Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chinon Gabare is beautifully clear, ripe and fresh on the floral and fruity nose. Round, ripe and fleshy on the densely woven palate, this is an intense and concentrated, perfectly ripe and lush yet pure and refreshing Cabernet Franc with a delicate, very elegant character and impressive length. Tasted in May 2019.
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Wine Spectator
Shows the ripeness and depth of the vintage, with enticing layers of raspberry, plum and cherry preserves supported by a well-integrated chalky spine. Savory and olive notes underscore the finish, but this relies primarily on the core of pure fruit. A little cellaring is warranted. Best from 2018 through 2025.
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Wine Enthusiast
While this wine is still young, it has great fruit and a good structure. Tense tannins lend form to ripe red fruits, with a touch of cigar-box aromas and a rich texture. This wine will show how well Chinon can age. Drink from 2018.
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