Cab Franc Chronicles - Your source for all things Cabernet Franc!
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Analysis and commentary of the Olga Raffault, 2001 Les Picasses, Chinon, Loire Valley, France.
Recorded LIVE on Instagram for #cabfrancday 2022!
Olga Raffault’s Les Picasses is a wine that is near and dear to my heart. It has been a wine that has been an important part of my Cabernet Franc journey since the beginning. I’ve had this wine when it’s young, when it’s older, from cool vintages, warm vintages, and everything in between, and it never fails to impress.
For five generations, the Raffault family has been farming vines on the Véron Peninsula. Today, Sylvie, Olga Raffault's granddaughter, and her family are running the domaine. They are organically farming 24 hectares of Cabernet Franc vines (and 1ha of Chenin Blanc). They make several Cabernet Francs, including their "domaine" wine, a fabulous rosé, and 3 cuvées parcellaires (single vineyard wines): Les Barnabés (Savigny-en-Véron), Les Peuilles and Les Picasses (both in Beaumont-en-Véron).
Through the beauty of technology, I was able to use some visuals for this presentation, which I don't often get to do in my videos. (Mostly because I don't know how, and that is a learning cuvée I'm not quite prepared to jump on at the moment LOL.) So, there are some cool maps of the area, vineyard and the geology/soils of the area.
Les Picasses is an historic vineyard in Chinon and has recently been elevated to “Grand Cru” (sort of!) status by the Chinon appellation. The vineyard is in the commune of Beaumont-en-Véron, and is about 25ha in size.
The history of the vineyard goes back to the 15th century. The name "picasses" comes from the term "pic" which referred to this two-pronged fork-like tool that was once used to work the stony soils.
The vineyard is located 3.5km north of the Vienne, and an elevation of about 50-60m above sea level. The lower portion (lower third or so) of the vineyard is on a south-facing slope. Upper portion is on more of a plateau that is almost convex shaped, starting with a southern exposure, then arcing towards the north, with a portion with a more north-facing exposures. The bedrock is the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk, with mixed topsoils and degrees of stoniness depending on where you are.
For more on Les Picasses, check out this IG post:
Olga Raffault is the largest vineyard holder here with about 7ha. Their parcels are in the western portion of the lieu-dit. Their vines are around 35 years of age on average, and the family's original parcels have been in the family since 1928. In the best vintages, they will do a separate bottling from exclusively their south-facing parcels, which they call La Signulière.
This 2001 was showing beautifully on the day. This was a solid vintage in Chinon, perhaps not a banner one. A good vintage, higher rainfall, good maturity, and an early harvest. Similar to 2000 in many ways. But, as I often stress, in this case, producer and vineyard trumps vintage in my opinion. And you can reliably enjoy and age Olga Raffault’s Les Picasses for decades.
0:00 Intro/Preamble
3:13 Olga Raffault history, vineyards, wines
12:21 Western Chinon AOP overview
13:19 Les Picasses map and location
16:33 Beaumont-en-Véron commune geology and overview
19:23 Tuffeaux talk!
21:11 Les Picasses parcels in detail
24:18 Les Picasses geology and soils
29:52 Olga Raffault parcels at Les Picasses
31:09 2001 vintage info
33:36 Winemaking
37:03 Tasting notes
40:28 Question: Les Picasses 2014 vintage
41:33 Green bell pepper rant
44:43 Question: Aging in 750s vs magnum
44:49 Question: Glass shape for Cabernet Franc
47:51 Tasting notes continued
51:25 Question: Rainy vintage and Cabernet Franc
53:23 Question: Cool vs warm climate Cabernet Franc
55:46 Question: South African Cab Franc picks
57:32 Question: Argentina Cab Franc picks
58:56 Closing remarks
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Website in progress with a full write up and tons more content.
Recorded LIVE on Instagram December 4, 2022.
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Key wine facts below:
Producer: Olga Raffault
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Beaumont-en-Véron
Lieu-Dit: Les Picasses
Soil: 70cm of a clayey-sandy silt topsoil, atop the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk bedrock
Alcohol: 12.5%
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