Olga Raffault, 2020 Update
One of the most famous names in the Chinon appellation, this domaine probably owes its current existence to a German prisoner of war who ended up here during World War II. Despite the domaine being named for her, Olga Raffault was the wife of a vigneron and it was largely her husband Pierre who looked after their vines and made the wines. Tragedy struck in 1947 when Pierre died, suddenly and unexpectedly, casting the future of the domaine into doubt. It was Ernest Zeinninger, a German prisoner who had been put to work on the land and had stayed on after the end of hostilities, who stepped up to the plate. He took over the running of the domaine on her behalf, and he never left.
With time the domaine passed to the next generation, Olga’s son Jean Raffault, Ernest and Jean working side-by-side, as one. If you visited the domaine during the 1970s or 1980s it would often be Ernest who would pull the corks for you. Eventually Jean’s daughter Sylvie Raffault took over, assisted by her husband Eric. One suspects, however, that if it had not been for Ernest she may not have inherited anything at all.
In modern times the Olga Raffault domaine has maintained a high profile in some wine-appreciating corners, and I have thus followed its wines for more than a few years. It has not always been a straightforward endeavour; the wines seem to flit from lean and ungiving in one glass, to sinewy and textured in the next, with no really apparent pattern to it. Certainly in their youth the red wines tend to have a leaner, more tense and more acidulous style than many of their Chinon counterparts. Checking in on an older vintage last year though, as it hit twenty years of age, a previously unremarkable wine suddenly impressed with its taut, silky and sinewy character. Is this the secret to the wines of Olga Raffault? They have all the character they need, it is just that you need to hang on for twenty or more years to see it unfurl and be made plain? Perhaps.
However you drink you Raffault bottles, young or old, I was glad recently to be able to meet up with Sylvie Raffault and to taste some current releases. And, I suppose, to wonder how some of them might look ten or twenty years from now.
