It's been a while since I've had a Chinon largely because I didn't buy many 2007s for near term drinking due to general disappointment with the vintage. Meanwhile, I'm aging my older vintages. However, I've been drinking a lot of California wines lately, and it was time to change it up. The choice was on old favorite, Charles Joguet 2008 Chinon Cuvée Terroir, from a vintage I've yet to try.
For $20, this was everything I could want in an entry level Chinon, though less prominent producers might offer a slightly better value for this style. Joguet's website indicates this bottling has fruit from presumably sandy, alluvial soils and includes some press wine to provide tannic structure. There's nice fresh fruit, tobacco and plenty of acidity with fuzzy tannins. It's a light wine, very linear in flavor, and definitely is at its best with food. For me, that was a 'house special' pizza with everything but the kitchen sink on it. All in all, a solid, typical wine for Chinon that delivers for the price.
This isn't a profound or complex wine; it'll probably be at its best young. But it does what it does it does well. It's probably best to view a wine like this more like a white or rosé than a full bodied red for drinking purposes. Definitely not a cocktail, though the freshness and lack of heat make this very drinkable.
- 2008 Charles Joguet Chinon Cuvée Terroir - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Cigarettes and cherry juice on the nose--nice typicity. Acidic on the palate with very linear flavors. Not round, light body. Punchy fruit with tobacco and minerality. Decent finish, no heat, fuzzy but not oppressive tannins. Very good wine, but not a ton of depth or layering and a bit tight on the nose. Still, spot on as an entry level Chinon and a pizza wine. Honest wine with a real sense of place and varietal expression.
4 comments:
Sometimes I wish that I lived in France, just so that I could pick wines up like this by the dozen for 10 Euro. Or get them in a carafe. They're so satisfying to drink, even if they aren't the most complex things in the world. They're the exact opposite of the Kendall Jackson's and Mondavi's of the world.
Sorry for not posting your comment sooner, my mail forwarding alerting me of comments for moderation was reset for some reason.
I would really be nuts for this wine if it was under $15. Not that $20 is bad considering the competition. But I'm sure that other producers with less name recognition make a fresh, young drinker for a bit less. In France this style of wine definitely would be like 10 Euro, and probably even in grocery stores.
Oh, no worries. It's been a while since I've been to France...I wonder what percentage of people actually shop in a grocery store--Carrefour would the most obvious (2nd biggest retailer in the world)--inside the cities etc. I bet it isn't close to the numbers in the states. Regardless, the US just doesn't have as much viable stuff in the 10$ price range that you can get in Europe. Unless you want to drink overly ripe oak flavored grape juice.
Your comment just gave me a funny idea for a post. Stay tuned . . . .
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