2008 Chablis Chapelot

The 2008 Chablis Chapelot 1er Cru emerges from the lower slopes of Montée de Tonnerre, where the warmer micro-climate results in a relatively open-knit Chablis that can be enjoyed with minimal cellaring. In tasting, the 2008 is light on its feet and airy, with soft curves that bring out the orchard fruit, citrus, mint and floral flavors nicely. The 2008 Chapelot is not a truly epic Raveneau Chablis, but it is very delicious. The Chapelot is the only wine in this article I did not follow over a few days, as I ran into friends in a local restaurant, and ended up sharing the bottle with them. I would prefer to drink the 2008 over the next handful of years.

Iris, ginseng, and fresh lime on the nose of Raveneau’s 2008 Chablis Chapelot set the tone for a metaphorically cool, refined palate performance. Subtly creamy, yet refreshingly juicy and saliva-inducing; discreetly but endlessly fascinating, this remarkably buoyant, wafting wine strikes me as unusually ineffable – and besides, I just want to drink it! To be sure the family of mineral flavors here is maritime: salt, alkali, iodine, oyster shell ? but that doesn’t seem to quite capture the mystery. On the one hand this is the epitome of transparency and water color-like frankness. But with the other hand I just keep scratching my head trying to come up with words! Raveneau considers this an archetypical performance for its cru and his small plot of 60 year old vines, which he says this year suffered extremely from coulure. I would plan to follow this for at least a decade, but if you are lucky to latch on to a few bottles, don’t forget to marvel at one of them in its youth. Bernard Raveneau had been among those growers most bursting with enthusiasm about his 2008s when I had visited the following April, likening them to 1996s but with effusively floral and high-toned herbal aromatics such as he said he had never experienced in his young wines. As with the 2007s (and compared with 2009s that Raveneau expected to give shorter elevage), the collection here was bottled largely in late spring and early summer, only two wines having been bottled when I tasted them this April. (The others were in tank or pre-assembled for me.) But it was already clear by then that this collection has justified its author’s initial excitement and confidence. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524

Iris, ginseng, and fresh lime on the nose of Raveneau’s 2008 Chablis Chapelot set the tone for a metaphorically cool, refined palate performance. Subtly creamy, yet refreshingly juicy and saliva-inducing; discreetly but endlessly fascinating, this remarkably buoyant, wafting wine strikes me as unusually ineffable – and besides, I just want to drink it! To be sure the family of mineral flavors here is maritime: salt, alkali, iodine, oyster shell ? but that doesn’t seem to quite capture the mystery. On the one hand this is the epitome of transparency and water color-like frankness. But with the other hand I just keep scratching my head trying to come up with words! Raveneau considers this an archetypical performance for its cru and his small plot of 60 year old vines, which he says this year suffered extremely from coulure. I would plan to follow this for at least a decade, but if you are lucky to latch on to a few bottles, don’t forget to marvel at one of them in its youth. Oct 2010, www.robertparker.com