Claude and Stéphane Riffault

Stéphane Riffault

(11th August 2008: Sancerre – cont)
Our next appointment was mid-afternoon with Claude and Stéphane Riffault (Domaine Claude Riffault) in Sury-en-Vaux. This gave us plenty of time to book into our bed and breakfast rooms in Sancerre – Les Logis du Grillon (http://nadcharp.club.fr/sancerre.biz/index.htm). Les Logis is a charming house in a narrow street in Sancerre’s old quarter. Run by Nadia and Pascal Charpentier, the rooms are comfortable with a breakfast area and an attractive secluded garden with tables and chairs. Nadia is from a family of hoteliers in the Auvergne and is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about Sancerre and its surrounding area. She also speaks English. Although they don’t take cards, this is certainly a chambre d’hôte to recommend.

We chatted with Claude Riffault, who now takes a back seat, while waiting for his son, Stéphane, to arrive. The estate has 13.5 hectares of vines – 10 of Sauvignon Blanc and 3.5 ha of Pinot Noir. 60% of their production is exported with Richards Walford as their UK agent.

We asked Stéphane about the history of red varieties in Sancerre and why Sauvignon came to dominate after the devastation of phylloxera, which arrived here around 1880. “Before phylloxera ¾ of the vineyard was planted with red varieties – mainly Gamay with a little Pinot Noir as well as Pineau d’Aunis,” explains Stéphane. Much of Sancerre was planted during the 1920s and 1930s after the First World War. At that time it was polyculture everyone would have a few goats, grow various crops and have some vines. You didn’t live from vines alone.” Such was the dominance of Sauvignon Blanc here during the 1930s that when the first French appellations were drawn up in 1936 it was only for whites. It wasn’t until 1959 that reds and rosé Sancerre from Pinot Noir were made an AC.

The Riffault harrow the soils in their vineyards as well as having a band of grass. The amount of grass that is allowed to grow depends on the paucity of the soils and the amount of competition that the grass provides for the vine. Stéphane is not a fan of green harvests preferring to get the vines in balance before then. It seems likely that Stéphane will take the vineyards organic or perhaps biodynamic. An increasing amount of their harvest is now being picked by hand – it will be around 80% for the 2008 vendange.

The Riffaults have vines in the three terroirs (terres blanches: the steep clay and limestone slopes; caillottes: often bare limestone; and silex: flint) of Sancerre, which they bottle separately. In all the three cuvées 15% is vinified in wood for six to seven months in barrels that have already had at least three wines through them

First up a trio of 2007s. We started with the soft, grapefruity Les Boucauds (terres blanches). Next the very minerally, brilliantly focused and long-lasting Les Pierrottes (silex), which for me was a real stand-out wine. Then quite rich Les Chasseignes (caillottes) with grassy and grapefuit flavours but not as long or focused as Les Pierrottes. We also tried the promising 2007 Antique (terres blanches) with 30% vinified and aged in wood for 12 months. The Antique 2006 was rich and fat with pineapple and grapefruit notes but lacked zip. I preferred the minerality and fresher 2007s.

Stéphane prefers his Sancerre to be young. “Not interesting to keep,” he said.

We had a quick look at La Noué rosé 2007. Stéphane observed that: “Although there is a big increase in demand for rosé in the UK, we are not seeing much of an increase in France.” I liked the black fruited and silky La Noue 2006 Sancerre Rouge with its attractive Pinot Noir character and delicate wood-notes. I was less keen on the more concentrated Antique 2006 with more noticeable wood and s light dry finish – extraction pushed a little too far. Doubtless Antique needs several more years in bottle but may show some of the danger of pushing Sancerre’s red revolution too far and too be fair Antique 2006 is not due to be bottled until November 2008. Certainly neither wine would have been made 15 years ago when few producers took their reds seriously preferring high yields and light wines. For the reds the Riffaults are moving to small conical, cement fermenting vats – interesting how previously reviled concrete is making a comeback, while stainless steel tanks are losing some of their gloss.

During our three days in Sancerre several people opined that they saw Stéphane Riffault is an emerging star, so clearly someone to keep an eye on.

Domaine Claude Riffault, Maison Sallé, 18300 Sury-en-Vaux. Tel: 02.4879.38.22