Two Montlouis producers

Part of the Gare de Tours

Now in my hotel in Tours (Best Western Central Hotel: 02.47.05.46.44) having arrived at the Tours main station around 3pm. The station at Tours is a really magnificent building and recalls the golden years of the railways in the second half of the 19th century. Certainly well worth going to see even if you have no intention of catching a train. The good news at the hotel is that there is free WiFi in the rooms and that it works. I hope hotels, including the Hotel Panoramic in Sancerre, that levy eye-wateringly high charges for internet access note that it is increasingly the norm for hotels to offer free access.

One of the tiled murals inside the station depicting destinations

As posted yesterday two visits this afternoon to 'newcomers' to Montlouis – Laurent Chatenay and Xavier Weisskopf.

Laurent Chatenay

Laurent Chatenay

My first visit was to Laurent Chatenay, who starting in 1996 and is one of the first of newcomers to Montlouis that have helped to make this a very dynamic appellation. Prior to taking over from his father-in-law on his retirement, Laurent worked in industrial design.

Laurent’s father-in-law had bottled very little of his wine instead selling it in bulk to négociants. When Laurent took over the 7ha of family vines he started bottling and also moved rapidly to organic viticulture. By 2000 he had stopped using any chemical products in the vineyard. 1n 2003 Laurent applied for the Ecocert certification and this was granted in 2006.

Laurent: “I moved to organic viticulture for two reasons. Firstly because I’m concerned about the environment, so my house is bio and I eat bio. Secondly, using weedkillers means that the vines roots stay on the surface and don’t plunge down deep, so you don’t get an expression of terroir in your grapes as they only take in the surface nutrients. Because the soil is poor I don’t grass over the vineyards as that would provide too much competition. Instead I till the soil.”

His seven hectares, in twelve different parcels, are on the Cher side of the appellation. The sub-soil is clay and flint overlaid with around 110 cm of sand. “Makes it very easy to work,” Laurent. He did expand up to 13 hectares but decided that this was too big and he didn’t enjoy having to manage the people he needed to employ to look after the larger area, so has now gone back to seven hectares.

Laurent: “Most of my vines are between 40 and 90 years old, although I have one parcel of young vines that were planted seven or eight years ago. My yields are around 35 hl/ha and my annual production is around 30,000 bottles.

"Debudding the vines is very important for me – making sure that the bunches of grapes are well separated. I try to avoid a green harvest as this is really too late. We picked entirely by hand. 2004 and 2006 were catastrophic for us, as we had to leave half the crop on the ground as it was rotten. On the other hand 2002, 2003 – an atypical vintage, 2005, 2007 and 2008 have been good vintages for us. Apart from my first cuvée from young vines the rest is all vinified in barriques. I have tried larger sizes like 400 and 500 litre barrels but I prefer to use barriques with a preference for those from Burgundy.”

Laurent sells 70% of his production from the cellar door and through the shop in Montlouis at 73 Quai Albert Baillot that his wife runs. As well as stocking the domaine wines they also sell a range of organic wines from the Loire.

We started our tasting with the soft and creamy 2007 Pétillant Naturelle Extra Brut, which also has a quite attractive mineral finish. Then onto the crisp, lemony and commercial Méthode Traditionelle. About 50% of Laurent's production is sparkling. He would prefer that he made almost entirely still wine but recognises that there is a good market for sparkling wine and that you need something that will pay the bills.

Next we looked at a tank sample of 2008 Les Quarts de Nouy, which will be bottled in March. Picked on 7th/8th October it is soft and citric, pure with an attractive mineral finish. The 10 grams of residual sugar provide a good balance for the acidity. This Laurent’s only still cuvée that is not fermented in wood. The 2008 Les Quarts de Nouy and the MT sparkling will soon be available in the UK through Novum Wines, whose wine buyer is Steve Daniel. Steve used to buy for Oddbins in its heyday. Steve is working with Thierry Merlet, who used the winemaker and involved in the Levin venture near Montrichard, on this and some other Loire projects.

Onto 2007 Les Maisonnettes, which spends a year in barriques of two to six passages of wine through them. This was the first of Laurent’s wine where the nose was pungently Chenin – rustic notes and lacking the purity and precision of his 2008 Quarts de Nouy or the precision that is invariably in the Montlouis of producers like Jacky Blot. The 2007 is quite rich (13.5% alc) and it may be going through an awkward stage but the rustic notes worry me, especially as they were present on the 2007 La Vallée Demi-Sec and the 2003 Les Quarts de Nouy Moelleux.

In contrast I liked the 2007 Les Hauts de Cangé (14€), which was fermented in new barrels. It has good weight, concentration, some barrel spice but not dominant, and good mineral length. Will benefit from a couple of years or more in bottle.

As already mentioned the light gold 2007 La Vallée demi-sec (10€) has rustic, slightly unclean Chenin aromas. The palate is better with a typical touch of bitterness in the finish, which I find attractive. 50% of the wine went through an involuntary malo, which Laurent would have preferred to have avoided.

Of the two 2003 moelleux tasted I much preferred the more expensive and concentrated La Vallée aux Prêtres (18€) with 190 gms of residual sugar with its butterscotch flavours. Still a little bit dominated by its sugar, this is certainly a bottle can laid down and enjoyed in the decades to come. As already indicated the 2003 Les Quarts de Nouy lacks some purity and precision. In 2003 Laurent made another moelleux Le Clos Michot picked at a potential alcohol of 24%, this has 245 gms of rs from passerillage. Sadly it is now sold out but I have drunk it and was certainly impressed.

Following the visit I’m left with the impression that Laurent’s wines could be better. There is an inconsistency here, which is shown by the rusticity on some of the wines. Whether this is due to the need for a more rigorous grape selection in the vineyards for some of the wines or, perhaps more likely, something in the cellar that needs tightening up I don’t know. This is a pity as I sure the approach is right.

Xavier Weisskopf

Xavier Weisskopf
It seems likely that Xavier is the most recent of the group of newcomers, who have turned Montlouis into such a dynamic appellation. Possibly Xavier may have to share that distinction of newness with Elise Brignot in Dierre. Xavier created his 13 hectare estate in 2005 after working as chef du cave for Louis Barroul at Château Saint-Cosme in Gigondas. Despite his recent arrival Xavier already has an enviable reputation for his wines.

This visit was my first chance to taste Xavier’s wines and it was soon clear why he has been making echoes – I was impressed, particularly with the purity and precision of the wines.

Unlike many of the other newcomers Xavier is from the world of wine. He hasn’t made a career change. Born in the north of France he went to school in Chablis and then to wine school in Beaune. During his four years in Gigondas he became frustrated that the region was really too warm for whites – or, at least, the whites he wanted to make. Furthermore Xavier is particularly passionate about Chenin Blanc.

Of his 13ha, 9.5 are AC Montlouis with vines in Lussault-sur-Loire (3ha: argile-calaire) and Saint-Martin-le-Beau (6ha: flint and clay). The rest is AC Touraine with some Sauvignon and 24 ares of very old Côt that was planted in 1891. This is one of a few parcels of very old Côt (all over 100 years old) in this area – others include Damien Delecheneau at La Grange Tiphaine (Amboise) and the Clos Roche Blanche at Mareuil-sur-Cher. Xavier explained that Didier and Catherine (Clos Roche Blanche) had told him that their old Côt was called ‘de Montlouis' (from Montlouis). So it would appear that the plants originally came from the Montlouis area. Of course this was long before the appellations were established and Montlouis whites would often have been sold under the Vouvray name.

Xavier has amazing cellars tunnelled out of the limestone hillside on the Rue Rocher des Violettes close to the Château d’Amboise. Originally a quarry for building material, it was then used by wine producers but abandoned in the 1920s. When Xavier took it over it was full of old wine implements including an old vertical press but, because of the cellar’s humidity, everything had rotted and unfortunately nothing was salvageable.

The cave@Le Rocher des Violettes

Xavier: “The vineyards are cultivated organically with some biodynamic principles also used. When I started I used 228 litre barrels from Burgundy with many bought from Marc Colin. In 2007 I started using 500 litre barrels, which I find mark the wine less, so in the future I will be moving over to these.”

The first wine tasted was 2007 La Touche Mitaine (10€) from vines around 30 years old grown limestone and flint soil. Vinified and aged for 12 months in pièces bourguignon, I found this very pure and mineral, although Xavier thought there was a little reduction and that it wasn’t tasting as well as a few weeks before.

Then 2006 La Négrette (13€) from old vines on clay-limestone soils. Xavier: “Très tardive.’ (Very late to mature.) 25% in new barrels, in wood for 16 months, then five months to settle in tank before bottling.” La Négrette has lovely purity and the sort of austere precision that I love in Vouvray and Montlouis. Although there is no malo, I found just a touch of butteriness in the finish.

Xavier Weisskopf

The 2007 Montlouis Demi-Sec (10€) with 13 g of residual sugar – just into the demi-sec category – and vinified in tank. This has similar purity and precision with a mineral finish allied with a characteristic touch of bitterness. There is also a hint of honey in the aftertaste. Next the 2006 Pétillant Naturelle (11€) 24 months sur latte and degorged on 15th November 2008. Despite its honeyed nose I found Xavier’s Pét-Nat drier and more mineral in style than the one tasted at Laurent Chatenay.

We finished with the 2007 Bel Air Côt Vieilles Vignes on sandy, flinty soil. Xavier is experimenting with the best way of vinifiying his Côt. For the first vintage he used carbonic maceration (the method used to vinify Beaujolais) to emphasise the fruit. This 2007 was classically vinified and for 2008 Xavier went back to carbonic maceration. The 2007 Côt is deep coloured with a gamy nose. It needs more time and I was less convinced by this than by Xavier’s Montlouis.

Xavier plans to plant another 50 ares of Côt this year using a sélection masale. We talked about various clones of Côt and Xavier mentioned one called Côt Madelaine that produces large quantities of fruit that is ripe at the end of August but not quality wine.

Around 60% of Xavier’s production is exported to the US, Canada, Germany, the UK (Decorum Vintners) and Belgium.

Laurent Chatenay, 73 Quai Albert Baillet, 37150 Montlouis
Tel: 02.47.50.65.58

Xavier Weisskopf, Le Rocher des Violettes, 38 Rue du Rocher des Violettes
Tel: 02.47.23.52.08
Email: xavier.weisskopf@netcourrier.com