2018 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses 750 ml

For many people—including plenty of critics—it doesn’t get more Chinon than the wines of Olga Raffault.

“Olga Raffault is one of the benchmark producers of Chinon,” declared Vinous in one of their many glowing reviews of the domaine’s beautiful reds. To give a sense of their stature: Raffault is the only Chinon producer on the wine list at San Francisco’s fabled two-MICHELIN-starred Saison.

And while Raffault’s magic touches everything they bottle, their signature wine is clearly the Chinon Les Picasses. It’s routinely one of the most beautiful wines in the Loire, and one of the most ageworthy as well: we enjoyed an ‘88 and ‘94 in the last few years, and both wines were absolutely en fuego, providing complexity that was truly elite.

Olga’s granddaughter Sylvie has been in charge of the estate for over two decades now, and she made a beautiful wine in ‘17, one of the finest vintages this century in the Loire. Les Picasses is made entirely from a single vineyard of the same name, where the organically farmed vines start at 50 years old. As is the custom at Raffault, they were hand-harvested and destemmed for fermentation before aging up to two years in old, large oak and chestnut casks.

It was then held in the winery’s cellar until they felt it was ready to go: after all, a large portion of Raffault’s business is French restaurants and they want their wines to pair well at the table from the get-go.