2017 Jean-Maurice Raffault
‘Les Galuches’ Chinon
Loire Valley, France
Regular Price $18.99
Sale Price $14.99
Some people seem to think that one can not drink red wines in the summer. Others think that big, rich, oaky, high alcohol wines are perfect in any season. They are both wrong.
Ok, maybe ‘wrong’ is too strong of a term. Of course, one should drink what they like, and of course, the best wine is the wine that you like the best, and certainly, context is vitally important when choosing wine. All that is true. However, those that are rigidly dogmatic about their wine choices, regardless of the side of the fence that they reside on, are not wine lovers. They are wine bigots.
So, perhaps I should say ‘mistaken’?
Anyway.
This is a beautiful wine of Cabernet Franc (the father of Cabernet Sauvignon) from Chinon in the Loire Valley. The estate, first planted in 1693, is still run by the family, the 14th generation to do so. They were one of the first estates in Chinon to identify and ferment individual vineyard blocks separately and this wine is from a site with sandy alluvial soils, which retain heat well and allow for perfect ripeness. The resulting wine is fresh, with black olive, green pepper aromas followed by a mouth filling flavors of just-ripe berry and finishing enlivening acidity. The wine is not too big, and not too small…perfect to slake the desire for a red wine in hot weather.