Loire, Chinon, FR

The Jean-Maurice Raffault estate is located in Chinon, in the central Loire Valley, near Tours, and is the northernmost French red wine appellation. The family has been vignerons in Chinon since 1693 and the estate now comprises 40 hectares spread over 6 communes. In 1997, Rodolphe Raffault joined his father Jean-Maurice at the family domaine which had by then grown to 40 hectares. He has been in charge of the vineyards and winemaking since the 2000 vintage. We met him a few years ago, and loved his natural and organic winegrowing and winemaking methods as well as his pride in running the family domaine. He is particularly motivated to continue his late father's innovation of single-site bottling in Chinon, for example with his revival of the historic Clos des Capucins vineyard. And he adds very little sulfites to all of his wines, and typically avoids using them at all on the reds.

Les Galuches lieu-dit is an ancient river bed of the Loire. The name of parcel derives from the presence of gravel. According the records from the era, vines were already well established in this sector by the 1830s. The Cabernet Franc ripens very well in the domaine’s 10 hectare holding on a sand and gravel soil. Les Galuches is always among the first site to be picked because the soil warms up quickly and drains very well. The wine rests 6 months in 500 litre double barriques. It is very aromatic and is noted for its bouquet of violets, followed by lush and supple dark berry/cherry fruit. Les Galuches vineyard has been organically farmed since 2016.