Winemaker Notes
Les Barnabés stands apart from Raffault's other main sites, Les Picasses and Les Peuilles, still in the Véron region but far to the west and downhill on a plain of alluvial soils near the Loire River. The sandy, gravelly site yields a lighter style of Cabernet Franc more approachable with less aging compared to the other two. Like Picasses and Peuilles, Barnabés comes from fruit which is organically farmed, harvested by hand, destemmed but not crushed, and fermented in tank with native yeasts. The fermentation is at cooler temperatures and the aging in tank only, all to preserve the freshness and brightness of the fruit. It is the earliest release of the three reds.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of violet, spring flowers and dark wild berries preface the 2022 Chinon Les Barnabés, a moderately weighted, juicy and enveloping wine with a seamless, enveloping texture that segues into a delicate finish thanks to velvety tannins. This is a fine Cabernet Franc that offers nuanced complexity.
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