Jim's Loire: Domaine de Noiré (Chinon): summer exhibition

Two of Dominique Speissert's works

We had a quick sneak preview of the summer exhibition at Domaine de Noiré (Chinon), owned by Jean-Max and Odile Manceau, featuring the work of Caroline Bartal and Dominique Speissert. We also tasted a range of the Noiré Chinons starting with the raspberry fruited 2012 Rosé, a saignée.

Then onto the reds commencing with the soft, easy drinking 2012 Soif de tenderesse, which comes from four hectares of vines on flint at the top of the coteaux. Then it was onto the fine, red fruited 2010 Elégance with more concentration and more edge than the Soif. Elégance comes from five hectares planted on the gravel plain of the Vienne. Caractère was the last cuvée tried. This comes from the limestone coteaux. It has a long, gentle maceration and then spends a year in demi-muids. Jean-Max replaces 20% of the barrels every year. Until 2008 he used barriques (225l) but changed to demi-muids as the work marks the wine less and barriques here tend to promote harsh tannins. The 2010 has full, rich fruit with firm structure and tannins. It needs more time in bottle to soften and fully marry.

We also tasted the 2004 caractère, which had a touch of green pepper on the nose, good texture but slightly drying tannins in the finish. However, a success in a difficult year.