2012 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre
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Tasting notes
Very pale yellow-gold. Very ripe and lower-pitched on the nose than the 2014, conveying a faint hint of evolution along with excellent vibrancy. Hugely concentrated and rather powerful for Montée de Tonnerre, with a texture of liquid silk. Comes across as a bit warmer than the '14 but its thick texture is nonetheless finer-grained than the '15. Aromas of pear, minerals, toast and vanilla are complicated by a touch of marzipan. There's an element of sweetness that may be from the wine's sheer size and palate feel but this wine is bone-dry. In fact, it's wonderfully classic considering its concentration and richness. The long finish can't match that of the 2014 for cut but then not many wines could. (13.03% alcohol; 3.2 pH; 3.96 g/l acidity; from a small crop of just 35 hectoliters per hectare)
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Served alongside the 2014 vintage, the 2012 Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre is also showing very well indeed, offering up a riper bouquet of fresh peach, green apple, beeswax and oyster liquor that's also framed by a light touch of reduction and reveals a very delicate touch of recently used oak influence. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, broad and satiny, with more amplitude and flesh, with a deep, concentrated core. While it's balanced by racy acids, this is broader shouldered a more powerful than the 2014 but can't match the latter's tension and precision. Jean-Marie Raveneau observed that spring frosts and July hail reduced the crop by some 40% and that the berries were small and concentrated, comparing the wines to the domaine's superb 1986 vintage.
Petrol, graphite, smoke, slate and white stone fruits grace the palate in the 2012 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre. Vivid and utterly crystalline, Raveneaus's 2012 is a great essay into to qualities of one of the great - maybe the single greatest - 1er Cru site in Chablis. The 2012 has a bit more new oak than is typically the case, as most of the new barrels in this vintage were used here. A thrilling finish rounds things off in style.
Raveneau's 2012 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre covers every corner of the palate with a spherical expression of fruit that is headspinning in all of its dimensions. Mirabelle plums, pears, red berries and crushed rocks all flesh out on the wine's big, broad-shouldered frame. At times, the Montee de Tonnerre appears to have the structure of a red wine. The 2012 is a wine with no beginning and no end. It just exists in its own little world. And what a beautiful world that is.