2017 Chinon, Clos de la Dioterie, Charles Joguet, Loire
Critics reviews
The 2017 Chinon Clos de la Dioterie retains its great depth of color and feels incredibly young compared with many other 2017s from the region. Demonstrating excellent concentration and full body, it is round and without any angles. There's plenty of stuffing here, yet it remains elegant and coats the mouth with a delightfully fine tannic veil. You could drink it now, but that would be infanticide. If you like classy Right Bank wines that use Cabernet Franc as their base, you'll be pleasantly surprised at this wine.
Drink 2021 - 2040
Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous.com (August 2021)
The 2017 Chinon Clos de la Dioterie is from a northeast-facing monopole right next to the winery overlooking the Varennes du Grand Clos. This historic clos of just over two hectares hosts low-yielding 70- to 80-year-old vines rooting deep in a clayey, highly calcareous soils. The nose is deep, intense and perfectly ripe as well as elegant and seamless, and it exhibits ripe, dark berry aromas and remarkably fine limestone finesse with bloody meat notes. On the palate, this is a thoroughly vital red with great finesse and intensity and all the tributes you may expect from an icon wine of the appellation. The finish is vital, fresh, lemony, salty and highly stimulating if not mouthwatering but also stringent and tensioned, with perfect fruit ripeness and a gorgeous tannin/acidity structure. Impressive. Tasted in June 2021.
Drink 2021 - 2045
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate (August 2021)
About this WINE
Charles Joguet
Philosopher, poet, sculptor, and vigneron Charles Joguet is a living legend in the Loire. In 1957, he became a winemaker at the family domaine. Showcasing his considerable talents, he quickly became the modern pioneer of Chinon by producing some of the finest wines in the appellation. It is fitting that the wry smile of Chinon's most famous son, François Rabelais, should adorn his bottles.
Based on the left bank of the River Vienne in Sazily, Joguet was the first vigneron in the region to produce single-vineyard cuvées. In 1985, Charles joined forces with the Genet family to expand the estate. In 1997, the Genet family officially took over the domaine as Charles wanted to dedicate his time to his other passion, painting.
Since 2006, Anne-Charlotte Genet and winemaker Kevin Fontaine have run the estate and continued entrenching the Joguet name as some of the best wines from the Loire region. Organically farmed, the estate spans over 30 hectares planted with Cabernet Franc and two hectares with Chenin Blanc. Their top cuvées are the Clos de la Dioterie and Clos du Chêne Vert – the latter the product of 80-year-old Cabernet Franc vines, displaying an intensity and concentration of fruit, unrivalled in the region.
Chinon
Chinon is an important appellation for the Cabernet Franc grape, located within the Touraine wine region just to the west of Tours. At approximately 2,500 hectares, it represents a slightly larger zone than its neighbour Bourgueil. Part of the appellation, closest to its other voisin St Nicolas de Bourgueil, possesses light, sandy gravel soils to give an easy drinking style, while the remainder is blessed with a tuffeau subsoil from which the wines draw a finer structure and longevity. Neither style approaches the fullness of Bourgueil however.
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is widely planted in Bordeaux and is the most important black grape grown in the Loire. In the Médoc it may constitute up to 15% of a typical vineyard - it is always blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is used to add bouquet and complexity to the wines. It is more widely used in St.Emilion where it adapts well to the cooler and moister clay soils - Cheval Blanc is the most famous Cabernet Franc wine in the world, with the final blend consisting of up to 65% of the grape.
Cabernet Franc thrives in the Loire where the cooler growing conditions serve to accentuate the grape's herbaceous, grassy, lead pencil aromas. The best wines come from the tuffeaux limestone slopes of Chinon and Bourgeil where growers such as Jacky Blot produce intense well-structured wines that possess excellent cellaring potential.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The 2017 Chinon Clos de la Dioterie retains its great depth of color and feels incredibly young compared with many other 2017s from the region. Demonstrating excellent concentration and full body, it is round and without any angles. There's plenty of stuffing here, yet it remains elegant and coats the mouth with a delightfully fine tannic veil. You could drink it now, but that would be infanticide. If you like classy Right Bank wines that use Cabernet Franc as their base, you'll be pleasantly surprised at this wine.
Drink 2021 - 2040
Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous.com (August 2021)
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