2013 Loire Vintage: Western Touraine + brief peek@Vouvray

Mi-Pente La Butte: promising looking Cabernet Franc 

but what will this week bring?  

Friday was the last day of Chris Kissack's harvest stay in the Loire. With a Ryanair flight just before 6pm we had to stay relatively close to Tours Airport. The inital plan had been to concentrate on Montlouis and Vouvray but as the harvest of the Chenin for the still wines is not yet in full swing, we decided instead to head west to Azay-le-Rideau, Chinon, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, although we did have a very quick peek at Vouvray on the way to taking Chris to the airport. 

Marielle Henrion

Château de l'Aulée

Our first stop was to see Marielle Henrion at Château de l'Aulée in AC Azay-le-Rideau but whose principal production is in sparkling wine. "It's bizarre," Marielle told us, "the technical analysis of the grapes differs from the taste, which is riper than the analysis." 

More text to add to go with fotos!

Baudry-Dutour: Chinon

At Baudry-Dutour we caught a test run of a new picking machine from New Holland. This is a pre-series trial of a machine that will be on the market next year. Opti-Grape features an optical soprting facility that should reject unripe, rotten or misshapen grapes. The level of tri (selection) can be adjusted. These Cabernet Franc grapes were destined for rosé. 

Grapes allowed through, which included just a few green berries 

and many berries completely intact

Sample of grapes rejected

Frédéric Mabileau, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil (+Bourgueil)

Sorting hand picked grapes

Filling a barrel with grapes that will be fermented in the barrel for Eclipse 

(above and below)

Sébastien David, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil  

New sorting machine@Gérard Vallée, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil 

 Charles Morand, Château Gaudrelle, Vouvray