Domaine de Pallus, Chinon, 'Le Clos de Pallus'

Some wines announce their depth through mass. Le Clos de Pallus does it through accumulation: black fruit, graphite, tobacco, violets, herbs, cool earth, and limestone tension arrive in layers, each one making the wine feel deeper without making it feel heavier. It is one of the most memorable Cabernet Franc-driven reds I have encountered this year, not because it exaggerates the grape, but because it reveals how complete Cabernet Franc can become in a great Chinon site. The 2020 has the authority of a serious cellar wine and the savory, mouthwatering energy that keeps Chinon attached to the dinner table. It is already compelling with air, but everything about its structure suggests a long future.                                                                                                                                                                                           Bertrand Sourdais is the fifth generation of his family at Domaine de Pallus in Cravant-les-Côteaux. After studying oenology in Bordeaux, he worked at estates including Mouton Rothschild and Álvaro Palacios, then established his reputation in Spain as the founding winemaker of Dominio de Atauta. The pull of his native Cabernet Franc eventually brought him home. He returned to Pallus for the 2003 vintage and began rebuilding the estate around organic and biodynamic farming, low yields, long macerations, and patient élevage. His Spanish success gave him a formidable technical education, but Pallus has always been about recovering the voice of the family’s Chinon slopes rather than importing a foreign style.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Le Clos de Pallus is a 1.97-hectare monopole surrounding the family home, a parcel the Sourdais family crosses every day on the way to the cellar. The Cabernet Franc was planted in 1962 at roughly 5,000 vines per hectare. Its southeast-facing terrace is among the estate’s earliest-ripening sites, with siliceous clay resting over the limestone bedrock that defines the finest coteaux of Cravant-les-Côteaux. The vines are farmed biodynamically and harvested by hand. In the cellar, the fruit is fully destemmed, fermented for roughly 25 to 30 days in open wooden vats, then aged for eighteen months in five- to ten-year-old Burgundy barrels.                                                                                                              Those details explain the wine’s unusual equilibrium. The warm, generous 2020 season gave Cabernet Franc ample dark fruit and mid-palate richness, while the limestone slope preserved lift, fine tannin, and a cool mineral line. Complete destemming keeps the herbal register precise rather than stemmy, and the long maceration extracts depth without turning the wine hard. Seasoned barrels provide oxygen and time, not oak flavor. The result sits at the meeting point of classical Chinon savor and unusually polished texture. It has no shortage of concentration, but its real power comes from proportion: fruit, earth, acidity, and tannin moving together rather than competing for attention.                                                               

Decant the 2020 Le Clos de Pallus and serve it at 60–62°F in a large Burgundy stem. It is a gorgeous deep ruby, just beginning to glow garnet at the rim. Black cherry, cassis, and red plum rise first, followed by an astonishing rush of violet, graphite, tobacco leaf, green peppercorn, olive, and rain-darkened limestone. The palate is concentrated and commanding, yet it moves with tremendous energy: dark fruit surges through fresh acidity while finely packed, chalky tannins give every flavor contour and length. Savory herbs, ferrous earth, and pencil lead build through a finish that seems to go on forever. Rillons de Tours are an ideal regional match. Their caramelized richness turns the tannin silky, while Cabernet Franc’s acidity and herbal freshness keep the pork lively and irresistible. This is a profound and memorable Chinon, brilliant now with air and built to evolve magnificently for many years.