Chablis les Butteaux 2008 Domaine Raveneau

Professional reviews

Robert Parker (92)

Scents of green tea, mint, bergamot, gentian, and honeysuckle, along with saline, alkaline maritime notes rise beguilingly from the glass of Raveneau’s 2008 Chablis Butteaux. This is one of those 2008s that turns rather 2007-like on the palate, with the same uncanny combination of maritime elements (one imagines some kelp and driftwood floating by) as its predecessor as well as a sense of sheer chalkiness. Subtle creaminess along with notes of lanolin and vanilla point toward the effects of wood and lees, and I suspect – a speculation Raveneau does not discount – that precisely the strong mineral characteristics that accrue to this site as well as (in this vintage especially) its citricity and prominent floral and herbal aspects, may result in the notes of oak standing out simply by way of contrast. There is an impressive sense of sheer extract underlying this cuvee that needs time and may well blossom further on the palate even short-term. It should merit at least a decade’s attention.