Wine Advisor
Raveneau, Chablis Grand Cru Valmur 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Chablis Valmur Grand Cru is more backward and reserved compared to the Blanchots- The Valmur comes across a little terse, serious, stony and zen-like. The poised palate offers a silver bead of acidity and intermingled flavors of citrus lemon and orange zest toward the saline finish. Perhaps, the Blanchots possesses a little more charm at this early stage. As Isabelle Raveneau averred, this will be for longer aging.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
With its iodine-inflected aromas of confit citrus, crisp green orchard fruit, freshly baked bread and petrol and its full-bodied, layered and incisive palate, the 2020 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur is in a sense (as is often the case) the most classically Chablisien of Raveneau's three grand cru bottlings this year. Concentrated and chiseled, with a long, chalky finish, it's a magical young wine in the making, much as it was from barrel.
About the Producer
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 wine 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 ageworthiness - 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.
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