Cab Franc Chronicles - Your source for all things Cabernet Franc!
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Analysis and commentary of the Olga Raffault, 2015 Les Picasses, Chinon, Loire Valley, France
It should come as no surprise that I have a soft spot in my heart for Olga Raffault and Les Picasses. This wine is really one of the reasons why I launched this project, and one of the wines that remains a North Star example of the variety for me on this journey. I've been fortunate to have had the wine young and older, cool vintages, warm vintages and everything in between, and I never tire of it.
Olga Raffault is a 5th generation producer based in Savigny-en-Véron in Chinon. Les Picasses is one of 3 single lieu-dit wines that the domaine produces. Les Barnabés is a lieu-dit in Savigny-en-Véron, and Les Peuilles and Les Picasses are in Beaumont-en-Véron.
Beaumont-en-Véron is one of the communes part of the Véron Peninsula along with Savigny-en-Véron and Avoine. The Véron Peninsula is a triangular piece of land on the north side, or right bank, of the Vienne River in the very western part of the Chinon appellation. It is bound by the Loire River to the northwest and the Vienne River to the southwest.
The terroir of Beaumont-en-Véron is quite different than that of Savigny-en-Véron and Avoine. There is a fault at Avoine, and from Beaumont-en-Véron moving eastward toward the village of Chinon, we have an undulating landscape with a number of different elevations and exposures.
We still find some alluvial soils close to the Vienne, but not nearly as much as there is in Savigny-en-Véron and Avoine. Rather we find a lot more vineyards on slopes with soils derived from either the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau or the Middle Turonian white tuffeau.
Les Picasses is recognized to be on of THE "grand cru"-level vineyards in the Chinon appellation. It is located in the northwestern part of Beaumont-en-Véron, about 3km north of the Vienne. The vineyard is around 24 hectares, and the lower half of the vineyard is on a south-facing slope, and the upper half sits on more of a plateau with a slight north-facing exposure. The bedrock is predominantly the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk, with varying topsoil depths and textures depending on the parcel.
There are a number of vignerons that have parcels of Les Picasses, but Olga Raffault is the largest land-owner here and they have around 7 hectares concentrated in the western part of the vineyard, with parcels with both south and north-facing exposures. Olga Raffault's bottling from this vineyard is widely considered to be the benchmark expression from this site.
Their vines are around 35 years of age, and their parcels have a shallow, sandy-clay topsoil, with a moderate amount of stoniness, and the topsoils are atop the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit was all hand-picked and destemmed. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel, with a maceration on skins of about 30 days, with some pigeage during that time. For the 2015, aging was done in 50hl oak foudres for about one year before bottling.
The domaine also bottle ages their Les Picasses at the domaine for several years before release. This is a practice I admire, and it is not always an easy one for a domaine to commit to. The current release from the estate is the 2017 vintage. And it is worth noting that they will also do library releases of Les Picasses from time to time. This year (2023), I've been able to purchase 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2009.
0:00 Intro/Overview
0:44 Véron Peninsula overview
1:19 Beaumont-en-Véron overview
1:47 Central Beaumont-en-Véron terroir
3:30 Northern Beaumont-en-Véron terroir
4:13 Les Picasses
5:55 Winemaking
6:32 Comments on bottling aging
7:36 History of Olga Raffault's parcels
7:52 Tasting notes
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Website in progress with a full write up and tons more content.
Originally posted to Instagram January 9, 2022.
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Key wine facts below:
Producer: Olga Raffault
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Beaumont-en-Véron
Lieu-Dit: Les Picasses
Soil: Clay and sand, with chalk pebbles, on the upper Turonian yellow tuffeau bedrock
Alcohol: 12.5%
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