A Visit to Charles Joguet, 2019
I have moved house twice in my life. The first time doesn’t really count, as I managed to cram everything I owned into a rusty Fiat Uno which, for those unfamiliar with this boxy little Italian hatchback, had the carrying capacity of a small shopping trolley. And it drove like one as well. The second time, however, was rather more typical. The rooms piled high with a myriad half-filled and half-emptied cardboard boxes. The gritty dust which suddenly appears from everywhere, the echo of unfurnished rooms, it neither house nor home, but something in-between.
I arrived at the offices of Charles Joguet greeted by just this sort of scene. One of the most successful domaines in the Chinon appellation, today run by Anne-Charlotte Genet and Kevin Fontaine (pictured), Charles Joguet already has a prominent location in the town with the Cave des Silènes, their bistro and tasting room situated in the shadow of the château, just across the road from the Couly-Dutheil tasting room at the foot of the Clos de l’Echo. They also have extensive winemaking facilities next to the Clos de la Dioterie, on the south bank of the Vienne, as well as a beautiful subterranean cellar carved from the region’s Turonian limestone (the location of which is a closely guarded secret). I doubt, therefore, that Anne-Charlotte was looking to acquire yet more property in the region.
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