Description

Lavantureux Petit Chablis shows stoney mineral, yellow peach, a hint of ginger. Tangy acid, green mango, mid-palate fat and just a hint chalky. It is an impressive drink and could happily sit for a couple of years to build on the structure. The family owns 5.5ha of Petit Chablis at an impressive 25-30 years of age. They keep yields down to make sure their Petit Chablis has great richness. The Lavantureux Petit Chablis ages in tank exclusively to keep the freshness of the wine.

Domaine Roland Lavantureux is a family Estate. Roland and Brigitte’s sons Arnaud and David are in control of the Estate. The Estate is 20 hectare that is farmed lutte raisonnée (the reasonable struggle or ‘as organic as possible but we will spray if we have to’). There is also further holdings from another side of the family coming on board soon. I am new to the producer but am impressed by the richness of the wines they make while still holding that classic Chablisness. They are a winery to watch and wines to keep for the mid-long term.

Chablis 

The Kimmeridgian soils that make Chablis taste like Chablis is evident in these wines. They have more definition of the region and more structure than a Petit Chablis but without the fruit weight and intensity of the better sites. Great wines for drinking young or youngish.

Petit Chablis 

On the bottom of the Chablis hierarchy, Petit Chablis is often from lesser sites and sometimes not on the Kimmeridgian soils that make Chablis taste like Chablis. I often find that a Petit Chablis is like a Non-Vintage Champagne in that it reflects the producer’s house style more than site or vintage. The best are wonderful, just like a small Chablis and they can be wonderfully cheap too

Chardonnay 

The grape that you can plant anywhere, in any climate and do anything to and it will still taste like an OK wine. When people hit the sweet spot of site, climate, cropping and winemaking, Chardonnay becomes a magical wine that will age gracefully but charm you at any age. Chardonnays can range from cool-climate lean and citrusy to warmer climate tropical and overt. Oak and lees can add flavouring as can malolactic fermentation.