Robert Parker 91 | WineIsuppose 93 more about ratings

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. 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.

| Robert Parker

 

Region	France | Burgundy | Chablis
Type	White wine
Bottle size	Standard bottle (0,75 liter)
Bottle condition	Bottles in perfect condition: Labels and capsules excellent. Levels into the neck. Stored in fully conditioned cellar.
When to drink	2014-2020