Chinon Blanc "Champ-Chenin"

2018
France
Loire

100% Chenin Blanc. Raffault has some of the oldest Chenin Blanc vines in Chinon in a one-hectare monopole called Champ Chenin, a particularly limestone-rich patch of ground in due west of the famous Les Picasses vineyard. Like all Raffault vines, these are farmed organically and harvested by hand. The bunches are direct-pressed very gently; fermented to dryness with native yeasts in tank at cool temperatures; aged on its lees also in tank, without malolactic fermentation and with occasional stirring; and bottled with a light, non-sterile filtration. Sulfur is minimal (2 grams/hectoliter at press and at bottling). Its production is quite small. 

90 points
"On the nose, lots of honeysuckle, white pepper and understated orchard fruit. Fleshy peach and apricot on the palate, with attractive underlying saltiness throughout. Friendly, open and straightforward."
Jason Wilson,
Vinous Media
June 2020
94 points
"The 2018 Chinon Blanc “Champ-Chenin” from Domaine Raffault is really an outstanding bottle of young, bone dry Chenin Blanc. The wine comes in at 12.5 percent alcohol and possess a nervosité on the palate that is really delightful. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a mix of green apple, quince, a lovely base of chalky soil, beeswax, spring flowers and a dollop of upper register lanolin. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full-bodied, focused and racy, with a superb core of fruit, excellent mineral drive and a long, nascently complex and impeccably balanced finish. Great juice. 2021-2045."
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
May-June 2021

SKU/Code: 
DB0456-18
Product Line: 
Wine
White
Varietal: 
Chenin Blanc
Farming Type: 
Organic