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2018 Petit Chablis
Domaine Roland LavantureuxThese young Chablisien prodigies have taken an already stellar family domaine and lifted it to the next level.
There is a game we like to play among the KLWM staff: which producers in the portfolio, who now fly under the radar, will reach superstar status within a few years’ time?
Looking back, there was once an era when Jean-François Coche’s Meursault-Perrières sold for $14.95 a bottle, or when cases of Clape’s Cornas lined our retail store floor. Even just a few years ago, one could walk into the shop and choose from a wide selection of cuvées from Arnaud Ente, a vigneron whose rise to stardom has been stratospheric. So, who will be the next Coche-Dury, Clape, or Ente?
Without hesitation, we all agree: David and Arnaud Lavantureux are top of that list. These young Chablisien prodigies have taken an already stellar family domaine and lifted it to the next level. They have added new wines, including premier and grand cru sites, to their lineup, and introduced fresh ideas to vineyard and cellar work—all with passion, drive, and crucially, pinpoint precision in their execution.
Their most humble cuvée, Petit Chablis, remains the domaine’s benchmark for value and typicity. With a delectable combination of fresh fruit and oyster-shell aromatics, a texture on the palate that is both suave and linear, and a finish as mouthwatering as one demands from cool-climate Chardonnay from limestone soils, this Petit remains one of the grandest bargains we import.
Rendez-vous in a few years to check in on the Lavantureux brothers’ wines—if they are finally perceived for their true value, stocking up will be nowhere near as easy as it is today.
—Anthony Lynch
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2018 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Chardonnay |
Appellation: | Chablis |
Country: | France |
Region: | Burgundy |
Producer: | Domaine Roland Lavantureux |
Winemaker: | Arnaud and David Lavantureux |
Vineyard: | 28 years average, 4.5 ha |
Soil: | Clay, Limestone (Portlandian) |
Aging: | Fermented and aged in stainless steel |
Farming: | Lutte Raisonnée |
Alcohol: | 12.5% |
More from this Producer or Region
2022 Chablis HALF BOTTLE
France | Burgundy
A crystal-clear translation of the Kimmeridgian limestone of Chablis—Chardonnay the way it can only taste from these soils.
2022 Chablis
France | Burgundy
A crystal-clear translation of the Kimmeridgian limestone of Chablis—Chardonnay the way it can only taste from these soils.
2022 Chablis “Vieilles Vignes”
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Everything about this cuvée, from the delicately briny scent of slick oyster shells to the concentrated, pristinely focused sensation on the palate, is a demonstration of why this domaine has become one of Chablis’ very best.
2021 Bourgogne Epineuil “Les Fauconniers”
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Epineuil shares the prized Kimmeridgian marl that makes up the soils of Chablis, and this rouge echoes the bright, mineral backbone that characterizes Lavantureux whites.
2022 Chablis 1er Cru “Beauroy”
France | Burgundy
The premier cru Beauroy is a round, ample expression of Chablis from a south-facing parcel. Silky and suave on the palate, it finishes with a whisper of salinity.
2022 Chablis Grand Cru “Vaudésir”
France | Burgundy
Already in spectacular harmony, this beauty deserves a bin in every Burgundy collector’s cellar.
2022 Chablis 1er Cru “Fourchaume”
France | Burgundy
This stellar cuvée features generous flesh enveloping a wiry core, with a flinty edge that leads to a satisfyingly creamy finish.
2022 Chablis “Vauprin”
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Vauprin showcases Chardonnay’s ability to produce a wine that is simultaneously both round and taut in this mighty northern Burgundian terroir.
2022 Chablis Grand Cru “Bougros”
France | Burgundy
Immediately accessible, with the type of ripe, unctuous nose you know and love with grand cru Chablis.
2022 Chablis 1er Cru “Vau de Vey”
France | Burgundy
David Lavantureux describes it as “direct and pure, full of energy”—a perfectly steely Chablis for oysters-on-the-half-shell.
About The Producer
Domaine Roland Lavantureux
About The Region
Burgundy
In eastern central France, Burgundy is nestled between the wine regions of Champagne to the north, the Jura to the east, the Loire to the west, and the Rhône to the south. This is the terroir par excellence for producing world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The southeast-facing hillside between Dijon in the north and Maranges in the south is known as the Côte d’Or or “golden slope.” The Côte d’Or comprises two main sections, both composed of limestone and clay soils: the Côte de Nuits in the northern sector, and the Côte de Beaune in the south. Both areas produce magnificent whites and reds, although the Côte de Beaune produces more white wine and the Côte de Nuits more red.
Chablis is Burgundy’s northern outpost, known for its flinty and age-worthy Chardonnays planted in Kimmeridgian limestone on an ancient seabed. Vézelay is a smaller area south of Chablis with similar qualities, although the limestone there is not Kimmeridgian.
To the south of the Côte de Beaune, the Côte Chalonnaise extends from Chagny on its northern end, down past Chalon-sur-Saône and encompasses the appellations of Bouzeron in the north, followed by Rully, Mercurey, Givry, and Montagny.
Directly south of the Chalonnaise begins the Côte Mâconnais, which extends south past Mâcon to the hamlets of Fuissé, Vinzelles, Chaintré, and Saint-Véran. The Mâconnais is prime Chardonnay country and contains an incredible diversity of soils.
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2020 Givry Rouge 1er Cru “Clos du Cras Long”
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2022 Chablis HALF BOTTLE
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2019 Pouilly-Fuissé ”Climat Vieilles Vignes“
Domaine Robert-Denogent France | Burgundy
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2020 Rully Blanc 1er Cru “Les Margotés”
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2021 Bourgogne Rouge
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2019 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Les Pruliers”
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Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch