"The 2015 vintage of Domaine Raffault’s new Chinon “la Singulière” bottling is outstanding. In this very warm vintage the wine comes in listed at a svelte 12.5 percent octane. As readers may recall, this is crafted from an old vine section of the domaine’s holdings in the beautiful vineyard of les Picasses, with the élevage done in oak puncheons, ranging from one to five years of age, rather than in the older and much larger foudres that most of the other bottlings of Chinon are raised in at Domaine Raffault. The 2015 la Singulière delivers a superb bouquet of cassis, dark berries, tree bark, cigar ash, a complex base of soil tones and a deft framing of smoky oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a superb core of fruit, excellent soil signature, fine-grained tannins and a long, poised and beautifully balanced finish. Fine, fine juice in the making. 2032-2075+. "