Philippe Alliet, 2009 Update
The fact that the wines of Philippe Alliet were the first I tasted at the 2009 Salon des Vins de Loire says something about the regard with which I hold this domaine. For me, Philippe Alliet is appellation leader in Chinon, an accolade that he might share with Cravant neighbour Bernard Baudry, although the two certainly make a very different style of wine. Baudry’s style is perhaps more elegant, a touch more ethereal, perhaps more typical of the region, a more delicate intertwining of fruit and stone, whereas Alliet’s wines are more substantial.
There is a little Bordeaux influence here, and with low yields and plenty of oak the result are bigger wines that simply demand time in the cellar. In fact, during my time at the 2009 Salon I learnt that one tasting colleague thought that the wines were a little too big. That’s not my opinion, and despite the style I don’t think these have moved out of the spectrum readily identifiable as Chinon.
Something else I have learnt about Philippe Alliet during recent months is that he is notorious for not turning up to appointments. This doesn’t surprise me; when I visited during the summer of 2008 (when I photographed this attractive press and flower bed, right, outside his property in Briançon) he was nowhere to be found, despite me having arranged the meeting only a few days beforehand. After a telephone call to his mobile, which his wife Claude answered, she came down to meet me. She was clearly very much a part of the domaine (her hands bore the dirt of work in the vineyard) and her knowledge of harvest, yields, élevage and so on made Philippe’s presence rather unnecessary. This is good, because at the 2009 Salon Philippe was again nowhere to be seen; I believe he is not really a talkative character, and this sort of event probably just doesn’t appeal.
