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Chinon

France: map with a pin on ChinonChinon and its surroundings: map with a pin
Chinon · FranceMap: Maison Apéro, based on Natural Earth (public domain)

Les Galuches 2023 makes Chinon a useful lesson in why one appellation can contain different wine styles.

The background that matters

Chinon includes river terraces and limestone slopes. An appellation name does not identify an individual vineyard’s conditions.

Read it alongside this wine

The Les Galuches vineyard stands on sandy-gravelly ground. Use this Cabernet Franc as a specific reference, not as a description of every Chinon or every Loire red.

Try it with the review

Read the fruit aromas, acidity and tannin together. Can you describe freshness without equating it with unripe fruit? Note which statements concern the vineyard and which concern the 2023 review.

These are learning prompts, not guaranteed tasting results. Separate the published facts from your own observations.

Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon Les Galuches 2023

Sources

Soil and climate diagrams

Chinon: Vienne terraces and tuffeau slopes: Vienne, Old terraces of the Vienne, Chinon, Tuffeau slopes, Sands and gravels, Upper Turonian limestone (tuffeau)

Schematic block diagram, not to scale: the top shows the relief and the front face a cross-section, coloured by soil and rock type.

  • The Chinon appellation lies mostly on sands and gravels of the old terraces of the Vienne and on Upper Turonian limestone.
  • Chinon is partly built on slopes of tuffeau; dwellings carved into the Turonian limestone were common in Touraine, and many of these cavities are now used as cellars.
  • The Turonian stage of the Upper Cretaceous was defined in Touraine and takes its name from it.

Sources

Wines to explore