Charles Joguet Chinon Cuvee Terroir 750ml

2402904* 

$66.99 $60.99 price per bottle

Wine maker notes This ”cuvee” is made with grapes from the vines of Beaumont-en-Veron, to which we add, throughout the different vintages, ”press and free-run wines” from the alluvial soil of the left bank of the Vienne. This particular blend lends this wine its original harmony of arome and matter. Grape destemming without crushing, 5 days of skin maceration at cool temperatures, a rapid start to fermentation, at maximum temperature of 25°C for 10 days - the fermentation is sometimes interrupted before the entire transformation of sugar into alcohol - make this a highly aromatic wine which also benefits from the tannic support of the press wines. Malolactic fermentation takes place in vats, after the wine is drawn off and during the winter this wine is naturally chilled. A number of rackings, together with in-vat maturation and bottling at the end of the spring, and this wine is ready for our summer enjoyment.
Food pairing The great Chinon classi with rillettes (potted meat), crackling, poultry or fresh goat’s cheese.
Producer The wines of Chinon have long been celebrated. French humanist and native son, Francois Rabelais, sang their praises as far back as the sixteenth century. However, the distinction with which the appellation is regarded today is due in part to the legacy left by a more contemporary icon: Charles Joguet. This young painter and sculptor abandoned a budding art career to assume direction of the family domaine in 1957. He soon began to question the common practice of selling grapes to negociants, as his own family had done for years. The Joguets owned prime vineyard land in between the Loire and Vienne Rivers, with some of their finest found on the left bank of the Vienne, just outside Chinon, in Sazilly. These very lieux-dits had been recognized for their character and defined before the Renaissance-some even date back to the Middle Ages. Variations in the soils of these alluvial plains were substantial enough to realize that he was sitting on what would be considered in other regions as premier cru and grand cru vineyards. To sell the grapes off or to vinify these individualized plots together would have been madness. Separate terroirs, he believed, necessitate separate vinifications. Over the course of his tenure, Charles took the risks necessary to master the single-vineyard bottling with an artistry that A. O. C. Chinon had never before seen. In so doing, he realized the true potential of the land. Charles has since retired. Today, the young, eager, and talented Kevin Fontaine oversees the vineyards and the cellars. He and his team farm thirty-six hectares of Cabernet Franc. Closely adhering to the tradition of Charles, the domaine bottles nine different cuvees, handling each one as a unique terroir and microclimate with individualized care and attention. That ethic trickles into the cellars as well, where careful deliberation and experimentation bring about gradual change. The wines are divided into two lines: precocious cuvees and those for long-aging. Precocious cuvees, like the “Cuvee Terroir” and “Les Petites Roches” (Little Rocks), are made to be consumed young. If premier crus were permitted in Chinon, Les Varennes du Grand Clos would certainly be considered one of them. Clos du Chene Vert and Clos de la Dioterie are perhaps their greatest wines-certainly of grand cru quality-with excellent aging potential. Those who are convinced that the best Cabernet Franc grows in Bordeaux may quickly transfer their allegiance to the Loire upon tasting these classic, appellation-defining Chinons. The purity of fruit, the exceptional delineation of aromas and flavors, the soulful reflection of terroirs, and the extraordinary seductiveness of the texture make the wines from Joguet second to none.