2014 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Barnabés

Community Tasting Notes (7) Avg Score: 88.9 points

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  2/2/2018 - redwhiteandrich Likes this wine: 90 Points

  No Brett! A clean introduction to raffault. Cedar, pepper and dirt in a nice restrained package. I can't believe I overlooked this Cuvee for so long. Granted the Les Picasses has always been such a great value despite it slightly creeping up in price.

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  11/25/2017 - Motz wrote: 92 Points

  Purchased on the producer's reputation, and it over-delivered, making a stronger impression that the 2011 vintage Les Picasses. The wine features surprising concentration, copious blackcurrant, along with a blueberry top note, pyrazines and capsaicin (pepper garden), graphite, and striking textural depth, to include wafting hints of crème de cassis. It deserves to be enjoyed alongside great Loire Cabernet Franc, and might fool more than a few blind tasters, including this one, for Left Bank Bordeaux, on account of its expansive mouthfeel and weight. Off-the-chain QPR!

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  3/27/2017 - brooklynguy Likes this wine:

  This is such an excellent wine, and at this price point I think it's one of the best values in young drinking red right now. It's a less dense wine than Picasses, but its got refreshing acidity and bright florals and fruit. The structure and tannins are still there, as is the textbook graphite and gravel minerality. Pure, clean, expressive, so drinkable. It's bit tight right now upon opening, shows green at first, but it doesn't take long to show well, and is quite complex aromatically. Classicly lovely bistro-style drinking wine on day one, although it's much more than that, but you can see why this style of Chinon is so popular in that setting - it's refreshing and bright and would pair well with anything, seafood too. I left half the bottle but missed day 2. Day three the wine is far more mineral on the nose, a little bloody and cedar-y also. The palate shows more mineral too and the tannins are not as well integrated - the wine is still lovely but not as harmonious. I think this is a great wine that will drink beautifully over the next chunk of years - 5 plus easy. But why wait - it's just delicious now.

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  1/31/2017 - pdev wrote: 89 Points

  Sweet red fruit, herbs, autumn leaves, rhubarb, classic franc notes. Very traditional style. High toned red fruit, good balance.

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  1/6/2017 - Nick4378 Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Took a little to open up. Red fruit and bell pepper on the nose after an hour or so. Raspberries, pepper, dusty tannins. Not particularly super complex. But delivering above its price point for sure. I have half the bottle left for day 2. Will see if I get more out of it.

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