Domaine Francois Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montee de Tonnerre 2015 750ml

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.

Very pale yellow with a faint green tinge. Extremely unevolved scents of minerals, mint and dusty stone, plus a whiff of pineapple in the background. A dense, sappy premier cru with noteworthy solidity and surprising acidity, but not particularly complex, at least in the early going. Has a sweetness to it, as well as strong underlying minerality, but will need time to express itself and expand in the bottle. My sample seemed to go back into a shell in the glass. Isabelle Raveneau noted that these vines were picked just a few days after a destructive hailstorm (and 100 millimeters of rain) on the night of August 31 but she added that her family had been planning to harvest the Montée de Tonnerre just a few days later than that--in contrast to some growers who were forced to bring in hail-affected grapes a solid week earlier than they had previously anticipated. This wine, made from a low yield of 35 hectoliters per hectare, may yet improve with aging but is tricky to assess today. (13.06% alcohol; 3.26 pH; 3.56 g/| total acidity)

A ripe but still quite fresh nose features plenty of mineral reduction character on the elegant, pure and airy aromas of pear, apple and white flowers that are trimmed in a discreet application of wood. There is excellent punch and intensity to the rich yet precise middle weight flavors that coat the palate with dry extract while exhibiting a gorgeously persistent finish. As I mentioned when I first reviewed this (see herein), this doesn't appear to have suffered from the hail damage that occured on the eve of the harvest.

Robust nose, with some oak influence. Good attack, though still reticent, the palate is very concentrated with fine acidity and crystalline, pure character. Good length.