Olga Raffault: Vineyards
As already noted in my introduction, the estate is located in Savigny-en-Véron. The vines in Savigny used to be the only vineyards in the appellation to the west of the town itself, although since the appellation boundaries were (quite sensibly) expanded in 2016 there are other ‘western’ vineyards in Chinon, albeit on the south bank of the Vienne. The location of the Olga Raffault domaine remains significant though, as Savigny-en-Véron is located on the narrowing triangle of land between the Vienne, to the south, which is working its way towards the Loire, to the north. This is widely regarded as the origin of the Chinon vineyard and appellation, and looking at the extensive blanket of vines which coats the landscape I have no reason to disbelieve this.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, being sandwiched between two ancient rivers, the superficial soils here are alluvial, mostly sand, although unlike the alluvial gravel-and-sand soils that lie in the river valley of the Vienne, in Savigny-en-Véron the sand is merely superficial, covering deeper seams of limestone. For this reason the wines of this corner of the Chinon appellation do not necessarily display the same early-drinking style which many of the region’s alluvial styles possess.
The domaine has approximately 25 hectares of vines planted, the vast majority of which is Cabernet Franc, accounting for about 24 hectares. There are a number of significant parcels planted to this variety, most notably Les Picasses followed by Les Peuilles. While Pierre Bréjoux might not have mentioned the domaine in Les Vins de Loire (Parisienne d’Editions Techniques et Commerciales, 1956), he did include both Les Picasses and Les Peuilles in a rather brief shortlist of top lieux-dits in the appellation.
