Charles Joguet, 2024 Update
If you have been following the wines of Charles Joguet – the man (last I heard happily retired and still enjoying painting) and then the domaine – for long enough, let’s say since the mid-1980s, then you will know that quality has been up and down here during the last four decades. Happily, under the direction of Anne-Charlotte Genet and viticulteur-cum-winemaker Kevin Fontaine (who divides his time between his work at Charles Joguet and his responsibilities looking after the vines at Champalou, now that Didier Champalou has retired), the domaine is currently enjoying a golden era.
Through strong vineyard management in the face of climate change and in particular the threat of frost, not to mention an attentive approach to winemaking and the boost which came from a string of warm and benevolent vintages including 2009, 2010, 2015, 2018 and 2019 (and others) the domaine is now on top form. Current and recent releases surely include challengers to the great 1989 Clos de la Dioterie, a wine which frequently pops up on ‘My Top Ten’ wine lists from those in the wine trade.
Indeed, only a couple of months ago, politely mingling (well, I try, social awkwardness aside) before a fabulous dinner and tasting at Château Beychevelle in St Julien a very prominent Bordeaux wine critic told me how much he had enjoyed drinking the 2010 Clos de la Dioterie a short while earlier. So if you won’t take my word for it, take his. This is one of the leading domaines in Chinon, and by extension one of the top domaines for Cabernet Franc in the entire Loire Valley.
