2015 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre
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Tasting notes
(tasted from cuve just before bottling; this fruit was harvested quickly after the hailstorm): Pale yellow. Very ripe nose hints at pineapple, almond flower and smoke. Fat, plush and sweet on entry, with spicy citrus fruit flavors showing an almost glyceral quality and building impressively through the finish. But crushed-stone minerality clamps down on the wine's aftertaste, leaving this very broad premier cru quite dry and uncompromising. The vines here were carrying about 50 hectoliters per hectare until the hailstorm, which cut the crop in half, according to Isabelle Raveneau, who added that in 2016 the Montée de Tonnerre crop was very low from the beginning of the season. (Raveneau opened a bottle of the 2014 Montée de Tonnerre for comparison, and this stunning wine is a considerably more classic version of this great premier cru, beginning with its very subtle aromas of white peach, medicinal herbs, white truffle and toast. The wine delivers an extraordinarily extract-rich yet silky texture and a magically light touch, not to mention rich saline minerality and a finish that builds inexorably. I rated this wine 94 points last year just after the bottling and give it 95 points today. I can easily see this wine evolving in bottle for 20 years.)
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Allen Meadows, Burghound
More reviews and scores
The 2015 Chablis 1er Cru Montee de Tonnerre has a tightly wound bouquet with a slight fumé note at first, then a trace of sea cave and a tang of the sea. The palate is very well balanced with a fine line of acidity. This has wonderful harmony, a dash of nutmeg and spice that emerges toward the finish and a very persistent aftertaste that will not go away (not that you want it to). This is an outstanding Montée de Tonnerre destined to give a lot of Chablis-lovers a lot of pleasure.
Highly aromatic, fruit-driven nose offers pineapple, yellow grapefruit, ripe lemon and kumquat. Shows a distinctly fruity mandarin orange element in the mouth, but also considerably more mineral firmness than the preceding samples. In fact, with its lemony citricity and saline powdered stone flavor, this very dry wine is totally different from the Vaillons and Mont Mains. Boasts lovely concentration and breadth and finishes chewy, salty and long. Production was held to 30 hectoliters per hectare by the hail, noted Isabelle Raveneau. Jul 2016, www.vinous.com
Here too there is ample mineral reduction character present on the elegant, pure and airy aromas of pear, apple and white flowers. There is excellent punch and intensity to the more precise middle weight flavors that coat the palate with dry extract while exhibiting a gorgeously persistent finish. This doesn't appear to have suffered much if at all from the hail damage. Oct 2016, www.burghound.com, Drink: 2022+