2008 Chablis Vaillons

Musky narcissus, white truffle, and a mysteriously pheremonal aura along with diverse ripe citrus fruits cling to the Raveneau 2008 Chablis Vaillons, which comes to the palate alluringly creamy yet persistently refreshing, finishing with an almost ineffable sense of lift. I won’t argue with its author’s own in no way haughty commendation of this wine for “grand finesse, grand length,” and I expect it will have much more to say in a few years and be worth following for a decade or more. 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. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524