Winemaker Notes
A great bottle in every sense—deep color, bottomless aroma, a broad-shouldered red that is supple enough to down the night you get it home.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Aromas of strawberries, mushrooms, forest berries, stones and peppercorns which follow through to a medium body with fine tannins. Velvety and elegant with poise and a restrained character. Harmonious and delicious. From organically grown grapes.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This terroir, situated near the estate, comprises sand, clay and chalky soils. Evoking a deep, complex bouquet of wild dark berries, violet, menthol, spices, licorice and loamy soils, the 2020 Chinon Les Varennes du Grand Clos is medium to full-bodied, seamless and layered with powdery tannins, a fleshy core of fruit and a long, ethereal and mouthwatering palate, beautifully framed by calcareous acidity. This excellent rendition of Cabernet Franc shows great promise. It is expected to mature nicely over the next couple of years and will continue to drink well throughout the decade.
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