Tidal pool, lime, sea breeze, cinnamon, and honey on the nose. On the palate this is immediately recognizable as Raveneau with that waxy round and spherical presence. Grand Cru intensity… slightly sweet on the attack and then the dam bursts… The acid is high, but it hits late followed by waves of citrus, limestone, river rocks… this wine keep building and building until it delivers a spicy ginger finale. God I love 2008 Rav - a true stunner and a great reminder to age your Raveneau!
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GOD yes…I’m drooling! 
Will open a 2011 of this in a couple weeks…not the best of vintages, but could care less with this producer!
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2011 ravs are really good rn. i bet it shows perfectly.
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Nice let me know how it shows! Crazy how much of a difference age makes with these wines. I had a 2017 MDT earlier this year, and although it was a great wine the complexity that this 08 showed was on a completely different level.
Never had a Raveneau. Are they really superior to Dauvissat or is it they just don’t premox as often?
Many will say inferior to Dauvissat.
They are pretty unique though and can be utterly profound and sometimes meh.
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They are just different. Dauvissat has more of that classic saline Chablis tidal pool character and is more mineral driven where Raveneau has some round more textural components that can be borderline Côte de Beaune depending on the vintage. Raveneau still shows those classic Chablis notes, but they are not always at the forefront as they are in Dauvissat. I love them both and would personally have a hard time ranking one above the other. Depends on what I’m in the mood for.
For many premox with Dauvissat is the main complaint / reason for the secondary market price difference from what I gather. I’ve personally never had an issue with it though (knock on wood).
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And they would be incorrect. Dauvissat is a shell compared to Rav.
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I’ve had many premoxed Dauvissat. Probably 8 or 10. From when I could actually afford them.
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Thnx for the note, sounds like it showed really well. I had a 2006 Mdt back in Feb and it was firing on all cylinders as well.
Still got one bottle left each of the MdT and Valmur (from when I had a 3 bottle allocation of each).
cheers Brodie
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Haven’t bought Dauvissat in years. Did they ever start using Diam? If not, what possible excuse could they have?
08 was just fantastic in Chablis
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Agreed. 2008 Raveneau Vaillons was an epiphany wine for me, so I’m always on the lookout for 08 Rav/Chablis with good provenance.
we did a Rav MdT vertical this week. The 08 was smoking as was its cousin the Chapelot. Had both 08’s plus 09,11,12,14,17 and 20 if memory serves me right. If anyone wants to correct me please do. No flawed bottles and everyone was in agreement that the wines were all great. I know they’re expensive but if you have a good source I definitely would recommend. Also less expensive than many GC wines and certainly of the same quality level or better.
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Wow, very cool. I had the 17 earlier this year and it was a little shy, but it had the same broad spherical texture which is one of the amazing things about this wine that gives it that Grand Cru presence. I would love to try the Chapelot side by side one of these days.
Those people do not live on planet Earth.
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I’ve done enough blind side by side Raveneau vs. Dauvissat tastings to know that anyone who thinks a) one is superior to the other, and b) they can routinely distinguish which is which, is kidding themselves.
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Fair comment for bottles in good condition.
But my experience with the premox rate for Dauvissat is far too high. I stopped buying Dauvissat completely in 2017 vintage because of this. I have never had single bottle of premoxed Raveneau (have an allocation since 2006 vintage). So for me Raveneau is head and shoulders above Dauvissat as I cannot trust Dauvissat to age reliably at all. Drinking them too young is not appealing for me either
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Rav is definitively inferior to Dauv in one aspect - pricing.
Altho Dauv also working hard to remedy that inferiority.
I’m hopeful that Dauvissat is past the premox issues. I’m a buyer because I only have access to these wines on the secondary market, so 50 - 70% of my Dauvissat would need to premox in order for it to not be worth it. From what I can tell the premox issues were vintage specific (apparently 08 was really bad for example, and most of the issues were between 2005 and 2010). Additionally, I stay away from the US importer Vineyard Brands since those wines see a shorter elevage by 6 months than the wines that are released to the French market. No proof that this makes a difference, but to date I have never had a premoxed bottle of Dauvissat (knock on wood). Granted I have not drank enough of the wines to have a large sample size (maybe 12 bottle with 7 - 15 years of age on them), but I do source all of mine from France, and have had good luck so far. I’m going to open a 2012 La Forest this weekend - wish me luck!
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