Three styles of 2009 Sauvignon Blanc

2009 Sauvignon Blanc (Touraine), Villebois
2009 Sauvignon Blanc, Villebois, Seigy

2009 Le Clos, Touraine Sauvignon, Domaine du Clos Roussely, Angé

2009 Pointe de Doux, Sauvignon Blanc, Frédéric Brochet, Marigny Brizay

Here are three quite different expressions of 2009 Sauvignon Blanc: two come from Touraine –  Villebois and Domaine Roussely – and the third from Haut-Poitou – Frédéric Brochet of Ampelidae.  

Villebois is Dutch owned. The 2009 Villebois is made by Thierry Merlet, who trained in Australia and worked for Brian Croser at Petaluma, before returning to France and working in the Cher Valley. It is the most citric, aromatic and refreshing of the three Sauvignons here. Watching this video clip on YouTube, explains why is this is the case. In the clip Thierry explains that the Sauvignon is picked at different times. Part of the Sauvignon is picked early to give the aromas and freshness, while part is picked later to give some weight and body to the wine. 

 

2009 Le Clos, Touraine Sauvignon, Domaine du Clos Roussely, Vincent Roussely

Vincent worked in Bordeaux, Reims, South Africa, Australia and California, before returning to his native Cher Valley. Le Clos comes from the vineyard just behind the old family cellars in the village of Angé. The cellars used to be rented to Vinival – they returned to family hands in 2010. The 2009 Le Clos is a richer style of Sauvignon than the Villebois, although it does have good freshness in its long finish.

2009 Pointe de Doux, Sauvignon Blanc, Brochet

The wine is called Brochet after the maker – Frédéric Brochet. As brochet means pike (the fish) in French there is a a drawing of a fearsome fish. Despite the nice joke on the label, I find this the least successful of the three Sauvignons featured here as I find it has less character. Well made it is bland and this may be due to the small amount of residual sugar (3.6 gms). I should taste Brochet's Mon Blanc, another Sauvignon Blanc, which has less than a gram of residual sugar in it.

I had hoped to taste Frédéric's wines at this year's Salon des Vins de Loire but as was the case with a number of other producers I just ran out of time.

Good to see that both Villebois and Brochet are closed with screwcaps.  

Contact details:

Villebois, 43 Rue de la Quézardière, 41110 Seigy

Email: vin@villebois.nt

Domaine du Clos Roussely, 11 Route du Château, 41400 Angé
Tel: 02.54.32.86.46
Email: clos_roussely@yahoo.fr


Ampelidae, Manoir de Lavauguyot, 86380 Marigny Brizay
Tel: 05.49.88.18.18
Email: ampeliade@ampeliade.com