Raveneau makes pure, age-worthy, terroir-driven wines that are capable of matching, or even topping, the best sites on the Côte de Beaune in complexity, texture, and longevity. François Raveneau was the first in the family to start domaine bottling. After he retired in 1988, his son Jean-Marie, who had been working alongside his father since 1979, took over, and in 1995, his brother Bernard joined him. Their portfolio contains some of the greatest sites in Chablis, including the Grand Cru Les Clos. It is far and away the finest vineyard in Chablis, and Raveneau’s bottlings are considered the very best there is. Les Clos yields tactile wines of astonishing complexity. Next to Les Clos is the Grand Cru Blanchot, which faces Montée de Tonnerre across the valley. It’s a cooler site that produces elegant wines of finesse and minerality. Montée de Tonnerre, a Premier Cru on the right bank (where all the Grand Crus are), is a house favorite of Chez Raveneau. Here the white clay and stones give the wine its mineral backbone, while the right bank exposure provides ripeness and opulence. Valmur is next to Les Clos. It’s a small, enclosed valley that retains heat in the summer and keeps cold in the winter as there is not much airflow. The wines are rich, straightforward, and powerful. The Premier Cru Butteaux contains blue, marly soil, which gives the wine an intense minerality, a wine that balances richness and elegance. The Premier Cru Vaillons combines precision from the thinner upper slope and concentration from the lower slope. Combined, it’s a complete wine that offers both freshness and concentration.