100% Cabernet Franc

Food pairings: Grilled meats, charcuterie, roast lamb, duck breast, rabbit with mustard, game, poultry or mushroom dishes, and medium-aged cheeses.

Winemaking: The Tradition cuvée is fully destemmed and given a short maceration with little pumping over, then fermented and matured in concrete to keep fruit and freshness; the 2023 was matured in concrete tanks without oak ageing.

Vineyards and terroir: Domaine Philippe Alliet farms organically around Cravant-les-Côteaux in the heart of Chinon. The domaine's vineyards range from gravel and sand on alluvial terraces along the Vienne to limestone and yellow tuffeau on the hillsides and flinty clays and sands on the plateau.

Family and history: Philippe and Claude Alliet took over the family estate in the early 1980s and set out to craft denser, riper Chinon with the precision they admired in fine Bordeaux, while keeping Loire freshness. Their son Pierre joined in 2005; together they work low yields of optimally ripe, fully destemmed fruit across the domaine's cuvées.

In the pictures: Philippe and Pierre Alliet at the domaine, and Claude Alliet picking grapes at harvest. Photos courtesy of Terroirs.