Chinon "Les Peuilles"

France
Loire
2020

100% Cabernet Franc. Like the more renowned Les Picasses, Les Peuilles is a lieu-dit close to the village of Beaumont-En-Véron, but it is to the south of town, closer to the Vienne river. It is a plateau rather than a hillside and features soils of clay and flint rather than limestone. The fruit is organically farmed and hand-harvested and destemmed without crushing. The whole berries are fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tank, with a shorter maceration compared to that of Picasses. Aging takes place in 70-hectoliter oak and chestnut foudres for 6-12 months, with another year or two in bottle before release. 

92 points
"Domaine Olga Raffault’s 2020 “les Peuilles” is a superb young bottle of Chinon. The bouquet is deep, complex and very precise, wafting from the glass in a mix of dark berries, cassis, cigar ash, flinty soil tones, tree bark, just a hint of oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with a lovely core of black fruit, fine soil signature, ripe, seamless tannins, fine focus and grip and a long, beautifully balanced and complex finish. There is just a whisper of brett here, but compared to vintages from the domaine back in the 1990s, it is virtually undetectable in comparison. Good juice. 2030-2075."
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
July 2024

SKU/Code: 
DB2973-20
Product Line: 
Wine
Red
Varietal: 
Cabernet Franc
Farming Type: 
Organic