Beschreibung:

Chablis 1er cru, Montée de Tonnerre--Vintage 1996
12 bottles per lot
Chablis 1er cru, Montée de Tonnerre--Vintage 1996 Domaine-bottled: Raveneau Offered in original cartons Very good appearance and levels Tasting note : The Chablis Montee De Tonnerre has smoke, steel and rock aromas as well as a beautifully complex, expressive, ample, muscular, and broad flavor profile filled with stones, lemon zests and toast. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2008. 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). 90-93 points. Robert Parker Wine Advocate # 115 (Feb 1998) 12 bottles per lot