Jim's Loire: 2014 Loire vintage – round up of the last few days (Part 2

Early morning view from Moulin de Beaupréau

2nd passage grapes in Clos le Grand Beaupréau (Savennières):

Domaine de la Bergerie

Last Thursday we stayed overnight in the comfortable and welcoming Moulin de Beaupréau in Savennières, whose attractions include an indoor pool and a sauna. The Moulin overlooks the vines of Clos le Grand Beaupréau, whose vines are shared by Château de Pierre-Bise, Domaine de la Bergerie and Domaine Ogereau. By coincidence the Papins and Guégniards were picking there on the Friday morning, so we started our quick swing through Anjou here. The Ogereaus had already finished.

Anne Guégniard told us that this was their last sweep through the Clos and that after the recent rains they needed to be selective in their picking. They had made their first tri in the Clos last week and had finished their other Savennières vineyard – La Croix Picot a week last Wednesday. So far yields for their whites were OK, while the Cabernet was 'un peu juste'.

In contrast the Papins were carrying out a tri in their vines and planned to come back later for a final picking.

Most of the Anjou producers we saw had finished or nearly finished their dry whites but were waiting for this week to tackle their Cabernets.

Like Touraine Anjou had had rain last week, although the weather station at Beaucouzé (Angers) recorded considerably less rather than the station at Tours – 51.3mm compared to 67.3mm.