2020 Olga Raffault Les Barnabés Chinon

[Nicklasss]

I want to drink Loire red wines lately, as it has been too long since my last one. A genuine producer, respected and loved by many BWEers tonight, Olga Raffault.

Clear medium red color. Nice nose with some cabfranc signature of light rasberries, morello cherries, light roasted pepper, light animal brett and leave. Typical. Nice mouth, light to medium body, flavors of spicy cherries, hemp, dattes, lightly burned wood. Good density and length. Refined tanins on the final, with light roasted berries and bone mineral. Textbook Chinon, like Raffault can do. Tn : 90-91.

I have few more bottles, I guess will hold 5 more years easily… or more.

[Ianjaig]

Nice note. I had a few of these recently and really enjoyed them as it's a good red, summer wine. The leather notes were lovely. Sometimes I chilled it in the fridge for 5 or 10 minutes which seemed to balance it out further. Perhaps I need to tuck some away as well. Cheers.

[jckba]

I skip buying this cuvée and just spend the couple of bucks more on Les Picasses which is one of the great values in the world of fine wine which is kind of similar to my rationale when buying something like Clos de Roilette.

[Nicklasss]

I would agree, ligther style than Les Picasses, but true to Chinon.

My problem is that MC doesn’t want to drink red wine no more, especially concentrated red wine. Last night, she had 2-3 glasses of Les Barnabés… there is some hope.

[Nicklasss]

One day later, brett and horsey with rasberries. Animal take over.

[robert goulet]

As being a big fan of Olga CF ....I am yet to try the Barnabés. Wish the Orlando distributors would bring this local

Great to see u indulging the dark side Nic!!

[JimHow]

“ My problem is that MC doesn’t want to drink red wine no more, especially concentrated red wine. ”



Umm….

[ericp]

That’s a bummer Nic. A buddy of mine has the same problem and has moved to using a Coravin quite regularly. Something to contemplate if MC doesn’t come back to the big red dark side.

[JimHow]

Does Coravin really work?

[DavidG]

In my experience, Coravin works reliably for a week, maybe two. Which should be enough in most cases. Beyond that is hit or miss.

Repour is my choice for preserving bottles that we’ll consume over the course of a week. Cheaper and simpler.

For a robust wine that will be finished the next day I’ll often just put it in the fridge without even recorking it.

[Nicklasss]

Opened another bottle last. Was a bit less singing than the first one, and a bit more bretty.

There was still some cherries and some earthy mineral, but was giving less than i remember. Probably only 87-88 points last night.

[stefan]

What good Chinons are not bretty? My tolerance for brett has lessened as I have aged; dunno why.

[DavidG]

A little more bretty might be a positive...