Jean-Maurice Raffault Les Picasses Chinon 2018

The 2018 Chinon Les Picasses is from the famous plateau between the Loire and the Vienne Rivers. Rooting in deep silty clay soils on chalky tuff limestone mother rock and covered by limestone pebbles for 15-60 years and aged for 12 months in three- to seven-year-old barrels, the 2018 opens with an intense but elegant and refined bouquet of dark fruits and spicy notes. Silky, round and intense on the palate, this is a full-bodied, deep and complex, very long and sustainable Picasses with stimulating vitality and salinity. The tannins are ripe and fine and intermingle well with the fine acidity of this juicy and stimulating Chinon – for now and the next 20-30 years (if cellared perfectly). Drink date: 2021-2050. Score – 93. (Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, Aug. 5, 2021)