Domaine Raveneau • Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 2018
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92 points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, August 2021
The 2018 Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre is performing well in bottle, mingling notes of crisp green apple and honeycomb with hints of oyster shell, orange oil and pastry cream. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, its ample core of fruit is girdled by bright acids, before concluding with a saline finish.
Since my last visit to Domaine Raveneau, a generational transition has been quietly effected: Bernard Raveneau retired on January 1, 2020, replaced by his daughter Isabelle; and Jean-Marie Raveneau retired on May 1, 2021, replaced by his son Maxime. Neither plan to change a tried-and-tested formula, and both are intimately versed in the domaine's secrets, so the future is secure. Isabelle Raveneau was bottling the 2019 vintage when I visited, so I tasted bottled 2018s and 2020s from barrel with Maxime Raveneau in the cellars underneath the winery; reviews on those 2019s will appear in due course. The 2018 vintage is the largest crop here since 1982, and in the warm, sunny conditions, the Raveneaus chose to pick early, a decision they don't regret. It was necessary to purchase more new barrels than usual; but to minimize the impact of the oak, they fermented in the barrels, maturing the ensuing wine in tank, while wine that fermented in tank was matured in the new barrels. The result is a supple, giving vintage that will show well comparatively early—though, in typical Raveneau fashion, they're still quite tightly wound out of the gates: a vintage, then, to drink at age 10 rather than age 20. The 2020 vintage, at this early stage, is more concentrated and more incisive, with some stylistic parallels to 2017: wines, in other words, that I eagerly look forward to revisiting in bottle!
- William Keeley
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Wines of Kings is a US-registered wine importer and online wine store, offering a curated selection of high-end European wines. We are devoted to the direct sourcing, handling, importing, sale, and delivery of some of the most sought-after and beloved wines in the world - selected carefully for their quality, vintage and terroir.
From cellar-to-cellar, or cellar to shelf, we maintain the highest standards, thanks to close relationships with the finest producers of wine across the globe, ensuring authenticity.
We maintain strict, direct, temperature- controlled delivery from the cellar to the customer, guaranteeing the integrity of each vintage’s character and flavor profile.
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Founders Marco Prete and Cristina Fragni have spent a lifetime in close contact with the top European winemakers and cellar masters, and have spent decades on their shared passion for learning, tasting, and even assisting in the production of fine wines.
After relocating to NYC in 2013, they found that many of their favorite vintages were not available in the US. Inspired by a lack of available inventory on the usual channels, they decided that it was essential to them personally and professionally to create a bespoke, world-class collection of fine wines available for US import.
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