2008 Gamay Vieilles Vignes, Touraine, Vignoble du Haut Bagneux (Jean-Christophe Mandard)
On Thursday evening I thought it would be appropriate to open a bottle of Jean-Christophe Mandard's old vine Gamay to mark the return of electric power to the more isolated parts of the commune of Mareuil-sur-Cher. This Gamay from 65 year old vines has the concentration you would expect from old vines, so a Gamay needing food. The spicy black fruit worked well with lamb steaks, slightly less well with a magret de canard.
I've tasted Jean-Christophe's wines (Vignoble du Haut Bagneux) on several occasion – his UK importers are Richards Walford and also the wines are listed by La Lionnière, Mareuil's ferme auberge, so I took the opportunity of tasting the reds during the Salon des Vins de Loire. (Given the range of Loire wines it is difficult to keep switching colours. I was on reds at the time and didn't have an opportunity to go back and taste the whites).
The Vignoble du Haut Bagneux has 21 hectares of vines with 10 different grape varieties planted including a parcel of 100 year-old Gamay de jus noir – a teinturier. (The vast majority of wine grapes have white flesh and includes all the top quality varieties. In the past teinturier varieties were used to give wines colour. Alicante Bouchet and Dornfelder are probably the best known today.) I must check with Jean-Christophe exactly which Gamay this is as there are apparently three different Gamay teinturiers – le Gamay de Bouze, le Gamay de Chaudenay and le Gamay Fréaux.
I started with the soft, easy drinking 2009 Gamay de Touraine that will be bottled this month made by carbonic maceration it had a hint of banana that can be typical of this fermentation process, especially if a particulr yeast has been used. Then the 2009 Cabernet – 60% Franc and 40% Sauvignon – with concentration, structure and quite marked blackcurrant notes. It will be bottled in April, whereas the soft and ripe Tradition – 50% Côt and 50% Cabernet Franc – will bottled in September.
Another domaine I need to visit. It will be interesting to taste the 2009 reds once they are in bottle.
The Vignoble du Haut Bagneux has 21 hectares of vines with 10 different grape varieties planted including a parcel of 100 year-old Gamay de jus noir – a teinturier. (The vast majority of wine grapes have white flesh and includes all the top quality varieties. In the past teinturier varieties were used to give wines colour. Alicante Bouchet and Dornfelder are probably the best known today.) I must check with Jean-Christophe exactly which Gamay this is as there are apparently three different Gamay teinturiers – le Gamay de Bouze, le Gamay de Chaudenay and le Gamay Fréaux.
I started with the soft, easy drinking 2009 Gamay de Touraine that will be bottled this month made by carbonic maceration it had a hint of banana that can be typical of this fermentation process, especially if a particulr yeast has been used. Then the 2009 Cabernet – 60% Franc and 40% Sauvignon – with concentration, structure and quite marked blackcurrant notes. It will be bottled in April, whereas the soft and ripe Tradition – 50% Côt and 50% Cabernet Franc – will bottled in September.
Another domaine I need to visit. It will be interesting to taste the 2009 reds once they are in bottle.
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