Winemaker Notes
Masterful. Great aging potential—but open one before you cellar the other bottles, because you’lllove seeing what is in store for you in the years ahead.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Situated near the winery, this plot represents the historic terroir of the estate. It is planted with old vines, ranging from 70 to 80 years old, and benefits from a northeast-facing orientation. The soil is composed of a thick layer of clay overlying calcareous bedrock, and the plot is typically the last to be harvested, allowing the grapes to achieve optimal maturity. The 2020 Chinon Clos de la Dioterie, as usual, presents a lively, fresh and complex bouquet featuring wild dark berries, cedar, cherries, spring flowers and spices. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, pure and precise, supported by powdery tannins and a fleshy, sappy mid-palate, concluding with a structured but delicate and mineral finish. It’s a gorgeous wine and a particular favorite in Charles Joguet’s lineup.
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Vinous
The 2020 Clos de la Dioterie is a sinewy, rounded expression, with an abundance of fine, chalky tannin that coats the palate. Aromatically, it's not as detailed as the 2019, focusing on black cherry and savory characters as well as showing integrated oak-derived vanilla notes. Young and uptight, this needs time to unfurl.
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James Suckling
Red berries, wild herbs, grilled bell peppers, charred bark and baking spices on the nose. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins. Plenty of volume at the center with a velvety texture of berries and mild spices. Good vitality and harmony with a textural finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
An important red wine appellation in the Touraine district of the Loire, Chinon produces fanciful, light-bodied reds from the Cabernet Franc grape. Chinon also makes charming rosés from the same grape as well as white wines from Chenin blanc. But the reds give the area its fame. Often scented with fresh herbs, black tea and violets, Chinon reds show a lovely combination of fruit and acidity. However, styles have become more concentrated and ripe in recent years from improvements in vineyard management. Modern methods include planting grass between vineyard rows, using higher trellises and deleafing to increase sunlight to berries and therefore improve ripening. Even still, red Chinon is intended to be a light to medium bodied, refreshing wine to be enjoyed in its youth.
Fuller-bodied Chinons come from vineyard sites on the clay and tuffeau limestone slopes, usually from the southern exposed slopes of Cravant-les-Coteaux, and the plateau above Beaumont. Lighter styled wines come from the sand and gravel vineyards near the Loire or Vienne Rivers with the most refined examples coming from the area around Panzoult