Wines (12 View)

Organic

Le Che^ne Vert is a name well known to lovers of Chinon, although few realize that Domaine Charles Joguet shares one hectare with another vigneron?€?Haute Olive! At 30 years of age, the vines are younger than those of Joguet and the exposure is also different, located on the south-south west hillside with an 18?? slope. A light clay topsoil sits atop a limestone subsoil mixed with upper Turonian also known as millarge (yellow limestone). This Chinon is fermented in concrete and is aged for 10 months in new foudre.

Vineyard: Le Che^ne Vert
Orientation: South, southwest
Gradient: 18??
Soil: Millarge (yellow limestone) with clay
Farming Practice: Conversion Organic
Vinification: Concrete
Elevage: 10 months New foudre
Alcohol: 13.6%

Winemaker Notes:
A crimson robe, the nose of subtle raspberry, rhubarb, spicy and tobacco aromas. In the mouth the elegant and silky tannins bring a very feminine touch to this wine. It is unique in its combination of concentration of fruit, attractive aromatics and body.

Serve it with tagines, oriental dishes, pastas, poultry, barbecue, red meat and cheese plates.

89pts James Suckling:
Touch of greenness to this cabernet franc. Some attractive brambleberries and raspberries. Full-bodied and soft and somehow quite oily on the palate. This is fruity and delicious, although it doesn’t hold together totally.

93 pts Wine Advocate
The elegant, spicy, peppery and floral 2018 Cabernet Franc contains 10% Malbec, as these varietal bottling are rarely 100% varietal. It has intense and pungent flavors reminiscent of freshly cracked black peppercorns and wild herbs. The ripeness is contained, and the wine has a surprisingly low pH that provides very good freshness and a vibrant palate, more so given the very fine tannins and the tasty flavors that lift up the finish. Superb Cabernet Franc at an unbeatable price.

100% Cabernet Franc. Les Picasses is the most famous Chinon lieu-dit, close to the village of Beaumont-En-Véron on the north bank of the Vienne River. It is a slope with full southern exposure and chalky clay-limestone soils, the combination resulting in fully ripened, structured wines. Raffault's mid-slope vines are at least 50 years old and are worked organically and harvested by hand. The fruit is destemmed and the whole, uncrushed berries are fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tank; fermentation and maceration last for 25-30 days, depending on the vintage. The wine is aged for 2-3 years in oak and chestnut foudres ranging from 30-50 hectoliters; it is then further aged in tank and bottle before release about four years after the vintage. Les Picasses is the fullest-bodied, most structured and most complex of the Raffault reds. - Importer

20 Reds Under $20: Where the Values Live, for Now - The New York Times

Write-up was on the 2016 vintage which is sold out.
The name of this juicy, herbal, balanced wine, Côt-Fermented, is a pun that requires maybe more explanation than it’s worth, but here goes. It’s a blended wine, 90 percent cabernet franc and 10 percent malbec. The grapes are fermented together, or co-fermented. Côt, pronounced coe, is the local Loire Valley name for Malbec, and this wine is made in a Loire style, lighter on its feet than many Bordeaux-style cab francs, not to mention North Fork renditions. Côt-fermented indeed .- The New York Times