Winemaker Notes
The Chinon vineyard runs along both banks of the River Vienne as far as the hills on the south side of the Loire. This wine is a bright but soft ruby color. Highly aromatic (with a bouquet of raspberry and violet), this robust and generous wine is intense, with silky tannins that produce a lovely finish in the mouth.
It goes perfectly with game, red meat and cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Chinon is worthy of your attention, as this wine shows. Black plum skin, Darjeeling tea and pencil shavings fill the nose along with aromas of dried hay. The palate furthers the aroma resplendence, completing the wine with a long, savory, enjoyable finish.
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