Today’s wine will be familiar to many, and for those of you who’ve already tried it, I have this to tell you: It just keeps getting better. We went “all-in” on Olga Raffault’s 2015 about a year ago, secure in the knowledge that whatever inventory we didn’t sell immediately would only improve with further rest. Yet while the wine has only deepened and grown more complex with time, its comparatively banal price has stayed the same.
As we’ve noted before, this wine delivers more authenticity, complexity, and pure joy at $22 than any serious wine lover has a right to expect. The Olga Raffault estate is a region-defining property, producing elegant, complex Cabernet Franc from Chinon that ages for decades. Few if any in the Loire can match Raffault’s track record, although, as many of you know, several high-profile properties have long since eclipsed their pricing. This is also a perfect time to release the last of our 2015 stock: The wine’s mix of brightness, perfume, and woodsy savor is perfect for the season, and if you’re looking for a perfect all-purpose red for the Thanksgiving table, there’s simply no better choice than this. Whether you’re loading up on this for the first time or a true believer in need of a re-stock, we have you covered today—it’s the final go-round for a truly special wine.
We are, as subscribers are aware, dedicated Raffault lovers—every so often, we receive allocations of ‘library’ wines from Olga Raffault, and they always deliver. There are many great producers in Chinon but Raffault has earned a singular reputation for quality and consistency in the appellation. Ten-year verticals of Raffault Chinon grace top Michelin-starred wine lists around the world, and most sommeliers, wine writers, and collectors would agree that these are among the greatest Cabernet Francs in the world. We also like to stress that Raffault Chinon is as close to a bankable, “sure thing” investment as exists in wine—once these wines hit the 15- to 20-year mark, they triple and quadruple in value. The unprecedentedly low price of this 2015 vintage is a risk-free, no-brainer opportunity to begin or continue to grow your own cellar vertical. So, while this bottle has years of maturation and improvement ahead, today it is perfectly delicious straight from the bottle. Whether you’re drinking it today or stashing it away, there is simply no way to lose with Raffault Chinon.
Though Olga Raffault passed away a few years ago, her granddaughter, Sylvie, is carrying on the family’s impressive farming and winemaking legacy. Sylvie stays faithful to the traditional style. There is nothing modern or trendy about Raffault—this is Old School wine. Grapes at the estate are farmed with no herbicides or pesticides, then hand-picked and fermented in whole clusters with no destemming. The resulting wine is transferred to large, ancient, neutral oak barrels for aging until bottling, and then more years of aging until release. This bottling is a Chinon version of a “village” wine, incorporating several different vineyard sources. The generosity and warmth of 2015 brings this vineyard’s gravel and limestone terroir to life with a vivacity and depth I haven’t encountered since 2005. This is a special, once-per-decade vintage for this wine.
This 2015 shows off the generosity of the vintage in both its deep purple and density of fruit on the nose. The nose exhibits lots of black raspberry, black plum, mulberry, damp violet, graphite, underbrush, green herbs, mushrooms, crushed white rocks and even a little cassis. The wine shows no perceptible oak influence: it’s all about pure, fragrant fruit, mineral savor, enlivening acidity, and quite velvety tannins. It is superbly balanced wine, considerably more fruit-driven and with a longer, more fragrant finish than your typical bistro Chinon. While it is supremely drinkable now after about 30 minutes in a decanter, I can see this aging 5-10 more years with ease if kept well (don’t be fooled by its relatively soft tannins; the acid and balance of this wine are what will preserve it; Raffault wines have a sterling track record for aging). Crack a bottle soon and serve it at 60 degrees in Burgundy stems; it will pair well with foods you might otherwise serve with Pinot Noir, including chicken and fish. Check it out with the “quick” coq au vin recipe attached, or really anything: I can’t think of a dish this wine wouldn’t go with beautifully. Cheers!
