2008 Olga Raffault Chinon - Les Picasses

Domaine Olga Raffault was created when Olga Aujard and Pierre Raffault married in 1931 and combined their families’ asparagus fields and vineyards, among other agricultural smallholdings. Pierre died young in 1947, but Ernest Zenninger, a German former prisoner of war who had been assigned to work with the Raffaults and become close with the family, helped Olga save the farm and trained Olga and Pierre’s son Jean. Today the estate is run by Olga's granddaughter Sylvie Raffault and Syvlie’s husband, Eric de la Vigerie, with their son Arnaud. 

Les Picasses is the most famous lieu-dit (named vineyard area) in Chinon - a slope with full southern exposure (so more powerful, ageworthy wines) and chalky clay-limestone soils. The organically-farmed vines were about 40 years old in 2008. Les Picasses is Raffault’s most iconic bottling of cabernet franc and the benchmark expression of the vineyard. The wine fermented in stainless steel with skin maceration for about a month, after which it aged for a couple of years in 3000- to 5000-liter barrels. The producer ages each vintage of the wine for additional years before release; the current vintage is 2020. This bottle obviously is a library release, more than a decade later.

This is dark-fruited Chinon with a deep, graphite-laden, earthy, and herbaceous nose. It remains vibrantly fresh after 18 years, yet with tertiary notes that emerge with aeration and time open. The tannins are supple and the acidity still vibrant. There is concentration, restraint, elegance, and lovely balance among the wine’s many components. Pour it into a Burgundy stem and give it plenty of air. It is a great match for duck in many forms (confit, roasted, or five-spice) or a rich lentil stew. If you are inclined to wait, the wine easily has a decade or two of positive evolution ahead of it.