Domaine François Raveneau

In 1948 François Raveneau consolidated his vineyard holdings with his wife’s (who was a Dauvissat) family parcels and started to build on the tiny plots. Today the 10ha domaine is run by his sons Bernard and Jean-Marie as well as his grand-daughter Isabella. Most of the plots are under a hectare, only Montée de Tonnerre and Butteaux are larger. Activities in the vineyard are traditional, with heavy pruning in the winter to reduce yields. A high proportion of old vines explains some of the concentration in the bottle. In the winery it is the small 7 to 8 year old feuillettes that explain some of the creamy depth of these tremendous wines. The tiny quantities from this small, domaine mean that the wines are sold on strict allocation.

Burgundy

FRANCE

The most magnificent and the most celebrated estate of Chablis,

the wines of Domaine Raveneau are a rare find—exceptional because the vineyard holdings are almost entirely made of grand cru and premier cru fruit, painfully finite as so few are produced, outstanding because of their tremendous quality and consistency, and unusual given the modesty of the vignerons who create these world-class wines.

Viticulture

The domaine holds 9.29 hectares of vineyard land planted entirely with Chardonnay grapevines, in Chablis.[5] The wines are harvested entirely by hand, Raveneau is one of only five estates in Chablis to still use this method.[2] No new oak barrels are used to make the wines. The wines are fermented in stainless steel and then aged in barrels with an average age of seven to eight years, for twelve to eighteen months.[6][7][5] Raveneau owns sections of three Chablis Grand cru vineyards. These holdings are 0.54 hectares in Les Clos, 0.60 hectares in Blanchots and 0.75 hectares in Valmur.[3][5] Further land is owned within six Chablis Premier cru vineyards. The largest holding is Montée de Tonnerre, with 3.20 hectares, followed by Butteaux with 1.50 hectares. The other four are Foret with 0.60 hectares, Vaillons with 0.50 hectares, Montsmains with 0.35 hectares and Chapelot with 0.30 hectares.[5] There is also a newly acquired 0.95 hectare parcel of village classified Chablis, on the opposite side of the Vaillons slope. The first vintage from this plot was harvested in 2007.[5]

Winemaking

Harvested by hand Grapes are pressed gently by pneumatic press. The Juice is left to settle, and then racked off its lees into cuve to ferment. Alcoholic fermentation takes two weeks, followed by a malolactic fermentation in barrel. Wines are aged for 18 months in older oak barrel and feuillette (most of which comes from barrel-maker Chassin), of which a very small percentage is new.