Raveneau & Oysters: A Symphony of Sea and Stone

-

Dinner last night was as close to perfect as it gets. Perfect in its simplicity, when the wines are allowed to shine, and the oysters have never tasted this good!

Fresh Hog Island oysters — Atlantic, Sweetwater (Pacific), and Kumamoto — cold, briny, crystalline, and clean, it felt like drinking from a glacier. I slowly ate a whole plate and drank the liquor straight from the shell, pacing back and forth between the oysters and the wines.

The pairing: Domaine Francois Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Monts Mains 2020 and 2022, side by side. The vineyard sits on classic Kimmeridgian limestone on the left bank of the Serein — pure, saline, stony Chablis. Raveneau lets the site speak: hand-harvested fruit, long lees aging in old barrels, no makeup, no flash.

2020 showed as calm and complete — rounded fruit, a hint of mint and white flowers, supple texture, slow-building depth.

2022 was brighter, more citrus-driven and energetic — a bit brash in youth, but with the same mineral backbone. Both have moderate acidity for Chablis, reflecting warm vintages, yet keep precision through that limestone core.


With oysters, it was perfect symmetry — sea and stone speaking the same language. Four of us, three hours, enough Raveneau to watch both wines evolve. The 2020’s composure kept drawing me back, though I changed my mind more than once.

Raveneau wines never perform for attention. They don’t shout; they build quietly, with balance and persistence, until you realize they’ve taken over the entire meal.

The older I get, the more I find myself repeating — and truly believing — that less is more. Of course, who can say no to variety or the thrill of an extravaganza? But time and again, what resonates deepest are the few things done well, with full attention given where it matters. The calm focus, contemplation, and appreciation of a single great moment stay with me far longer than the fleeting buzz of a Paulée-style free-for-all, where too many great bottles blur together and the palate, and the mind, are overwhelmed.


Context (for reference, courtesy of ChatGPT) among Raveneau 1ers:
– Montmains (Monts Mains) – left-bank salt and quiet flesh, the most complete of the trio.
– Forêt – leaner, steely, herbal, pure oyster shell.
– Butteaux – cooler, deeper, more structured.
– Montée de Tonnerre – the “almost-grand-cru,” power and drive.
– Vaillons – floral, open, approachable earlier.

Raveneau — balance, subtlety, mystique, the Chablis whisper that always, ALWAYS leaves me longing for more.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shaoxing rice wine - learning the taste

-
Image
This is part 2 of the Shaoxing rice wine series. Click here for Part 1. Determined to investigate taste differences between different grades and producers of Shaoxing rice wine, the Yangs and I scoured the Bay Area for 5 bottles ranging from low-end $2.99 to the highest-end we could find 20-year-aged at $21.99: 1. Shaohsing Huadiao Rice Wine by Kuaijishan Shaoxing Wine Co, 17% alc, $2.99. 2. Nu Er Hong Rice Wine, Yuequan brand, 17% alc, $4.99. 3. Aged Shao Xing Rice Wine, Pagoda Brand by Zhejiang Celeals, Oils & Foodstuffs I/E Co., 17% alc., 8-year-aged, $5.99. 4. Shaoxing Rice Wine by Zhejiang Gu Yue Long Shan Shaoxing Wine Co, 18% alc, 8 year-aged, $5.89 for 500ml. 5. Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice-Wheat Wine with Caramel color added, specially designed for state banquet, aged in china jar for 20 years, 15% alc, $21.99 for 500ml. We then opened all of them at once and tried them at room temperature in 3 different ways: with a Chinese meal, by themselves without food, and blind. Our me...
Read more

Aged Meursault - how old is too old?

-
Image
Most wines don't age well - they just decline, especially white. White Burgundy, on the other hand, particularly 1er and Grand Cru actually needs a few years to hit its stride. Meursault, one of the great Chardonnay villages in the world, one whose grandeur and style was the target of the legendary pioneers of California wine industry in the 1970's, such as Mike Grgich and Chateau Montelena, gives greater pleasure as it gains in maturity. But how long should you wait? And how long is too long? From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer: Meursault is in the geographic center of the Cotes du Beaune region of Burgundy, with Pommard two kilometers to the north and Puligny Montrachet two kilometers to the south. It totals just under a thousand acres of planted vines, almost all Chardonnay. About 200,000 cases of wines are produced each year, of which 98% are white. The vineyards of Meursault itself surround the town, with the premier cru vineyards just to the southwest and the re...
Read more

Wine Character

-
Image
High-quality wine, also called fine wine , is distinguished by complexity, depth, and purity of flavor, where all components such as acidity, tannin, sweetness, and alcohol are in harmony. Additionally, high-quality wines often have the potential to age well, developing more complex flavors over time. These wines are crafted with careful attention to viticulture and winemaking practices, aiming for the highest expression of the grape's and place of origin's inherent qualities. Yet, for an aficionado like myself, that high-quality badge is just the beginning of the story. It's the character - the wine's quirky personality traits that captivate me the most. Think of the earth & tobacco undertones in a classic Bordeaux, the leafy, vegetal notes of a Loire Valley Cab Franc from Chinon, the stony notes of a Mosel Riesling, or the floral bouquet of a Provence Rosé. For me, character is the most intriguing aspect of a fine wine. It’s what reminds me of the wine’s identity,...
Read more