Chinon
Cool maritime
Cabernet Franc's most celebrated Loire home: perfumed, fresh reds from the banks of the Vienne, in the shadow of the town's medieval castle.
Overview
About Chinon
Chinon takes its name from the town on the Vienne, best known for the fortress where Joan of Arc met the future Charles VII in 1429. The appellation, recognised as an AOC in 1937, is overwhelmingly red and made from Cabernet Franc, which is locally called Breton.
Two broad styles exist. Vines on the gravel and sand terraces along the river yield lighter, fruit-forward wines for drinking young, while those on the clay-limestone slopes and plateau give firmer, more age-worthy reds. Both are marked by red-berry fruit, violets and a pencil-shaving, herbaceous edge.
Chinon is marked on the map.
France
Shaded: Indre-et-Loire. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Cool maritime
Cool and oceanic, with some shelter from the Vienne valley. Cabernet Franc ripens reliably in warm years, while in cooler vintages it shows a leafier, more herbaceous character.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Three broad terroirs: gravel and sand terraces beside the Vienne give the lighter, earlier-drinking wines, while clay-limestone (tuffeau) slopes and plateaus produce firmer, longer-lived reds.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
Chinon is a single appellation, an AOC since 1937, with one set of rules and no official quality tiers inside it.
AOC Chinon
Mostly red and rosé from Cabernet Franc, with up to 10% Cabernet Sauvignon permitted; a small amount of white is made from Chenin Blanc.
Style, not tier
Many producers make a lighter wine for early drinking and a richer 'old vines' or single-plot cuvée. These are house styles, not official ranks.
What's grown here
Grapes
Each grape's page links back here.