Olga Raffault Les Picasses Chinon 2020
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Les Picasses is Chinon's most storied lieu-dit, a south-facing slope of chalky clay-limestone near Beaumont-en-Véron on the north bank of the Vienne, and Domaine Olga Raffault has long been its benchmark. Founded by Olga Raffault and run today from Savigny-en-Véron by her granddaughter Sylvie and Sylvie's husband Eric de la Vigerie, the estate is certified organic and still makes Chinon the patient way. Cabernet Franc from vines around fifty years old is picked by hand, destemmed with the berries kept whole, and fermented on indigenous yeasts in tank; the wine then spends two to three years in large neutral oak and chestnut foudres, the region's traditional wood, and rests in bottle until it is ready, roughly four years after harvest. Light garnet and deceptively deep, it delivers cassis and dark cherry edged with orange zest and earth, supple tannins, and a finish of chalky minerality. An aged-release Chinon that does the cellaring for you.
