In the vineyard
The 10 hectares of vineyards are split between three Chablis Grands Crus (Valmur, Blanchot and Les Clos) and six Chablis Premiers Crus (Montée de Tonnerre, Vaillons, Butteaux, Chapelot, Montmains and Forêt.)
They also produce a Village Chablis (first made in 2007) from vines at the base of Montée de Tonnerre. and a Petit Chablis from 2014 onwards from vines located on the plateau above Grand Cru Les Clos.
The estate’s three Grands Crus, Petit Chablis, Village Chablis, Montée de Tonnerre and Chapelot all come from the right bank of Chablis, dominated by Kimmeridgian limestone soil. All are southwest-facing and therefore produce fuller-bodied, riper-styled Chablis. The remaining Premiers Crus of Montmains, Vaillons, Butteaux and Forêt are on the cooler left bank of Chablis, producing leaner and more saline-driven, mineral wines.
Their largest holdings are in the Premier Cru Montée de Tonnerre, with 3.12 hectares spread across 10 different plots.
Yields are kept low, by Chablis standards. Each year they carry out green harvests (reducing the number of clusters per vine), while at the same time attempting to provide each cluster enough space to mature unimpeded. All the vines are then hand harvested.
In the winery
While the two brothers (Jean-Marie and Bernard Raveneau) have been in charge of winemaking for the best part of 25 years, more recently the day-to-day duties have largely been managed by Bernard Raveneau’s daughter Isabelle Raveneau. Despite this, the domaine’s approach has changed very little in its 70+ years.
Raveneau makes their wines differently compared to most other top producers of Chablis. Rather than doing a barrel fermentation of the wines, Raveneau ferments their wines in stainless steel tanks, then only moves them to barrel post fermentation.
The result is a much more austere wine in youth, which closes down for the first five years of its life and then slowly opens up in bottle, developing over the next 15 years. The wines must be complex, mineral and concentrated for this to work. In that sense yields need to be very low and the grapes in perfect condition.