Domaine Olga Raffault 1979 - 2015, Part 2!

3/28/17 -

We're very happy to again offer the beautiful Chinons of our friends Sylvie Raffault and Eric de la Vigerie at Domaine Olga Raffault, who are doing great work at this important Loire Valley estate. While retaining the traditional vinifications practiced here, with aging in vat and large foudres, the estate has improved it's vineyard work and will soon be certified organic. New releases from the estate are consistently impressive, including the outstanding Blanc and Rosé, and we look forward to the arrival of the 2015 "Les Barnabés," for those who enjoy a softer, more forward style of red Chinon. While we're thilled to offer the 2005 Chinon Blanc "Champs Chenin," we apologize that only a few bottles are available - perhaps buy a few 2015s and put them in storage?

During my first visit to Domaine Olga Raffault in 1990, wine-maker Ernest Zenninger would keep disappearing into the basement returning with older and older mouldy bottles of their Chinon "Les Picasses." While I was well acquainted with the wines of Chinon and Bourgueil at the time, this was my first experience of the remarkable complexity and delicacy of the wines at fifteen to thirty years of age. We applaud the domaine for its committment to the periodic release of mature wines at reasonable prices!

"We hope to conserve the historic path of Olga and Ernest through traditional vinifications with minimal intervention, giving the wine time to develop through long elevage in large barrels and vats" (four years for the "Picasses"), "waiting until the wine is ready before marketing, preserving the fidelity of the great lovers of Chinon."

-David Lillie