6 bottles per lot
Details
Chablis grand cru, Les Clos--Vintage 1996
Raveneau
Some slight signs of seepage. Excellent appearance and levels
Tasting note: Raveneau's Chablis Les Clos is a blockbuster! Liquid mineral, spice, and honeysuckle aromas are followed by a mouth-coating, hugely powerful, broad-shouldered, oily-textured, well-focused, and masculine wine. Layer upon layer of intense minerals, flowers, butterscotch, alluvial, and chalk flavors roll across the palate and are held in suspended animation in the finish for at least forty seconds. It is an awesome Chablis! Anticipated maturity: 2004-2010+. Bravo! The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Bernard Raveneau feels that the 1996s he and his brother Jean-Marie crafted will require ten years of cellaring before being approachable because of their tightly wound, high acid structures. His father, Francois Raveneau, has reportedly compared them to his '69s. I have not tasted any 1969 Domaine Raveneau bottlings so I cannot comment on the comparison, but found his remark interesting because most other vignerons I met in Chablis and the Cote d'Or were unable to recall a similar vintage (the only exception to this being Dauvissat's father who reportedly compared the 1996 vintage to 1949). This estate's cellars, like those of Rene & Vincent Dauvissat, resemble the cellars of the Cote d'Or. Why? Instead of the massive foudres and stainless steel cuves found in other Chablis cellars, the Raveneaus and Dauvissats use oak barrels to ferment and age their wines. The Raveneaus lived up to their reputation with the 1996 vintage, crafting stunningly complex, beautifully ripe, highly delineated, crystalline and exceedingly long wines. Readers who wish to taste benchmark Chablis are advised to locate some of these gems (they will be bottled in April and early May). Robert Parker, Wine Advocate # 115 (Feb 1998)
6 bottles per lot
Raveneau
Some slight signs of seepage. Excellent appearance and levels
Tasting note: Raveneau's Chablis Les Clos is a blockbuster! Liquid mineral, spice, and honeysuckle aromas are followed by a mouth-coating, hugely powerful, broad-shouldered, oily-textured, well-focused, and masculine wine. Layer upon layer of intense minerals, flowers, butterscotch, alluvial, and chalk flavors roll across the palate and are held in suspended animation in the finish for at least forty seconds. It is an awesome Chablis! Anticipated maturity: 2004-2010+. Bravo! The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Bernard Raveneau feels that the 1996s he and his brother Jean-Marie crafted will require ten years of cellaring before being approachable because of their tightly wound, high acid structures. His father, Francois Raveneau, has reportedly compared them to his '69s. I have not tasted any 1969 Domaine Raveneau bottlings so I cannot comment on the comparison, but found his remark interesting because most other vignerons I met in Chablis and the Cote d'Or were unable to recall a similar vintage (the only exception to this being Dauvissat's father who reportedly compared the 1996 vintage to 1949). This estate's cellars, like those of Rene & Vincent Dauvissat, resemble the cellars of the Cote d'Or. Why? Instead of the massive foudres and stainless steel cuves found in other Chablis cellars, the Raveneaus and Dauvissats use oak barrels to ferment and age their wines. The Raveneaus lived up to their reputation with the 1996 vintage, crafting stunningly complex, beautifully ripe, highly delineated, crystalline and exceedingly long wines. Readers who wish to taste benchmark Chablis are advised to locate some of these gems (they will be bottled in April and early May). Robert Parker, Wine Advocate # 115 (Feb 1998)
6 bottles per lot