Couly-Dutheil, 1989 Chinon ‘Clos de l’Olive’
Cab Franc du Jour #100
Couly-Dutheil is one of the Chinon appellation’s most important producers. Their vineyards account for around 4% of the total area under vine in the appellation, and among their holdings are two of Chinon’s most celebrated sites, Clos de l’Echo and Clos de l’Olive, both monopoles. Today the domaine is led by fourth-generation Arnaud Couly, great-grandson of Baptiste Dutheil, who founded the estate in 1921.
Both lieux-dits are located in the commune of Chinon. The famed Clos de l’Echo sits directly behind the Chinon fortress, covering a significant 17 hectares. In the 12th century the vineyard is believed to have been owned by royalty, and by the 15th century it formed part of the estate of Antoine Rabelais, father of Chinon’s most celebrated son, François Rabelais. Baptiste Dutheil acquired his first hectare there in 1925 and slowly assembled the remaining parcels over time. The majority of the vineyard occupies a steep south-facing slope, with the exception of 5 hectares at the northern edge on a gently north-sloping plateau. Elevations here are among the highest in Chinon at around 95 to 98m above sea level, with soils predominantly composed of a Senonian-age hydromorphic clay mixed with flint, known locally as cornuelles.
Clos de l’Olive
Clos de l’Olive was acquired by René Couly in 1951. The lieu-dit is said to take its name from Baron Charles Leinard de l’Olive, who led the French conquest of Guadeloupe in 1635 and served as the island’s first governor. The site covers approximately 3 hectares, and while parts of the vineyard were replanted in the 1970s, the uppermost portion contains vines over 100 years of age.
The lieu-dit is located about 500m east of the eastern boundary of the Chinon village, set back roughly 1.5km north of the Vienne River. It occupies what is sometimes referred to as Chinon’s premier côte, the first in a series of sloping vineyard pockets that extend eastward from the Chinon commune across Cravant-les-Côteaux and into Panzoult.
The vineyard rises from around 33m at the base to about 61m above sea level at the top, on a full south-facing slope of moderate steepness, providing excellent sun exposure for ripening. The site is a true walled clos, and those walls exert a meaningful influence on the microclimate, creating a somewhat warmer environment than the surrounding open vineyards.
In terms of soils, the Chinon commune is one of the most terroir-complex in the appellation, and here in the eastern part of the commune the slopes between 40 and 60m above sea level are dominated exclusively by Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk, with Senonian and Bartonian-age formations of sands, clays, and Quaternary aeolian sands appearing at higher elevations.
Clos de l’Olive contains two distinct terroir types. Toward the top of the vineyard, a shallow sandy-silt topsoil sits directly over the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau bedrock. In the lower portion, colluvium takes over. Unlike alluvium, which is river-deposited and generally more fertile, colluvium forms through erosion and the gravitational downslope movement of parent materials. It tends to be more heterogeneous in texture and less fertile. The colluvium here carries a clayey-sand texture, derived from the tuffeau chalk above. While the alluvial soils of Chinon are well suited to producing fruit for fruitier, early-drinking styles, colluvial soils derived from calcareous materials like this Upper Turonian tuffeau are capable of producing fruit with the structure and depth required for more age-worthy expressions of Chinon.
The 1989 Vintage
This is from the 1989 vintage, possibly the finest of the 1980s in the Central Loire Valley, spoken of alongside celebrated years like 1959 and 1964. It was a long, warm growing season that allowed for full phenolic maturity while retaining balanced alcohol and acidity.
In the Cellar
The approach in the cellar has evolved since 1989. The fruit continues to be hand-harvested and destemmed, with fermentation in stainless steel and approximately 30 days of skin maceration. A significant shift came in 2003, when Arnaud Couly moved to aging both Clos de l’Olive and Clos de l’Echo exclusively in stainless steel. For the 1989 vintage, the wine would have been aged in oak barrels. This particular bottle is a cellar release purchased directly from the domaine via SommSelect in 2021, meaning it was bottle-aged in the estate’s underground tuffeau cellars for more than 30 years before release. Remarkably, it sold for just $68.
Wine Details
Producer: Couly-Dutheil
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Chinon
Lieux-Dits: Clos de l’Olive
Soils: Sandy-silt topsoil on the Upper Turonian tuffeau yellow tuffeau, colluvium that is a clayey-sand texture
Alcohol: 12.5%