A strikingly elegant and pure nose that features notes of white flowers, spiced pear, iodine and oyster shell is also trimmed in a deft touch of oak. There is remarkable concentration to the intense, driving and highly energetic flavors that exude a fine minerality on the explosively long finish. This really builds from the mid-palate before staining the palate as it fans out. Most impressive.

93+ 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. - William Kelley