Philippe Alliet, 2017 Update
I have written several detailed tasting reports and made some significant profile updates to my coverage of Chinon, Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil this year, spurred on both by the broad success these red wine appellations have enjoyed in 2014 and 2015 (and also, I suspect, in 2016 and 2017) and of course having bought a house within striking distance of all these appellations. I visited Jérôme Billard several times, checked out the vineyards of Matthieu Baudry and Benoît Amirault and visited less familiar names such as Château de Minière and Aurélien Revillot. And then came the harvest visits, to Charles Joguet and others. It’s been a busy few months.
One of the leading vignerons I haven’t had a chance to visit, however, is Philippe Alliet, in my opinion one of the major players in the Chinon appellation. Five years ago I would have said he was in the top two, and I suspect I would say the same now although there is certainly more competition these days, from revitalised old favourites such as Charles Joguet as well as more recently discovered names such as Domaine de la Noblaie. This is something I will have to rectify next year (adding his name to a long list of vignerons I need to visit and revisit in the region). In the meantime I present my annual review of this year’s releases as tasted with Philippe and Claude, and their son Pierre (pictured above), at the Salon des Vins de Loire.
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