Olga Raffault, Chinon 2019

This delicious, juicy and delightful wine is made from Cabernet Franc in one of the best villages for the grape variety anywhere in the world. Full of bright red and juicy black fruit flavours, notes of bell-pepper and pencil lead, the pulpy tannic structure makes this wine a really easy-drinking entry to the wonderful world of Cabernet Franc and Loire Valley reds. 

From the wonderful 2019 vintage, this wine, made by the grand-daughter of the founder of the estate, is made with minimum intervention and has only a shirt amount of oak ageing in used barrels, so as not to overpower the fruit flavours, and has a food-matching capability that is as wide as you can think of - perhaps not cornflakes, but certainly cold meats, bread, cheeses, beef bourguignon... you know the sort of thing.

Chinon is one of the most wonderful of the cluster of villages on the Loire Valley, famed for producing Cabernet Franc for reds and Chenin Blanc for whites. Though Cabernet Franc probably originates from the South of Bordeaux (where it is an important blending component in lots of different wines), it is here, just off the banks of the Loire, that it is fermented on its own as the shining star of the region.

Seldom massively full-bodied or overtly powerful, you get elegance and finesse here - somewhat stylistically like a hybrid of the structure from cooler Bordeaux appellations with the complexity and elegance of Burgundy. The Loire is distinctly cooler climate and as a result there isn't as much warmth in the grapes, nor the resultant wines, but that's no bad thing, even if climate change is leading to more and more vintages with fuller, riper fruit. Alcohol levels are often more moderate and there is structure and complexity from the dark grape skins (certainly in the Cabernet Franc wines) that really makes them stand out in the crowd.

Cabernet Franc stands out on its own because of of the stylistic singularities that it possesses: tannic, dry, blackcurrant, redcurrant, leafy and above all else a sense of pencil lead and, in under-ripe vintages, green bell-peppers.

The winery of Olga Raffault has a fascinating story that dates to the end of the second world war. Her husband died suddenly in 1947 with his work in the winery supported by a German prisoner of war and refugee who had been working with them on the estate. The winery is now run by her granddaughter and great-grandson and has been fully certified as organic since 2015.

The wines of Chinon can be light, fruity and fragrant, just as they can be darker and more extracted. This one is a lovely balance of the two styles and is made without any oak influence to allow the fruit to shine through, which it certainly does. Cabernet Franc is certainly a food wine in its richer styles, but this too would be a super match for game and cheeses as well as on its own.

Our match? Well, if it's not venison sausages or duck, give us baguette, decent butter and a whack load of pâté.