Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses 2008
This week, something different; a pictorial edition of my Weekend Wine report. One which, I hope, puts one of Chinon’s most-renowned vineyards into a broader context.
Earlier this month I hiked around Les Puys du Chinonais, a small but distinctive landscape which lies just north of the town of Chinon. The puys in question are are series of low-lying limestone hills, remnants of once deeper limestone beds. Lying between the Loire and the Vienne, erosion resulting largely from freeze-thaw cycles and rain-wash into the two flanking rivers over the past 20-30 million years removed much of this material, leaving a few isolated spots of higher ground. They aren’t mountains by any means; the highest reaches just 88 metres above sea level.
What remains is a valuable natural habitat, a complex mix of different landscapes. These include limestone grasslands home to several species of orchids and mountain alyssum, interspersed with modern agriculture, typically fields of wheat or barley. The views can only be described as expansive; below low rise in the distance is one of the limestone hills, the Puy de Pérou.
Atop the puys, the landscape changes entirely. The hills are home to patches of pubescent oak woodland and pine groves (one example of the latter pictured below), littering the ground with pine cones and needles. Atop the Puy de Pérou the remains of a Roman road can be seen, two deep grooves cut into the bedrock by the iron-hooped wheels of Roman carts.
The highest hill, the Puy de Colline, is capped by layers of the durable tuffeau jaune of the Turonian, which locally is often referred to as millarges. Millarges is a complicated term as it is also used to describe prototype limestones comprising sandy shell-rich deposits (millarges grossières) and calcareous quartz sands (millarges sèches).
The durable millarges has long been quarried as a building material, and atop the Puy de Colline there is a disused quarry which allows close inspection of the stone (pictured below). Millarges – of all types – is highly regarded as a viticultural terroir.
The environment is also scattered with vineyards (of course it is!), some of which I inspected. The most obviously associated with the region is Les Puys, although as this sits on the far side of the Chinon bypass I did not check it out. To the west, however, lies the lieu-dit of Les Picasses, surely one of the region’s best-known sites. Both Les Puys and Les Picasses have been selected by the local syndicat as exemplars of the Chinon terrain (which means they are graced with vineyard markers, as pictured below).
Three hours of hiking later, I felt enriched. Wine is a representation of a place, which can mean a broad appellation, such as Chinon, or a specific lieu-dit, such as Les Picasses or Les Puys. But here I think we have something between the two, a special place within the Chinon appellation, home to favourable terroirs for viticulture, but also a valued site for biodiversity, with sheltered and sunny slopes home to valued flora and fauna. The region is classified as a Natura 2000 site and is subject to conservation measures.
Happily, viticulture remains part of the landscape.
I missed the 2008 Chinon Les Picasses from Olga Raffault when it was originally released, and my first taste of this vintage was only last year, the note included with several hundred others in my 2025 Chinon Report, The Times They Are A-Changin’ (expect an even larger and more comprehensive Chinon report later this year). Returning to the vintage to drink rather than simply taste, I find I am a little more impressed with the wine than I was at first glance, the benefit of having a bottle to mull over, rather than a quick tasting sample.
In the glass this vintage of Les Picasses shows a rather fine matt red hue, with a pink and gently oxblood-tinged rim. There is an elegant and restrained perfume on the nose, with touches of desiccated currants and fine antique leather, an evidently savoury and evolved style, with more impact than I found when tasting last year. There is an undeniable note of herb to it as well, reflecting the cooler nature of the vintage, one that will get traditionalist’s juices flowing. It continues with a beautifully silky texture at the start of the palate, but there is an underlying substance and depth here too, the build supported by a rather firm grain of peppery tannins, quite confident, leading to slightly grained finish. This needs to continue integrating those tannins, and integrate a little more, but there is real promise here. Isn’t that always the way with this cuvée? Give this one another three to five years, at least. The alcohol is 12.5% on the label. 92/100
My walk around Les Puys du Chinonais certainly gave my legs a work-out. Even Billy the Lab – never one to turn down the offer of a walk – was flagging by the end.
In the last half-kilometre, every time we reached a patch of shade he would lie down. Voting with his paws! Nevertheless, I think he would happily undertake this hike again. And I would be happy to join him. (29/6/26)
- My profile of Olga Raffault
- A guide to all things Cabernet Franc
- My guide to Chinon and some exemplar Chinon vineyards
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