2010 Chablis Vaillons 1er Cru

My visit with Bernard Raveneau was one of the highlights of my trip to Chablis earlier this summer. At their best, Raveneau's wines are contemplative and breathtakingly beautiful. I never miss a chance to drink them whenever I can. The 2011 harvest started on September 5th and lasted 6 days. Hail was an issue in some spots, most notable Les Clos and Montée de Tonnerre, where yields were down 25%. Raveneau adds that a measure of minerality is missing because of the late rains in the season. Raveneau thinks the 2010s have more character than the 2011s. The irregular flowering was most severe on the right bank (Clos and Mont de Tonnerre in particular), while the left bank, which was a week later to flower moved through the flowering with only a 10-15% reduction in yields, modest within the context of the vintage. Raveneau told me the 2010s were very austere at the outset. He thought they might stay that way, instead the wines softened considerably after the malos, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The 2010s were bottled end of May 2012, quite late by Chablis standards. As for the wines, they are pretty stratospheric. There is a sense of utter life and vividness in the 2010s that makes them utterly irresistible.

Bernard Raveneau's description of his family's 2011 reminded me of his comments many years ago about the 2000s."The big rainfall in August raised the pHs in the wines and caused some dilution," he told me."The wines are a bit facile, and acidity levels are modest.Two thousand eleven is a mishmash of 2006 and 2009."The 2010s here are richer but also quite pliant by the standards of this domain; most of the wines finished with close to two grams per liter of residual sugar due to the long fermentations and this element prevents even the Clos from coming off as austere."We haven't had a high-acid vintage in a long time," Raveneau observed.The 2010 Montee de Tonnerre and the grand crus were scheduled to be bottled the week after my visit.By the way, the Raveneaus buy virtually all their barrels from Tonnellerie Chassin, having followed Stephane Chassin from his years at Seguin-Moreau.

Bernard Raveneau provides unusual perspective with regards to the 2010s. While most of his colleagues talk about a vintage with high acidity, Raveneau points out that the 2010s are actually low in acidity relative to the wines Chablis produced in the 1970s and 1980s. Yields in 2010 were 20% lower than in 2009. The vineyards on the right bank were affected by the irregular flowering, while the vineyards on the left bank were hit by hail in July. August was warm until the end of the month, when rain became a bit of an issue. Raveneau began harvesting the 2010s on September 22, while the 2009s were brought in beginning on September 14. The 2009s were bottled two weeks before my visit. These are two thrilling collections from one of the village's uncontested superstars.

Bernard Raveneau, a candid judge of vintages, described 2010 as between 2008 and 2007 in style. "Our 2008s are much richer, with acidity levels similar to 2010," he explained. "The earlier vintage brought slow maturity under cool conditions, without rot." Grape sugars in 2010 were in the 12% to 12.5% range, and the wines were chaptalized about a half degree. No bottled wines will be over 13%, promised Raveneau. The 2009s here are less dense and structured than 2008 or 2010, said Raveneau. They had just been bottled prior to my visit, and Raveneau was reluctant to show them. It's entirely possible that they are better than my scores suggest. Incidentally, Raveneau pointed out that a number of the 2010s finished with close to two grams per liter of residual sugar (a bit higher than the 2009s), as the sugar fermentations were trickier to finish in '10. This was also true for a number of white wine producers on the Cote d''Or.