Les Charmes Chinon Rouge, 2020

If Pinot is your usual red, this is the next step: a Loire Cabernet Franc with more depth and a fine, dry finish, from the grower who put Chinon on the map.

From the Chinon estate that first bottled single vineyards in the Loire, now farmed organically by the Genet family. This comes from a small north-facing slope of clay and limestone, picked fully ripe in the warm 2020 vintage. Blackberry, blueberry and violets, with a little liquorice. The tannins are fine and the finish is dry and chalky, with a touch of tea leaf.