Alliet/Philippe Chinon Vieilles Vignes 2021

93 points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "As I have noted before, the Vieilles Vignes bottling from Philippe Alliet hails from several different parcels, with the soils either sand or gravel. The youngest vines the domaine includes in this bottling are fully seventy years of age! The 2021 Vieilles Vignes is a beautiful young wine, showing the cooler nature of the 2021 vintage in its complex bouquet of red and black cherries, menthol, tree bark, tobacco leaf, gravelly soil tones, juniper berry and a hint of oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very transparent in personality, with good depth at the core (though not the same sappy mid-palate amplitude found in the 2020 Coteau de Noiré), beautiful soil inflection, fine-grained tannins and excellent length and grip on the complex and superbly balanced finish. 2031-2075. (Sep/Oct 2023)"

91+ points Yohan Castaing (Wine Advocate): "Crafted from old vines (70 to 80 years old) on clay, gravelly soils, the 2021 Chinon Vieilles Vignes is instantly brilliant in the glass. Despite a slight reduction, it offers up aromas of blueberries, cassis, flowers, violet, rose petals and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, layered and structured, it’s seamless and enveloping with powdery tannins and delicate notes of violet and blueberries on the finish. It's approachable now but also built to evolve with grace. Drink: 2024-2030. (Jun 2024)"

90 points Rebecca Gibb, MW (Vinous): "The 2021 Vieilles Vignes is a job well done in a tricky season. Pure, lifted and admirably fragrant, it offers up cassis alongside raspberries. It is a lithe, athletic expression of these old vines, with a line of acidity that punches through, lending freshness and brightness. Drink: 2024-2031. (Jan 2024)"