Product Profile
Domaine Francois Raveneau, Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 2004
Light-Medium Bodied, Dry, White, Chardonnay, Drink now or cellar, 13% alc.
Tasting Notes
“The '03s had just been bottled 2 weeks before my late June visit and while variable, there are some lovely wines though they clearly do not compare, either in style or quality, to the brilliant 2002s or 2004s…”
Tasting note: A ripe nose of orchard fruit, citrus and a lovely stony character that also displays a touch of reduction highlights the big, powerful and intense flavors that possess excellent depth of material and perhaps the best complexity of any of these 1ers. This is a racehorse with firm acidity and terrific focus and it can compete with the grands crus in 2004 as it definitely has that 'wow' factor.
(Outstanding - 93 Points - Drink 2012+ Allen Meadows - Burghound)
Producer
Domaine Francois Raveneau
Domaine Raveneau is Chablis's finest producer. Jean Raveneau has 7 hectares of vines and produces beautifully crafted wines from three Grands Crus (Blanchot, les Clos and Valmur and four Premiers Crus (Montée de Tonnerres, les Vaillons, Butteaux and Chapelot) All the grapes are hand harvested (one of the very few remaining growers in Chablis to do so) and Jean Marie prefers to pick early rather than late, with the aim of preserving the grapes' acidities.
The grapes are fermented in stainless steel vats and the wines are then aged in large oak feuilletes (the barrels have an average age of 7-8 years) for 18 months. Very low yields allied to meticulous wine making techniques are what make these wines so highly prized. They are renowned for their pure, racy minerality and rich, honeyed fruit, as well as for their age worthiness - it would be a pity not to let them have the five to ten years in the cellar that they need to reach their sublime best.