2023 Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru "Blanchot"

These 90-year-old vines sit at the top of Blanchot and benefit from more sunshine than much of the Grand Cru. The result is a delightfully gluttonous fruit intensity that saturates the palate. Toasted brioche and gingerbread link up with Poire Williams and sappy citrus. The acidity is suavely integrated, and there is a pleasant crunch of fine-boned tannins that accentuate the satisfying dryness of the interminable finish.

Informed by the estate’s oldest vines, planted in the 1930s and yielding small, concentrated grapes, Raveneau’s 2023 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot has turned out very well. Located at the top of the lieu-dit, where the soils are shallower and defined by the early morning sun that lasts until late afternoon, it offers aromas of pear, orange zest, beeswax and wheat toast. Medium to full-bodied, enveloping yet bright and precise, it is an attractive wine though somewhat less intense this year than the brilliant Valmur. Domaine Raveneau is one of the greatest estates in Chablis. This small 10-hectare domaine is one among a handful of bastions of artisanal winemaking in a region that embraced industrial winemaking with open arms, and it remains a beacon for connoisseurs of classical white Burgundy all over the world. In the era of premature oxidation, Raveneau’s wines have also emerged as some of the most dependable prospects for extended cellaring. A generational transition has been quietly effected: Bernard Raveneau retired on January 1, 2020, and was replaced by his daughter Isabelle; and Jean-Marie Raveneau retired on May 1, 2021, and was replaced by his son Maxime. Neither plan to change a tried-and-tested formula, and both are intimately versed in the domaine's secrets, so the future is secure.(KK)