Clos de la Dioterie Monopole AOC 2019

A Chinon that holds power and elegance together, without one overpowering the other. The nose is deep and full, refined yet austere: blackberry, barberry, cranberry and blackcurrant with stems, underpinned by limestone and chalk, bell pepper, tomato, subtle pyrazine and fine wood.

The Clos de la Dioterie is the estate's most celebrated vineyard, already mentioned in the Middle Ages, when it was still fully walled in. The fairly flat vineyard lies close to the Vienne river, right next to the estate: clay in the topsoil, limestone and mica beneath. Charles Joguet began vinifying each parcel separately as early as 1957.

Cabernet Franc from vines aged 90 to 100 years. Ten days of cold pre-fermentation maceration at 10 °C, followed by around four weeks of maceration in wooden vats at a maximum of 21 °C. After alcoholic fermentation, the free-run wine and the best press wines are blended for malolactic fermentation. This is followed by 15 to 16 months in French oak barrels, about a fifth of them new and the rest one to four years old, then six months in tank before bottling.

Dense and silky, with plenty of power and just as much elegance. The fruit remains clear and transparent, the tannin is roundly built but still very young, already hinting at what is to come over the years: with age, graphite notes will emerge.

With braised beef cheeks, roast duck, wild boar goulash or herb-crusted rack of lamb.

The estate has been organically certified since 2016. Cellar master Kevin Fontaine, with the estate since 2006, has had malolactic fermentation take place in barrel since 2008 and recommends a Bordeaux glass for young vintages. In 2020, Michel Bettane named the estate "the best in Chinon".