Dauvissat vs. Raveneau tasting

I organised a Raveneau vs. Dauvissat tasting at the Portland in London with a few friends last night.

We drank:
1971 Raveneau Clos
1982 Dauvissat Forest
1995 dauvissat clos
1996 Raveneau clos
2000 dauvissat clos
2002 dauvissat Forest
2002 Raveneau foret
2002 Raveneau MdT
2007 dauvissat Forest
2008 dauvissat preuses
2010 Raveneau mdr
2010 dauvissat preuses
2011 Raveneau clos
2011 dauvissat preuses

Of the 14 wines, one was DOA (the 71 clos, had pretty poor levels and dodgy colour so no surprise) and one was corked (2007 dauvissat forest). All the other ones showed amazingly well. The sheer quality of all those wines was quite something. Not a whiff of oxidation in any of them.

The 1982 forest was still fresh but with plenty of tertiary developments. Great wine.

The 1995 clos was wine of the evening in my book. Amazingly complex nose, great texture, spherical. Spécial wine, and one that would give the very top wines of the cote de Beaune a run for their money.

The 1996 clos is in the same league but made of slightly more austere cloth. It probably needs another 5 or 10 years?

Overall i had a slight preference for the dauvissat wines, and i came to the dinner expecting Raveneau to be the « winner ». I found them a little more expressive and with a slightly lighter structure.

I’ve had a fair number of 1995 and 1996 Chablis recently and i find that 1995 is the better vintage right now. There’s a general feeling that 1996 = high acid = great year for Chablis but i find them to be still a bit monolithic and impressive rather than enjoyable. 1995 is impossible not to love right now.

2002 is fulfilling its considerable promises and growing up to be one of the great Chablis vintages. Was fascinating to taste the 2002 rav foret alongside the 2002 dauvissat forest. No clear winner there, just preferences… (and the wines were frankly very similar).

2008 has a lot of everything and may one day be what 1995 is today. 2010 no slouch either.

Overall this tasting reinforced my view that dauvissat and raveneau have been making some of the very best white wines in the world for a while now and still provide much better VFM than most cote de Beaune wines. Neal and Jancis will publish notes at some point.

The food and service at Portland were top notch. We also got to drink the wines in the new JR glasses and I bought a pack as soon as I got home. They’re like zaltos but less four square and even more universal.

What an awesome dinner! What were the group’s thoughts on '11 Clos?

It came at the end of the evening so got a bit less attention than it deserved. Very good wine, but needs 10+ years to fulfil its potential.

Incredible tasting. Thanks for sharing.

Very helpful. Thanks!! And totally agree with your sentiment about where '95s are right now…in a perfect place!

Fantastic tasting. On Instagram I saw the picture of the bottles lined up - it’s a great pic, and you should consider posting or linking it here. I’m sad my ‘95s are long gone.

Curious how you aired the wines if at all? Did you double decant? Or otherwise give them air? 2002 Dauvissat Preuses a couple months ago was best after a couple hours in the decanter. Phenomenal wine. 1997 Forest opened Monday was singing from the get-go but best after 2 hours open.

We also had the 2007 Forest on Sunday, and it could have used more air right now (and more cellar time) but is classic and delicious. Sorry yours was corked.

How was 2000 Dauvissat Clos? It was spectacular and electric young, but when I returned after about 12 years, the first two bottles of a half case were premoxed. Preuses was no better. I lost faith.

2000 Clos was very good and no sign of premox, though suffered a bit from being in the same flight as the 95 and 96 Clos. No need to wait, though - drinking well now.

We did not air the wines and, in retrospect, that may have been a mistake. All the post 2000 wines could have used some time in a decanter. Lesson learnt.

Nice tasting ! I am surprised that you did not experience more premox . The 2008 Grand cru’s from Dauvissat are notorious for that .
My best Chablis ever was a 1973 Clos from Raveneau . If great , these wines can age for a very long time .

Interestingly, I have never had a single bottle of premoxed or even remotely advanced bottle of 2008 Dauvissat in Chablis. Whereas in London and the USA they are often advanced. I wonder if the cause is malolactic instability that’s triggered by transit?

Sounds like a lovely tasting.

For my taste, I know of no better white wine than Dauvissat’s “Preuses”…and …of not other producer’s white wines (except perhaps Boxler in Alsace) who have been so consistently and reliably satisfying over the vitnages 1994-2009, when I was collecting them. And, they age beautifully…

I used to think Dauvissat was immune, but have had a fair amount of premox recently, mostly 2008. REcently one day had a corked 2007 Forest, then a premoxed 2008, then a premoxed 2009 Forest, all within about 15 minutes. Last 2 2008 D. Preuses were premoxed.

I think transit can accelerate the process, but if a particular producer or year is prone, I think it’s mostly a matter of time before premoxed bottles will begin showing up in non-transited bottles.

Wow. Awesome tasting. Thanks for the notes and impressions. Helpful as I have some of these.

Excellent and helpful. I’ve had a bunch of oxidized half bottles of 95 and 96 Dauvissat Clos. Still have a bunch of unopened bottles-will check some out soon. As we all know, Stuart thinks that what we call premoxed Dauvissat isn’t and that the wines just need 24 more hours of air; I haven’t found that to be the case.

No, Stuart doesn’t think that…at all.

Stuart thinks that all Dauvissat wines need lots and lots of aeration to show their best, particularly if young.

And, he thinks that, occasionally, Dauvissat’s bottles can seem off…and , perhaps due to the reductive winemaking regimen, they can mimic premox…and will open up to be just fine. (Never really figured out what this is all about, but…it is rare.)

When they’re premoxed…they’re clearly bad…but some further inquiry is warranted…just in case (or justin time).

I won’t open a Dauvissat if I don’t have the time to aerate…as…the wine is so much better with aeration…and that is the only producer I feel that way about. So, I grab bottles out of my wife’s hands…if she hasn’t planned ahead…and seriously aerated. A broken bottle is better than an non-aerated bottle, I say.

When you coming to Philadelphia,already…we need to do some “experiments”.

not for a while . . . will let those Dauvissats age. I thought I expressed your views well—that you believe the wines need a lot of air and that premox isn’t necessarily premox where Dauvissat is concerned—though I haven’t seen that.

Dream tasting.

Incredible tasting! thank you for sharing the notes. I’m very excited about the 2014s I have from both producers, hoping for good luck and no premox.

I’m also curious to hear how long before the tasting the bottles were opened and how much air they got throughout the tasting.