Upper Loire wanderings: day 3 (part 2): Villemontais

10 August 2009

Domaine de Fontenay: view from the balcony towards Roanne

We arrived at the Domaine du Fontenay in Villemontais mid-afternoon. The domaine is run by Simon and Isabelle Hawkins. Their wine estate was established in 1987/88. Then in 2002 they converted an old house into chambres d’hôtes with a sensational view over the Loire Valley towards Roanne. Simon originally comes from Hampshire, while Isabelle is from Champagne.

Shortly after we arrived Simon got back from a short day trip to the Beaujolais, where he had bought some winery equipment from a Beaujolais producer, who was no longer making wine instead now sending his grapes to the co-operative.

"You can see that the equipment needs a good clean," said Simon. The conveyor was particularly dirty with grime and grease. "The Beaujolais producer used to sell to the négoce and during the good years they kept buying. But as you can see the wines would not have been very clean and now as it is crisis time for the Beaujolais, the négoce stopped calling. So the producer stopped making wine and instead now takes the grapes to the co-operative. Sadly you can see a number of abandoned or grubbed up vineyards in the Beaujolais, which is a shame because it is a very beautiful wine region."

Equipment from the Beaujolais producer

That evening we ate at the Auberge de la Barrage above the small market down of Renaison. The dining room was rather gloomy and the service was very slow – we waiting a good 15 minutes to be given menus and there were only four tables occupied in the room. For an aperitif we enjoyed the attractive red fruited 2008 Cabochard Côtes Roannaise Rosé from Robert Sérol. We followed this by the 2008 Bouterrean Côtes Roannaise Rouge from Lionel Montroussier. This was available in 50cl as well as 75cl – this seems to be quite a popular option in the region. Unfortunately the Bouterrean was rather edgy and green – perhaps the grapes needed a bit more time on the vine.