Charles Joguet - Chinon Les Charmes rouge 2020

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

Silky texture and more depth than usual in this vintage, with fresh, distinguished tannins.

About the domain :

For Anne-Charlotte Genet, the quest for perfectly harmonious, uncluttered tannins is the guarantee of wines capable of being good young and good old. The result is seductive wines, embodying charm, complexity, sensuality and great refinement. With a rare intelligence in her understanding of vines and wine, this is Chinon at its very best.

Decanter

About the wine:

This charming Les Charmes de Charles Joguet comes from low hills with clay-limestone soils. The nose reveals aromas of candied black cherries, earth and slightly evolving black olives, smoke and violets. On the palate, bright notes of cranberry and blackcurrant, very ripe and juicy. Oak adds a complementary touch of vanilla sweetness. Very pleasant.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the wine:

Chinon Les Charmes 2020, vinified in wooden vats and aged for six months in the same type of containers, presents a spicy, deep bouquet of dark wild berries, violets, licorice and rose petals, with a discreet oak influence. Medium-bodied, layered and textured, it's seamless with fine-grained tannins and a long, taut, ethereal finish framed by chalky dry extract. This vintage is a superb expression of Cabernet Franc grown on clay-limestone soils.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

Les Charmes soars with floral radiance and superb freshness.

About the domain :

Founded in 1957 by Charles Joguet in Sazilly, on the left bank of the Vienne, this estate has returned to the top of the Chinon appellation, a consecration for the team in charge of vinification and the vines, chosen by owner Jacques Genet. They work to a high level of excellence, given the size of the estate. Above all, the winemakers have revived a vibrant spirit of freshness in the great Cabernets, which have the unique feature of being born facing north-east. Few estates in the Loire boast such unmissable grands cuvées: Clos de la Dioterie (2 hectares of octogenarian vines on clay-limestone soils, northeast exposure, in Sazilly), Clos du Chêne Vert (2 hectares in the town of Chinon, southwest, steep slope, clay-limestone and flint clay), Les Varennes du Grand Clos (4.5 hectares in Sazilly) aged eighteen months in barrel, then ten months in bottle before release. As for the entry-level cuvées, they manage to make cabernet franc consensual and fine, without losing the origin of the place. That's great quality! These modern Cabernet Francs, both fine and deep, manage to achieve the tour de force of retaining their digestible character, like the 2019, 2020 and now 2021, among the most ambitious in the Loire!

Wine Enthusiast

Vinous A. Galloni

About the wine:

Les Charmes 2020 is an elegant, well-mastered wine. Grown on a clay-limestone hillside, this light-bodied wine has a fine texture: it's succulent and supple, with very fine, chalky-grained tannins. The extra year spent in bottle since my last tasting has softened the youthfulness of its fruit and given it more harmony. Although the blue and red fruits are still clear, the whole is a little more mellow and there's just a hint of development. A wine that lives up to its name.

James Suckling

About the wine:

Charming nose of spiced cherries, raspberries, gunflint, baking spices and a discreet note of smoked paprika. Medium body with fine tannins. Dense but agile, with a lively core of berries and herbs and a succulent, redcurrant-like finish. Made from organically grown grapes. For drinking or cellaring.