Tasted in Lignorelles with David and Arnaud Lavantureux, 14 January 2020.
Domaine Roland Lavantureux
4 Rue Saint-Martin
89800 Lignorelles
Tel: +33 3 86 47 53 75
www.chablis-lavantureux.fr
More reports for Domaine Roland Lavantureux
David & Arnaud on 2019:
“In 2019 we suffered a lot from the dryness, otherwise there was some limited damage, maybe 10%, from the frost but not much compared to some people. We managed 46-47 hl/ha – but with a big difference between the yields of Petit Chablis which suffered a lot from the dryness – it’s clay here – the Chablis was better and easier.”
David & Arnaud on 2018:
“2018 was simply magnifique. We are ultra-happy, not just to have made some wine but also the quality of what we made – the previous vintages were complicated, but just about everything looks great for the 2018s – they really have the balance, probably helped by starting our harvest 31 August – I think we managed to keep a good freshness. Yes, it was much easier in the vines too – though also a summer that resembled 2019 – but with an extra reserve of water in the soil, that was the real difference. Still, we didn’t expect the volume we had at harvest because there had been three months without rain. I think the 18s need a little more time to open versus the very expressive 2017s at the same time here.”
The wines…
As every year, a number of wines were showing modest accents of oak – but that’s not unlike chez Raveneau – and most of that will already be gone in another 6 months or-so. But seriously great wines in 2018 – of freshness, of vibrant energy, and even a little of the salinity that is so rare in 2018.
All the domaine’s 2018s are now in bottle, the last were done in December. Natural cork is used here, nothing peroxide treated. Wax topped from the Vauprin onwards:
Here is the only wine that with 100% stainless-steel for all vinification and elevage. All from Lignorelles
A nice big nose, faint oak spice, freshening with swirling. Big, energetic, lots of energetic minerality – that’s lovely, open and a match for many Chablis in 2018 – a little twist of salinity in the finishing flavours too. Bravo – a great finish!
2018 Chablis
All the domaine’s wines are vinified parcel by parcel – this comes from a single parcel in Lignorelles but a big parcel of 5ha and is the biggest cuvée of the domaine. 25% barrel elevage
A little less energy, more concentration, no overt oak spice here. Extra drive and intensity, super intensity in the middle, long and direct – such an excellent villages Chablis in 2018.
3 parcels in Lignorelles – vines planted by grandfather – 50-60-year-old vines. Here with 40% barrel elevage, all the higher crus with 50%
A touch of floral notes over a little vibration of minerality. Wide, slowly mouth-filling, so intense finishing, with width. Ooh, that’s super and with a proper salinity. Bravo!
A wide nose, half mineral and saline. Bigger – full, framed with fresh, melting acidity, insinuating delicious flavour. Very long – that’s another great 2018!
No, not my bad spelling, this is a villages climat – a high parcel in Lignorelles, south, south-east facing, but 300m high so cool and exposed.
A more attractive nose – it needs a little swirling to help liberate the aromas – but this is more complex and inviting. Clarity, mouth-watering, steely, super texture, almost a suggestion of tannin – in the finishing flavour there’s a little touch of oak. But it’s a great wine.
2018 Chablis 1er Vau de Vey
Too steep for animals here and slippy too – so everything is done by hand. Similar exposure to Vauprins, but at a lower altitude, virtually no soil here vs plenty in Beauroy, and what there is here is much whiter. Half with barrel elevage.
A little more compact than the Vauprin, yet still inviting and open. Wider, mouth-watering, driving, vibrant flavour. Nicely saline finishing too, slowly, very slowly, fading…
2018 Chablis Bougros
Bought
A very faint smoke mixes with a good minerality. Fuller, clarity of flavour, a touch of barrel – fainter than the nose – lots of finishing flavour – a wine of super impact.
Bought.
A little smoke again, once more mixed with the minerality. Fuller, more energic, less textured, more open. A fine dynamic flavour here the personality very different to that of the Bougros. Great wine with just a little more oak than the Bougros, but it will soon fade. Bravo!