2011 Chablis Les Clos
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
This is not my first encounter with the 2011 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru, and I hope it is not my last. This was a slightly different iteration from previous bottles, as I felt there was more of a reductive element on both the nose and the palate. The former offers green apples and crushed stones like before, but you cannot avoid the struck-match element that could be overpowering and detract from the terroir for some. The palate is intense with a superb line of acidity, notes of mandarin and a touch of mint towards the waxy-textured finish. Excellent. But I'm docking a point or two because of that reduction. Tasted at the Pomerol 1961 dinner in Hong Kong.
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
David Schildknecht, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2011 Chablis Grand Cru Clos is showing very well, wafting from the glass with a delicate bouquet of ripe lemons, oatmeal, beeswax and chamomile, framed by a light touch of reduction. Full-bodied, satiny and muscular, it's vibrant but open-knit and expressive for a young Raveneau Clos, with fine depth at the core and a long, mineral finish.
The 2011 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru is as impressive as the 2010. The intense, multi-faceted nose presents apple blossom, granite, Williams pear and vervain tea aromas; you feel as if each scent is unwrapped by aeration, one by one. The palate is perfectly balanced with a taut line of acidity, quite stoic and flinty at first and then mellowing with time. It finds its groove and develops divine mandarin and saline notes on the finish. I might cellar this until it is 10 years old.
Deep gold. Mealy and thick and fresh. Juicy and gorgeous. Pure and fresh and minerally smoky. (JR)