Viré-Clessé Les Raspillères 2018 Domaine Franz Chagnoleau

This exciting new domaine was started in 2010 by Franz Chagnoleau and his wife Caroline Gon who met studying Oenology in Bordeaux; he went on to be cellar manager at Domaine Olivier Merlin and she worked at Newton Vineyard in California and now runs Dominic Lafon’s winery in Mâcon. His 2018’s are fab and amongst the very best I’ve tried of the vintage none more so than this lovely Viré-Clessé from the perilously steep 30% Raspilières vineyard which had been abandoned after Phyloxera and replanted in 2005. Organic farming with minimal intervention in the winery, fermented with natural yeast in old oak this had a lovely ripe nose of peach and ripe red apples and toasty brioche and a again peach and apples with great poise and balance of oak and acidity. Definitely a domaine to watch.