In the beautiful country of Véron, cradled between the Loire and the Vienne, the Domaine Olga Raffault has passed on its expertise in making its Chinon wines for five generations! Olga Raffault has devoted her whole life to these landscapes that she loved so much and has always known how to share her love of Wine! At JN Wine, we are proud to be a part of this story.

'Les Picasses' derives from the limestone plots of the domaine, resulting in a structured wine and giving it a very high aging capacity of at least 15 years and much more depending on the vintage and the development conditions.

Total aging in 30hl tuns over a period of 12 to 24 months depending on the vintage allows the wine to refine its powerful tannins, supporting a superb aromatic complexity.

Capricious in its youth, Les Picasses, having reached its optimum phenolic maturity, reveals over time a fine, persistent bouquet of small black fruits with notes of cocoa, liquorice and spices, coated in its dense, vinous substance.

The Picasses ia harvested manually, then destemmed in the cellar and vatted with uncrushed grapes by a lifting conveyor belt that respects the berry more than anything. Fermentation, combined with punching down, is monitored at 30°C and maceration is extended to 25-30 days, promoting strong extraction of the structural elements.

Serve between 15 and 17°C, with game and mature cheeses.

"It has been a year since I last tasted a bottle of the lovely 2016 les Picasses from Domaine Raffault and the wine continues to blossom beautifully. Out of half bottle, the wine offers up a bouquet that is deep, precise and complex, wafting from the glass in a mix of cassis, cigar ash, chalky soil tones, a hint of juniper berry, tree bark, a bit of meatiness and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and really drinking quite nicely out of half bottle, with a lovely core of fruit, good soil undertow and grip, moderate tannins and impressive focus on the long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is such an outstanding vintage for the Raffault les Picasses!"
94 points. John Gilman, View From The Cellar (July 2023)

"Clay limestone.
Round and fun even if without quite the aroma and precision of the 2018 Les Barnabés. But good evolution. Good Value."
17 points. Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com (May 2022)