December 25, 2022 - Decanted about 1.5 hours and consumed over the following hour. Deep, virtually opaque garnet-red color. Subdued but complex nose of herbs, coffee, plums, tar, and some iron. Rather austere on the palate yet balanced, full without being rich, with plenty of fruit, acidity, and mild, ripe tannins. This was my first experience with an aged Chinon and I found it interesting but sort of lost somewhere between a good Burgundy and a good Bordeaux, without the complexity or depth of either. Made for a very good food wine. Purchased on release and stored in my cellar since.
October 25, 2022 - Tasted next to the 2005 Franc de Pied from the same vineyard. Fragrant nose with classic Cabernet Franc nose of green bell pepper, red fruit, pepper, and dark cherries. The palate has quite a bit of acidity and structural tannins with black cherry, asphalt, leather, and more green pepper notes. Nice finish. A lovely wine that in comparison to the FdP feels a bit more "typical" for a Chinon, but also is less complex and nuanced.
April 20, 2022 - Barnyard and shoe polish on the nose. Slightly bretty. Bloody, inky, leathery. Not a “clean” wine but I like it.
November 16, 2021 - Good vibrant purple angular fruit. High classiness factor. Fabulous herbal notes. Fruit is dark but lean. High acid. Was hoping this might fatten up more with age, but this is my last bottle so maybe I jumped the gun. The 2005 vintage has turned out less dense than I was hoping, actually I'm preferring the 2006s, although that might not be the popular opinion. Still, this is a very very good bottle of top notch Chinon. Drink or hold for 10 years.
June 26, 2020 - Excellent. Youthful, drinking great. Herbs and angular fruit. Great complexity. Love it. Drinking well now or hold.
March 20, 2020 - Still young, fresh, dense and developing a very typical CF bouquet. Some time left, no problem. Very nice wine with duck and beef meats
I loved it
April 9, 2019 - To me it seemed that this is more harsh and with higher acidity than FdP version. Overall, still a very beautiful wine, still on the young side. On the finish the same lemon juice as in FdP supplemented by sandpaper feeling.
May 27, 2018 - Still seems youthful. Rich red and black fruit. No signs of bricking. Improved with a couple of hours of air.
September 15, 2017 - Beautiful deep, even ruby with a saturation that so many of the '05s have had to set them apart visually. Strong green tones and olive. Medium weight with the glycerine and ripeness of the year. Dark cherry fruit, excellent acidity and real stoniness. After about 2 hours, this began to dry out. At least very good at this point, but is it starting to slide?
September 2, 2017 - Rich and full bodied. Brooding flavours of subdued dark fruit with hints of earth and autumn leaf. Good tannins. Seems almost youthful. A very nice wine.