Clos du Chêne Vert Monopole AOC 2020

A Chinon that brings together density and clarity. The 2020 already shows open and expressive, while remaining compactly built. The nose reveals cherry, cassis and raspberry, alongside some green and more black olives, earth and a beetroot reduction, dark chocolate and liquorice.

The Clos lies on the right bank of the Vienne, not far from the centre of Chinon, and rises steeply to the crest of the hill. Two hectares, south-facing, on clay, lighter gravel and deep-lying limestone. This site brings the grapes to early ripeness: harvest on the estate always begins here first. Beneath it lie hand-hewn tuffeau cellars, where the temperature varies by less than half a degree over the course of the year.

Pure Cabernet Franc. Ten days of cool pre-fermentation maceration at 10 °C, followed by around four weeks of maceration on the skins in wooden vats at no more than 21 °C. After alcoholic fermentation, the free-run wine and the best press wines are blended; malolactic fermentation has taken place in barrel since 2008. This is followed by 15 to 16 months in French oak, a portion of which is renewed each year, so that around a fifth of the barrels are new and the rest between one and four years old. Six months in tank then harmonise the wine before bottling.

Expressive and refined at once: fine-grained tannins, polished texture and the juiciness that carries this variety. Alongside the dark, meaty fruit sit notes of aged meat, mushrooms, forest floor and undergrowth. Long, powerful, compact.

Monopole vineyard, named after the great oak tree in the vineyard, said to have been planted by monks from Bourgueil in the 12th century. Charles Joguet took over the estate in 1957 and was the first in the appellation to vinify each parcel separately; cellar master Kevin Fontaine continues this approach, and the estate has been certified organic since 2016. In 2020, Michel Bettane called the domaine "the best estate in Chinon".