The Chinon appellation covers eighteen villages along the Vienne River and ends at its confluence with the Loire. The small city of Chinon has a terrific history, exemplified by the castle of Chinon overlooking the Vienne River, which served as home to many royals including the powerful Plantagenets at one point. It was here too in 1429 that a struggling King Charles VII, first met Joan of Arc and was convinced to re-seize France’s kingdom.

The soils of Chinon are complex but can be generally organized into three categories: along the Vienne River are alluvial terraces made up of gravel and sand, on the hills along the Vienne River are limestone and yellow tuffeau soils and atop the hills, on the plateau, are flinty clays and sand.

In 1983, Claude and Philippe took over the Domaine from Philippe’s father, with a clear mission to extend the Domaine and get the best out of their vineyards. The Alliet family continues that endeavour today. Claude and Philippe have begun passing their knowledge on to their son, Pierre. The three of them spend all year in the vineyards, cultivating the vines precisely to get low yields of grapes and concentrated flavours. They grow their entire 18 hectares of vineyard organically.

The Alliet’s produce four cuvées of red wines, all made of the single grape variety Cabernet Franc, and one cuvée of white wine made of Chenin. The first cuvée of red wine is called “Tradition” and is made from vineyards planted in Cravant-Les-Coteaux on gravel and sandy soils. The second cuvée is the “Vieilles Vignes” or old vines – also planted in Cravant-Les-Coteaux. The recently acquired “L’Huisserie” is planted with rather young vines – 15 years old – on clay and siliceous alluvial soils. The Domaine’s top red cuvée is the “Coteau de Noiré” planted on clay and limestone complex soils with vines greater than 40 years old. “Coteau de Noiré” is said to be the pantheon of the Chinon wines.

Finally the cuvée of white wine is very rare with only a couple of thousand bottles produced every vintage. The vineyard of Chenin is ideally located on a beautiful slope in Chinon. It is producing a very complex and refined dry white wine.

During the winemaking process, every single cuvée is processed gently. They don’t push the caps during the maceration of the red wines, slowing the extraction of flavours and tannins. The use of new oak during the wine maturation is kept to a minimum.

We are very proud to be importing Domaine Alliet’s wines – they are exquisite examples of Chinon wines and a cherished addition to Clos Cachet’s portfolio.