Chinon - C'est Chouette!

No.18 | Out & About

On my first evening in Chinon over the course of a three-ish hour dinner, the expression “c’est chouette!” must’ve been said more than three dozen times. My French is pretty good, but I had not heard this expression or at least taken notice of it before, but I could get a sense of what it meant given the context and tone when it was used. At the end of the evening, I inquired (embarrassingly) about the meaning of this expression, and it loosely can mean “it’s great”… “it’s nice”… “it’s cool”…

This expression, while not all encompassing, seams like a delightful way to describe this very special region.

My time in Chinon has come to a close (at least for now!), and I’m going to take a bit of time to reflect on some of the experiences and things I learned, but suffice it to say, the region of Chinon abounds with depth, diversity and richness, and at it’s core, it is a region that lives and breathes all things Cabernet Franc.

Here are just a few highlights of the week:

• A full Saturday of tastings at Vignerons Dans La Ville, the region’s annual festival that marks the release of the new vintage. It is the only time during the year when the vignerons come out to pour their wine as a collective for locals and visitors to the region. More than 60 vignerons had tables, each with anywhere from 5 to upwards to 12 different wines, all available to discover and taste for only 8 euros. This was an exceptional event that should be on anyone’s radar interested in discovering the diversity of the wines of Chinon.

• Visits with a handful vignerons at their respective domaines, complete with some opportunities to taste older vintages.

• As part of a tasting organized by the AOC, I had the opportunity to taste over a dozen single vineyard wines from three vintages across a range of communes and terroirs. This was one of the activities I put on my wish list when we began organizing this visit, and it didn’t disappoint. Notes and insights to come, but there is much more to Chinon than meets the eye with complex array of terroirs and expressions.

• Cultural visits to the Caves Paincts, Musée Rabelais/Maison de la Divinière in Seuilly, Chinon Fortress.

• A vertical tasting of the bottlings from La Pointevinière in Panzoult from Domaine Herault and Arpenty. This lieu-dit is the latest in a series of lieux-dits that are being elevated to a special recognized status in the region, with an in-depth monographie describing the history and significance of the vineyard, along with its terroir.

• Finally, I gave a presentation (in French!) on Cabernet Franc from around the world to the vignerons. I was delighted to know that the region’s producers were curious to learn more about the world of Cabernet Franc outside the Loire, and with the help of the AOC (and a few very generous winemakers in Ontario, the Finger Lakes and Long Island), I curated a line-up of 8 wines from across Italy, Chile, Argentina, the US and Canada for us to discuss and taste.

Suffice it to say, it was a busy week! I am very grateful to the Chinon AOC and all the vignerons who were generous with their time (particularly after several days of sleepless nights on frost watch!) to make this visit such a memorable one.

I will be organizing more posts in the coming weeks with some insights on the wines, important lieux-dits and other observations and reflections on what makes Chinon a gem of a region in the world of Cabernet Franc.