SommSelect Editorial Director David Lynch marvels at the consistency and value offered by Olga Raffault, a Loire Valley benchmark whose wines are both eminently ‘collectible’ and remarkably accessible.
A few nights ago, Ian Cauble and I hosted a SommSelect wine dinner at The Corner Napa, a newish arrival on the Napa Valley dining scene whose chef, Dustin Falcon, put together a stellar four-course menu for us to play with. Our showstopper, paired with a main course of braised short ribs, was the 1990 Chinon “Les Picasses” from Olga Raffault. We had a small stash of this wine in our warehouse, obtained directly from the winery via its US importer, and since there wasn’t enough of it to offer on the site, dinner at The Corner offered the perfect opportunity to share it with some of our customers. I’ve loved the Raffault wines for a long time, and I knew they aged well, but this ’90 still exceeded expectations in a way that had everyone shaking their heads in amazement—including a group of sommeliers from the UK, who, on being served the wine “blind,” thought it was top-tier Right Bank Bordeaux with about 10 years of age. Needless to say, they were as impressed as we were by this nearly 30-year-old Chinon. I spent most of my tableside time musing with guests about what makes a red wine “age-worthy,” because, as Raffault wines so gracefully illustrate, it isn’t necessarily a mass of tannin or extract. Inspired, we decided to offer our parcel of the 2012 vintage of “Les Picasses,” which we’ve been sitting on for a few months. Like the ‘90, the ‘12 is not a “big” wine at all. It’s balanced, medium-weight, and beautifully perfumed, and if kept well, it promises to stay that way for many years to come. And, at just $27, it is arguably the most affordable “investment-grade” red wine on the market. Do yourself a favor and grab a case of this—drink a bottle now and stash away the rest for at least 5 years. You’ll be very glad you did!
As many of you are well aware, Olga Raffault’s wines are perennial SommSelect favorites (we just offered their ‘village-level’ 2015, which we direct-imported, to great response). Twice a year we receive allocations from Raffault’s importer, and every time we offer them, they sell out. As I discussed with several dinner guests last night, there’s a lot of tasty Chinon out there, but the majority of it is “bistro” wine—delicious and a little rustic, perfect for steak frites on a Tuesday night but not always known for refinement. Raffault takes Chinon, and its often ‘green’-tasting Cabernet Franc grape, to another level; I put these wines right up there with the similarly elegant, perfumed Cabernet Francs of Guiberteau and Clos Rougeard, two extremely culty properties in nearby Saumur (the latter recently purchased by the billionaire Bouygues family, owners of Bordeaux’s Château Montrose, among other wine properties).
Though Olga Raffault passed away a few years ago, her granddaughter, Sylvie, carries on the family’s impressive farming and winemaking legacy. Sylvie stays faithful to the traditional style that has drawn generations of sommeliers and collectors to the family’s wines. There is nothing modern or trendy about Raffault: grapes are farmed with no herbicides or pesticides, then hand-picked and fermented in whole clusters. The resulting wine is transferred to large, ancient, neutral oak barrels for aging until bottling, and then more years of aging until release. The American market is flooded with much-younger Chinon right now, but Raffault does everything at a slow, even pace—releases often lag three, four, or even ten years behind neighboring properties.
Today’s bottling comes from one of Chinon’s top crus, Les Picasses in the hamlet of Savigny-en-Véron. This steeply sloped parcel of alluvial clay with chalky limestone base is home to a gorgeous collection of 60-year-old Cabernet Franc vines. In 2012, Les Picasses produced a dense and complex wine, with the stuffing and energy to steward it through decades of cellar aging.
The 2012 “Les Picasses” is a beautifully proportioned, site-expressive, perfectly balanced glass of wine. Aromas of currant, plum, and huckleberry mix with wet stone, tobacco leaf, graphite, gunpowder and white pepper. The wine has medium body, with finely grained layers of tannin and acid which will soften beautifully over time. Right now, it isn’t exactly cuddly: young, traditionally styled Chinon is crunchy, peppery and fresh. It’s a savory, lip-smacking burst of energy and the perfect tool to cut through a hamburger or fatty steak. And while I never begrudge anyone the immediate and invigorating pleasure of enjoying a young bottle, this is going to improve, dramatically, for the next two, even three, decades. We’ve seen it firsthand, and to get a true
vin de garde—literally, “wine to guard,” or keep, which is one of my favorite French wine expressions—for $27 is just remarkable to me. I don’t know how they do it, but I’m so glad they do. I highly recommend opening a bottle now: Decant it about 45 minutes before serving in Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees. The braised short rib pairing is a winner, whether you make it tonight or in 20 years. Enjoy!
— D.L.
