Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses 2009 CS20230804 and chalk is the whole

and chalk is the whole story here: it gives the wine its taut

this Zibibbo dessert wine channels 35-to-50-year-old bush vines through 30 months in barrique before a final rest in steel

tobacco leaf

This magnum-format bottle remains in its drinking window and captures the richness and power of a truly historic expression from the domaine's golden era

perfumed and fruit-forward reds — a little more approachable young than the firmer Les Arboises

Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses 2009 CS20230804 and chalk is the wholeChinon rewards patience, and Olga Raffault has always been happy to do the waiting for you. Les Picasses is the domaine's flagship: a south facing slope of clay over limestone tuffeau, planted to Cabernet Franc vines over fifty years old, farmed organically and fermented with indigenous yeast. The wine spends years in large oak and chestnut foudres and then more years in bottle before release. The 2009 was a warm, generous vintage in the Loire, which