. Very good now.
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5/16/2014 - lepetitchateau wrote: 93 Points
A classic Chablis, quite a tour-de-force, in all but its intrusive austerity, which I found disquieting, and marred my enjoyment of the wine. (per se)
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12/18/2013 - Alex H wrote: 90 Points
Flint chalk and minerals with lime slake and limestone powder intermixed with oyster shells. Lots of time more before it reaches peak. Great quality!
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12/7/2013 - Paul S wrote: 94 Points
Birthday lunch for KG, Alex and William (Hua Ting, Orchard Hotel): The essence of Chablis - this was brilliant. Like the last bottle we had earlier in the year, the nose was rather more developed than the palate, starting out with some sweet stone fruited notes of apricots and peaches, even pineapple pineapple scents, than some cream and flowers, and a slightly funky, savoury earthiness. A little hard to place at first, but as the wine warmed up slightly and took on a bit of air, the Chablis character came streaming out of the glass, with deep wafts of chalky, flinty, oyster-shell minerality cutting through the ripe fruit aromas. Very nice, very distinctive – it was hard to guess anything other than Raveneau just on that nose. The next question though was which vineyard. The palate certainly had Grand Cru depth on it, with a thick, almost oily texture and deep flavours of apricots and peaches on a bed of slightly oxidative browned apple notes. Not quite enough oxidation to call it a flaw, or even a distraction I think, but there was definitely something there in the background. What struck me most though was the beautiful cut and minerality on the wine – this was just amazing with flinty, chalky, oyster-shell notes and a lovely spine of acidity spearing through the rich viscosity of the wine to give it a wonderfully lithe, focused and controlled feel from the initial attack all the way into a long, incredible mineral-laden finish, where some lemony notes and shades of smokiness were pierced with shafts of chalk and flint. With that cut and thrust, this really could only have been the Valmur. Great stuff – I thought this bottle showed even better than the last. That hint of oxidation aside though, this was still so incredible youthful – it needs years, even a decade or more to come around.
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12/2/2013 - MC wrote:
Really identical to my last note, this is drinking really well and should hold for a while. Some signs of age in color and on the nose, but only slight, and overall very enjoyable. Only would wish for a touch more length to the wine, but very good and wish I had waited on this to compare to the 2000. A-
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3/3/2013 - MC wrote:
Light, crisp, acidic wine with plenty of minerals. The only real sign of its age is on the nose, but overally this is holding well and a great way to start the evening. A-
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2/15/2013 - BradE wrote:
Sadly, corked.
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6/14/2012 - Lombardi wrote: 93 Points
Lemon color, very fresh-looking. Fantastic nose. Super fresh and citrus, saline and mineral. Amazingly complex palate. No signs of premature development of any kind. This was edgy and crisp. Good fruit concentration, and it kep evolving and showing different layers. Nice Medium++ finish. I'd guess bottles from good provenance like this could hold for another 10 years easily. Although the wine is just beautiful right now.
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2/12/2012 - Alex H wrote:
High acidity. Very high. Almost harsh. Super high. A bit hard to swallow. Taste like lemons. Super high sour lemons. Supposed to be great? Taste sharp like an 07 .With time this is really opening. Softer citrus fruits,,became soft white stonefruits. Needs a lot of time. This doesn't taste a day old. Hard to judge and I probably would put all my raveneaus aside for 15 yrs before drinking.
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2/11/2012 - Paul S wrote: 93 Points
Post-Dinner Cellar Raid with Ludovic Belin and Vincent Rapet (Extra Space, Singapore): Good stuff, but amazingly, this was rather too young to drink. It was really tight at first, so tight that, apart from the fact that it was recognisably a Chablis, one could barely guess at the vinatge or Cru level. Only with about an hour in the glass did it really start opening up to show some lovely saline chalk and seashell notes on the nose alongside some wet earth and mushroomy hints and a core of white fruited pear and citrus scents. The palate started out slow as well, with tons of 1996 acidity and bright, rather high-toned citrus notes. There was not much else to show apart from that until it too started opening up too, showing in slowly unfolding layers of depth, almost like an underground river of white fruited notes, flowing along in a creamily textured stream beneath the cloak of brighter, citrus notes - think apples flesh with a spike of lemons and grapefruited brightness. Still so primary and almost a tad simple, but there was great purity here that spoke of the wine's quality. There was also a really solid spine of saline minerality that carried through into the wine's clingy, slightly spiced finish that had great length to it. It was a real pity that we did not have the time to savour this wine, because it was really far too young to drink straight from the bottle even at 13 years of age. I would say it only started showing really well at the 2nd hour, opening up more and more to show some delicious licks of salty mineral wed to the fruit and some of lovely definition and laser-sharp focus that you would expect from a top Valmur. Very solid, but so very young. Give this another 5 years at least.
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10/20/2011 - reichken wrote: 94 Points
Steaks and LaLa's-light yellow and green color. very young looking. eaten with lobster rolls and oysters this wine was an excellent choice as it had a great flavor of shells, seaside and butter. a touch of fruit sweetness to it as well
this wine is quite young and is only showing a small bit of what it will be , i think
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8/22/2011 - reichken wrote: 94 Points
Clear clean yellow green color. Gun smoke and flint on the nose. This was a smokey,mineraly, lemony treat that got better and better as it sat in the glass. Early days for this wine, will get better and better over the next 7-10 years
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11/16/2010 - LoireFan wrote: 89 Points
Just wine. Pretty disappointing. Not oxidized.
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10/30/2010 - Jdub wrote: 96 Points
Dinner at the Book Bindery in Seattle with J&M (Seattle Washington): Seemingly immortal. Easily three shades lighter than the Dauvissat Clos consumed in the same flight. Initially more restrained than the more flamboyant/flashy Clos. Around the 6 hour mark it poured it on like a freight-train and overtook the Clos for white-of-the-night. Intense beeswax lead the charge with just about every textbook smell and taste with want/need in a Chablis of the stature. A stratospheric wine that will prove to be a wine of my lifetime with more patience. If you have a stash it's certainly fun to drink now provided you give it a few hours in the decanter to unwind, but for those with only a few I'd give it at least 5 more years before giving this wine a go.
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7/7/2010 - SimonG wrote:
Bryan's Dinner Party Offline (The Ledbury, London): Slightly fuller yellow than the Fevre 99 Preuses. A slightly honied nose with richness and depth behind it. More body here. Rich, mineral and saline palate. Good grip and length. Proper. Just getting there. First time a Raveneau had really wowed me. ****
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3/25/2010 - drwine2001 wrote:
French-No Duds Here (Nopa, San Francisco): Very light yellow. Tart lemon and then white flowers. A real crescendo of acidity and power on the palate with marvelous creamy texture and a lactic quality. This did not quite match up to the other bottles I was lucky enough to consume, but a formidable Chablis by any measure.
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8/22/2009 - Chateaunewf wrote:
Pristine cork. Very clean nose. Light dry hay color with no green tinge remaining. No hint of premature oxidation. Brisk and clean on the attack. This is classic Chablis with plenty of green apple and pear fruit. No obvious new oak overlay and more citic than mineral. Lip smacking acidity. Another 1996 Burgundy in perfect condition - thank goodness.
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7/7/2009 - drwine2001 wrote:
Mostly Burgundy Dinner (Nopa, San Francisco): My good fortune to drink this for the second time this year. The lightest color of all 4 Chablis tonight despite being older than 2 of them. Magnificent once again, starting out all lemon and sea breeze, then adding mint and flowers to the nose and viscosity, texture, and complex layering to the flavors. Perhaps showing even younger and more focused than the last bottle, this is simply a tour de force. It clearly stood above everything else tasted tonight.
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5/7/2009 - drwine2001 wrote:
On a night of 3 clearly great wines, this stole the show. To merely list all of its Chablis characteristics would be grossly understating its harmony and depth. Still light yellow retaining some green. Poised on a knife's edge between its vibrant primary traits including fantastic acidity, salinity, and orange rind, and the incipient development of rich, honeyed tones. Sophisticated and symphonic in its complex layering of high and low tones, driving stoniness, and underpinning of soil. Glorious texture. This easily has another decade or two left in it. Not only one of the handful of greatest Chablis in my experience, but one of the most profound, powerful, and haunting wines that has ever crossed my lips. A Grand Cru in every possible dimension-absolutely transcendent!
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9/22/2004 - alan wrote:
Finally--a wine in pristine condition. The 96 Raveneau Valmur is an excellent young Chablis that is more than a decade away from prime drinkability. It's currently painfully intense and even austere, with razor-sharp riveting acidity that drives the lemon/grapefruit/mineral tastes right to the brain. It's got great young green/yellow color, has a haunting bouquet and palate, endless length and superb focus. It's a wine drinker's wine and I'm happy to own more; I hope the other Raveneau Chablis are in as good a condition. alan
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