TN: 2005 Charles Joguet Clos du Chene Vert, Chinon

An utterly fantastic bottle of wine.

I had this wine about one year ago and raved about it, but I also said give it a few more years. Of course I never heed my own advice, though that’s ok when I was wrong. While this wine can will continue to age gracefully, it’s right smack into its prime drinking window.

Love how savory this wine has become. Like a warm cup of vegetable and beef barley soup, all meaty, peppery, saline, with crunchy green veggies. Tobacco leaves and ash on the nose and palate. Dry earth, hay, dry riverbed, nice minerality. And while sorta beside the point, there is wonderful fruit there too. Crunchy red fruits, pomegranate, cranberry, spicey red raspberry. Tannins resolving, finish is slightly chalky and crisp.

An archetype Chinon. As an interesting comparator, last week I had the 2005 Joguet Clos de la Dioterie, Joguet’s so-called flagship wine, a wine I drooled over on release. Ten years later, and it has evolved into a very nice wine but one that is more reminiscent of a right bank wine with healthy dollops of cab franc, showing a bit more extraction and heat than I want in a Chinon. The Chene Vert has become the clear winner between the two.

(93 pts.)

These Are nice with age and sounds like you got it in the prime drinking window. So glad Joguet is out the the funk they were in during the 90’s.

Great note, Robert.

Markus - I’ve only had the lower end cuvees over the past couple of vintages, but they’ve all been off the hook. What was the story with the 90s?

This is a great note. I’ve occasionally felt annoyed with myself for having put very little Dioterie in the cellar over the years. I am, however, sitting on a few bottles of the 05 CV, so your note made me feel somewhat better. It sounds like it’s time to check in on one, and maybe a couple of other 05s as well.

Elliot

They went through a long period of underperformance, which depending who you talk to, ended with the 2002 vintage (to me, anyway). I believe there was a change of winemaker and new ownership as well somewhere during that time.

Have 5 of those. Thanks for the note!

Cheers,
JP

I’m not clear when the underperformance started and ended, if ever. The 1995 and 1996 CV are fantastic. We had a bottle of 95 at an offline early this year and I think everyone loved it. I’m a little reluctant to open one of my 05s because of how much upside there was in those wines from the 90s.

Robert,thanks for the notes,sound really good.
For the history(retired 1997 and 15 years…);
http://www.richardkelley.co.uk/chinon_joguet.htm

Nice to hear… I’m somewhat wary to buy a lot of Joguet… I’ve had about 50% rate of overblown Brett bombs (and I enjoy a little Brett).

Thanks!

As an aside, I had a glass of the 2012 “Terraces” last night, and found it to be quite outstanding, particularly at its price point.

Robert,

I only have one of these in the cellar, and was planning on leaving it another five years, but notes like this are sapping my resolve.

I’ve also got the 2005 Varennes sleeping. Any thoughts on how that wine is faring?

Cheers,

Bill

With one left, Bill, give it 2-3 to flesh out even more. The Les Varennes du Gran Clos Franc de Pied is FANTASTIC (when it is not a brett bomb - I batted 50/50 on this wine. Either fantastic or sinker drain cleaner). I have one left, I’m sitting, but my last one was SPECTACULAR. Is your’s the FDP version or the regular Les V?

How much does this cuvée usually cost?

Du Chene Vert is running around $45 these days and the Dioterie $50-$55.

I paid $25-$30 for the 2005s.

I think I’m just priced out of Joguet these days. I’ll consider it when '14s come around I guess, as that should be a good vintage to buy.

Hi Robert
Should I buy 2011 pr 2012?

Claus - I skipped 2011 but did buy some 2012s. Have not tried them, but Chris Kissack was complementary of them and I have enjoyed other wines from the vintage.

Robert,

Thanks for steeling my patience here. Unfortunately, I only have the non-FdP (I can feel my AFWE credibility plummeting as I type this) version of the Les V. On the bright side, I’ve been blessed with a high tolerance for brett (never met a Musar or Beaucastel I didn’t like), so no worries on that score.

On the matter of prices, I just can’t get wound up when I see prices for top cuvées from Baudry, Joguet, and other Loire producers reach the $40-50 range. You’re getting best-in-class wines from great terroir for about what you’d pay for decent Médocs and village Burgs. It’s still a screaming deal in my book.

My sentiments exactly. While I like $25 more than $50, I’m ok as the pricing remains quite fair for the quality. There are some cuvees now bumping $50, new cuvees with no track record, and that bothers me, but I can vote with my wallet. Rougeard really is the only runaway right now.

I’m pretty brett tolerant as well. I had 3 FDPs that came from the same place, all bad. I chalk it up to bad shipping/storage that allowed nascent brett to blossom into some serious stink that even I could not handle!

I picked up a case in 2008 or 2009, and have been opening a bottle per year to track the evolution. I am 100% in agreement with the original note. Indeed, this has everything a Chinon should have. A mixture of crisp red fruits with deeper dark fruits, chalkiness, tobacco and earth, savoriness, basically a meal in a glass.

This wine was very aromatically open from the get-go, and I haven’t seen much movement on that front. I suppose it’s still primary and secondary on the nose. The big shift has been from a very structure-forward palate presence to a more open-knit personality.

I’m sure there are those that will prefer a fully tertiary, fully resolved character. That’s many years off. I’ll probably let a bottle or two go that long. However, I feel like this is at or near a great spot in its aging curve where it is retaining its youthful vibrancy and essential Chinon character while also mellowing to the point where the structure give backbone without excessive grip.