Very Disappointing Showings of Raveneau and Ramonet

We’ve been opening mostly modest, food friendly, easy going wines during lock down and enjoying them thoroughly. But this weekend we took delivery of some gorgeous blonde morels from Oregon and asparagus from California, and decided to pull a few higher end bottles to celebrate these quintessential spring luxuries.

2007 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre - first out of this case from an impeccable source in the UK, shipped and stored properly. Did a quick decant, planning to drink over dinner. Color was bright gold, what I’d expect for it’s age. We poured two glasses and quickly determined that the wine was sound. The nose was restrained, but no signs of flaws, with pretty typical Raveneau flavor profile. When we tasted, it was recognizably Raveneau, recognizably sound, but…zero fireworks. Okay, maybe it needed more air. So we put the decanter aside, leaving our glass on the table, and decided to try the Ramonet.

2014 Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers - also from a pristine case purchased in the UK. Since we have a nice stash of this wine, we thought it would make sense to try one young, especially given all the glowing notes I’ve read. We assumed this would need some air, based on familiarity with other young Ramonets, so decanted it about an hour before dinner, planning to drink it after the Raveneau, which would give it a couple of hours of air. It poured a bit darker than I would have expected, but there were no signs of premox, no apple cider. There also wasn’t much of anything else. Almost no nose at all to begin with, but there were some slight hints of Ramonet mint and a bit of white flower, so figured it might just be very tight. Put it to the side. When we went back to check on it after finding the Raveneau a little dull, we found the palate was equally boring. Really watery through the mid-palate, no stuffing, no depth. A totally uninteresting white wine. We put it back in the bottle and in the fridge and will revisit it tonight, but I don’t have very high hopes.

We did return to the Raveneau after the big disappointment of the Ramonet, and drank the rest of the bottle over the next two hours, which is really slow for us. We kept hoping something good would happen, but it remained a decent bottle of Chablis without Raveneau class or depth or zing.

Both my husband and I have had a lot of Raveneau and Ramonet of all ages. We’ve had a lot of corked bottles, a lot of premoxed bottles, a lot of heat damaged bottles and are pretty good at picking out those signs. We’ve never had an evening where two bottles which should have been really good, albeit young (the '14 more so), showed so blah. Other than the slightly darker color on the Ramonet than I would have expected, there was nothing overtly wrong with these. But nothing overtly right. Notes on both have been generally good. There was one note on the Ramonet in CT that also described it as pretty dull, so perhaps it is a phase.

I know it’s reflex to say they both need more time. The Ramonet could be totally dumb phase right now. I certainly hope that’s the case as we have quite a bit more. Just one of those nights? But what a disappointing night! At least the mushrooms and asparagus were great.

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Yup just one of those nights when the wines dont shine.

Bummer but it does happen

Hopefully something better soon

Food sounds yummy!

Wishing you better bottles with the next dinner Sarah.

Sorry to hear about your disappointing outing: no great wines, only great bottles, as they say. Perhaps some small part was extra focus/expectation owing to the shutdown? Rarely, have wines such an otherwise entirely empty screen to themselves.

BTW, from whom do you source your morels? I know a few places in Oregon that ship, but their overnight rates tend to be prohibitively expensive.

We get them from Oregon Mushroom Company. If you buy 10 pounds, you get free shipping. So we buy a bunch once a year and share with friends and family.

the asparagus killed the wine. 2014 Ramonet is stunning. Either an off bottle or the asparagus killed it. Any left this am to try?

Sarah, I am sure you know the drill. When disappointed with a White Burgundy, grab a Trocken Riesling instead. Have done so numerous times champagne.gif

This 2014 Ramonet was anything but stunning. And the asparagus did not kill it. Asparagus somewhere in the kitchen can’t kill a nose, especially far in advance and hours after eating. Both wines were tasted well in advance of eating and sucked then. Never changed. Asparagus can’t kill the palate way in advance and hours after eating either. I’ve done this meal for 8 years in a row now, with dozens and dozens of white burgs, from villages to grand cru, and not one has ever been even slightly bothered by the mild, fresh, tender asparagus.

As I wrote, we finished the Raveneau last night, have the Ramonet for this evening. This morning, with no evil asparagus in sight, it still had zero nose.

I hate asparagus. It killed it for me! Hahahah. Sell me that nasty Ramonet.

Lol. Fair enough. We went deep on the Ramonet 1er crus in 2014. If they don’t please us more than this, you bet I’ll sell them. But it’ll take me a few more bottles and a few more years to make that sad call. Hope springs eternal.

other watery Raveneau: TN: 2010 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

Thank you for calling them as you see them. I find it helpful when people share notes about fails from fabled houses instead of just sharing glowing reviews.

Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs in his career, but he also struck out a then-record 1,330 times …

guess you could say Sarah isn’t Raving-now.

You know, there are flower days, and then there are leaf days. And then there are manure days.

Blame it on the decant? Same decanter?

When wines don’t show as they should, I end up blaming the decanting process. Easy target. Otherwise I blame it on root day.

The 2014 Raveneau Chablis village is currently drinking well if the 14 Ramonet fails to please today.

Also it is a flower day today.

Two different decanters, both clear without odors. My glassware cabinets are steel and glass, so no wood or varnish to impart any odors. Neither wine was decanted excessively far in advance - I am not a fan of extended decants in general, except for old nebbiolo, as you can always wait longer but can’t ever take it back. That said, I have always found both Raveneau and Ramonet to benefit from modest decants. I do not think there was anything wrong with the decant - if a 30 to 60 minute decant ruins a wine of this caliber, there is something wrong with the wine.

We’ll see how the Ramonet shows tonight. Sadly, I don’t have any 2014 Raveneau chablis village. But I have many other good options, never fear.

Looking forward to the followup(s) and tonight’s pairing!

I vote keep opening until something wows as it should.

I’m constantly amazed people spend good money on white Burg when there is Oregon and Champagne.

agree with half of what you say—but Oregon and white Burgundy are two different animals. Raveneau’s pox rate is very low and the hit rate very high.

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