Chinon Les Varennes du Grand Clos, Charles Joguet - 2018

Almost everyone knows this mythical estate in Chinon, created in 1957 by the famous Charles Joguet. Taken over by Jacques Genet (who had been at his side since 1985, it should be remembered!), it is now revitalised by his daughter, Anne-Charlotte, assisted by the talented Kevin Fontaine and the whole team. The latest vintages are a return to the legend. And for good reason... Depending on the season's profile, the estate works the soil or uses grass. Integrated pest management has been implemented for a long time and the teams only use green products. The estate is even certified as an organic farm from 2019. In addition to a short winter pruning, the disbudding is severe, the internodes are removed, before proceeding with de-stemming, green harvesting and manual leaf removal. Harvesting is of course done by hand. A draconian sorting is carried out in the vineyard to keep only the bunches that are perfectly ripe. In the last few years, the wines of the estate have made a qualitative leap forward, propelling them back to the top of the appellation, with vintages that we believe have the potential to equal and even surpass the mythical 1989 and 1990 of the great Charles. Of course, progress in viticulture explains a lot, but the respect of the raw material in the cellar is to be cited as an example, because few Chinon estates can claim as much precision and regularity and this at...