Loire Dinner TNs -- 10/7/23

originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
I'd be happy to see the phrase construed to make it accord with the case: that there is more than one "Raffault" in Chinon. Ideally one by BJ.
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That's it! You've just named BJ's first wine lecture: "One by BJ: Domain "Raffault""
 
Leave a note, forget it, look what happens...fun!

BTW all: The Mme and visited both Domaine O as well as JM Raffault this summer. That was fun too! Grammarians: note the "Raffault" is implied after "Domaine O".

Pro tip: Domaine O Raffault has a ton of back vintages for sale at the domaine, just sayin'. We enjoyed many.
 
We did visit...and we heard nothing about these cuvees!

The visit itself was quite pleasant...we stayed for a week on the edge of Varennes-sur-Loire in a really nice manor house. We rented ebikes for the week (on top of the rental car), which were terrific - we used them to get around for most of our domaine visits.

We took a day to visit both Raffault domaines. We started off at Domaine Olga Raffault, and were hosted by Sylvie, Olga's granddaughter, who now runs the domaine. We love these wines, and it was very fun to be at the domaine and enjoy tasting through the range. They have a ton of back vintages for sale. We bought a number of them and it was fun to wait for Sylvie trying to find them from various spots and then make labels and date the bottles. It also turned out that Sylvie is into perfume, which the Mme is very seriously into, so they had a good time geeking out on that.

We had not planned on going to JM Raffault, but we were close and we regularly drink their base cuvee which regularly shows up here in Seattle, so we thought what the heck and started following the signs. It's not really normal to show up without an appointment, but the lady staffing the office made a heroic effort. She excused herself for five minutes, got herself organized, and then presented a petit degustation for us. Lovely short visit - but I do not recall her bringing out either of those cuvees. In fact, now looking at their website I think she only presented a couple bottles.

We then rode home and stopped in the wonderful Candes St. Martin and had a little picnic. We just happened to stop next to a great wine shop/bar a vin Enfin du Vin...most knowledgeable and definitely worth the stop, lots of interesting bottles. We bought a couple, I have no idea what. But they were good.

I have been terrible not writing up trip notes, honestly a bit daunting, and frankly I just didn't do a good job with individual bottle notes. If there's a groundswell, I will work harder at getting something up.
 
that's awesome dude, thanks for taking the time!

my knowledge of the two vineyards is mostly theoretical at this point, but hoping that changes soon. I understand both are monopoles, and with impressively ancient roots. l'Hospice is predictably of an old hospital fame run by a religious order, not unlike its counterparts in Burgundy. The situation of these sites is most impressive, so I figure there is some serious dirt in play.
 
originally posted by BJ:
We did visit...and we heard nothing about these cuvees!

The visit itself was quite pleasant...we stayed for a week on the edge of Varennes-sur-Loire in a really nice manor house. We rented ebikes for the week (on top of the rental car), which were terrific - we used them to get around for most of our domaine visits.

We took a day to visit both Raffault domaines. We started off at Domaine Olga Raffault, and were hosted by Sylvie, Olga's granddaughter, who now runs the domaine. We love these wines, and it was very fun to be at the domaine and enjoy tasting through the range. They have a ton of back vintages for sale. We bought a number of them and it was fun to wait for Sylvie trying to find them from various spots and then make labels and date the bottles. It also turned out that Sylvie is into perfume, which the Mme is very seriously into, so they had a good time geeking out on that.

We had not planned on going to JM Raffault, but we were close and we regularly drink their base cuvee which regularly shows up here in Seattle, so we thought what the heck and started following the signs. It's not really normal to show up without an appointment, but the lady staffing the office made a heroic effort. She excused herself for five minutes, got herself organized, and then presented a petit degustation for us. Lovely short visit - but I do not recall her bringing out either of those cuvees. In fact, now looking at their website I think she only presented a couple bottles.

We then rode home and stopped in the wonderful Candes St. Martin and had a little picnic. We just happened to stop next to a great wine shop/bar a vin Enfin du Vin...most knowledgeable and definitely worth the stop, lots of interesting bottles. We bought a couple, I have no idea what. But they were good.

I have been terrible not writing up trip notes, honestly a bit daunting, and frankly I just didn't do a good job with individual bottle notes. If there's a groundswell, I will work harder at getting something up.
Click to expand...

Usually when we are in the Loire we stay in Montsoreau, which is adjacent (and walkable) to Candes St. Martin, and have stopped in at Enfin du Vin several times. It's a wonderful little pocket of the Loire.

By the way, next time you are there, if you walk up the hill in Montsoreau, you can find the Moulin à vent de la Tranchée, which is a rather old windmill (no longer operational) surrounded by vineyards on top of the plateau. If you time your walk to coincide with a post-dinner summer sunset, it is an absolutely incredible view. And at that time of evening you aren't likely to see another soul up there, either.
 
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
originally posted by BJ:
We did visit...and we heard nothing about these cuvees!

The visit itself was quite pleasant...we stayed for a week on the edge of Varennes-sur-Loire in a really nice manor house. We rented ebikes for the week (on top of the rental car), which were terrific - we used them to get around for most of our domaine visits.

We took a day to visit both Raffault domaines. We started off at Domaine Olga Raffault, and were hosted by Sylvie, Olga's granddaughter, who now runs the domaine. We love these wines, and it was very fun to be at the domaine and enjoy tasting through the range. They have a ton of back vintages for sale. We bought a number of them and it was fun to wait for Sylvie trying to find them from various spots and then make labels and date the bottles. It also turned out that Sylvie is into perfume, which the Mme is very seriously into, so they had a good time geeking out on that.

We had not planned on going to JM Raffault, but we were close and we regularly drink their base cuvee which regularly shows up here in Seattle, so we thought what the heck and started following the signs. It's not really normal to show up without an appointment, but the lady staffing the office made a heroic effort. She excused herself for five minutes, got herself organized, and then presented a petit degustation for us. Lovely short visit - but I do not recall her bringing out either of those cuvees. In fact, now looking at their website I think she only presented a couple bottles.

We then rode home and stopped in the wonderful Candes St. Martin and had a little picnic. We just happened to stop next to a great wine shop/bar a vin Enfin du Vin...most knowledgeable and definitely worth the stop, lots of interesting bottles. We bought a couple, I have no idea what. But they were good.

I have been terrible not writing up trip notes, honestly a bit daunting, and frankly I just didn't do a good job with individual bottle notes. If there's a groundswell, I will work harder at getting something up.
Click to expand...

Usually when we are in the Loire we stay in Montsoreau, which is adjacent (and walkable) to Candes St. Martin, and have stopped in at Enfin du Vin several times. It's a wonderful little pocket of the Loire.

By the way, next time you are there, if you walk up the hill in Montsoreau, you can find the Moulin à vent de la Tranchée, which is a rather old windmill (no longer operational) surrounded by vineyards on top of the plateau. If you time your walk to coincide with a post-dinner summer sunset, it is an absolutely incredible view. And at that time of evening you aren't likely to see another soul up there, either.
Click to expand...

Gosh...you have been around!
 
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