#2015 Loire – Montlouis and the threat of rot

On Friday afternoon we went across to have a quick look at Montlouis to see how the Chenin was coping with all of the rain over the past few days – between 60-85 mm from last weekend. 

It was very interesting, although too brief a look to be a real scientific test, to see how the differences between the way that vineyards are cultivated and the level of rot. A vineyard, which had been totally blitzed with weedkiller, was obviously threatened with serious rot.   

 100% weedkillered vines

 Grassed over vineyard without leaf plucking

Slow riopening and rot developing especially where 

leaves touch grape bunches 

Grassed over vineyard with well separated 

bunches of grapes well aerated – free of rot

Early signs of Spring in Touraine vineyards

 9th April 2015: first signs of budbreak I've seen in an AC Touraine 

I am assuming this is Sauvignon Blanc  as it is amongst the first to bud

Rare wild tulips in Le Haut-Lieu vineyard 

(Domaine Huet, Vouvray)

Apparently these tulips are only found amongst the vines in Vouvray  

and I'm told not in the other communes of the appellation

Across the road from Le Haut-Lieu parcel 

 – vineyard with many replacement vines showing 

the serious ravages of the vine disease Esca 

 

 Weeping vines at Château des Bidaudières

(cultivated by Domaine Perrault-Jadaud,Vouvray)

Traditional celebration of the arrival of Spring in some vineyards

 – turning vineyards orange and gold 

(above and below)

 (from above) ..... to achieve this

Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil: decision day 18th June

Small bottle of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil in the villages's central square

The Syndicat des Producteurs of Saint-Nicoias-de-Bourgueil have at least two crucial decisions to make at their annual general meeting on Monday 18^th June. Will they stay in Interloire or follow the example of their adjacent but rival appellation Bourgueil? Also will they pass measures to restrict the use of weed killers in the vineyard?

I’m not going to guess the outcome of the vote to stay in or pull out of Interloire, the promotional and administrative body that looks after the vineyards from Nantes to Touraine. Neighbouring Bourgueil left Interloire at the beginning of 2011. As a number of producers have vines in both appellations the vote may depend upon how they judge the success of Bourgueil in promoting itself without the greater administrative means of Interloire.

Sadly lifeless vineyards@Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil

I hope that Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil will pass measures to restrict the use of weed killers. It is shameful that an appellation that sells well still has significant parcels of vines that are completely weed killered and where the vineyard looks dead and with no biodiversity. Producers in Touraine AC may be able to argue that they can’t afford not to completely blitz their vineyards but this is certainly not the case in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, the Loire’s most popular Cabernet Franc red.

And yet Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil lags behind the other nearby appellations. Bourgueil, Chinon and Saumur-Champigny all now have rules that ban the use of weed killers behind the rows and only permit their use under the vines. The area between the vines has to be either grassed over or cultivated. Ideally their use would be banned altogether but this is a significant step in the right direction, although the use of weed killers right by the vines may adversely affect the delicate micro-organisms that protect the vine and its roots against disease. Of course many Saint-Nicolas producers do grass over their vineyards and some are organic but too many seem still attached to the chemical agriculture of the 1980s.  

Should the Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil decide not to restrict the use of weed killers, they may well be perceived to have become complacent due to their commercial success.

A suivré…       

Loire œnotourisme and a blitzed landscape

 

 'du développement durable ou encore de la préservation des paysages'

 (above and below)

Ah bon!

Warm words in La Nouvelle République (19th April 2012) about the cooperation between Nantes, Anjou, Saumur and Touraine about the development of wine tourism in the Loire. Rolling phrases about sustainable development and protecting the land and the 'patrimoines viticoles'. Unfortunately, as the charter for welcoming visitors shows (below) the criteria concentrate on the quality of the welcome etc., there is no mention of how the producers look after their land despite the fine words in the article.

Sadly amongst the more than 300 Loire producers who have signed up to welcoming visitors properly there are some who still use a 100% weedkiller approach in their vineyards. Of course, how visitors are received is important but Interloire should be more ambitious and extend the criteria to cover the ways that the vineyards are looked after.      

‘L'œnotourisme a le vent en poupe, tout particulièrement dans le Val de Loire. Aujourd'hui, plus de 300 caves répondent à une chartre de qualité encadrant l'accueil des visiteurs. Par ailleurs, huit secteurs de production bénéficient du label « Vignobles et découvertes » créé en 2009 par le ministère du Tourisme.

Pour la première fois, quatre de ses régions ont choisi de s'associer pour faire conjointement la promotion de leurs vins, de leurs terroirs et de leurs patrimoines viticoles. Il s'agit du pays Loire Touraine qui s'étend sur les aires d'appellation (vouvray, touraine-amboise, touraine et touraine-mesland), du pays du Saumurois, de la vallée du Layon et du vignoble nantais, surtout connu pour son muscadet.

Le mariage ne s'est pas fait par hasard. Ces quatre régions viticoles bénéficient des fonds européens Leader. Elles ont aussi la même approche de l'aménagement du territoire, du développement durable ou encore de la préservation des paysages. « L'œnotourisme, ce n'est pas seulement la viticulture. Notre ambition commune est de mobiliser tous les acteurs du tourisme autour de la vigne et du vin pour développer nos territoires ruraux dans une démarche de qualité », résume Claude Courjeau, le président du Pays Loire Touraine qui accueillait lundi ses trois homologues pour la signature officielle du projet de coopération.’

(from La Nouvelle République 19th April 2012) 

Quality criteria for producers welcoming visitors to their wineries/tasting rooms (Caves touristiques):

'La démarche qualité des Caves touristiques du Val de Loire:

La démarche qualité Caves touristiques en Val de Loire a été engagée par I'interprofession viticole Interloire avec avec les institutions du tourisme et du vignoble. Ce sont 300 domaines viticoles qui se sont engagés dans une démarche qualité d’accueil en cave.

Les engagements de la charte du vignoble de Loire :

Faciliter l’accès à leur exploitation et au lieu d’accueil

Être ouvert à horaires fixes

Accueillir les touristes dans un lieu aménagé

Offrir une dégustation commentée et pédagogique

Afficher les tarifs et prestations, et disposer d’une documentation

Proposer la vente à l’unité

Accepter les démarches d’évaluation et de contrôle qualité de ces engagements

Plus d'infos : VINS DE LOIRE'

Val de Loire patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO, paysage culturel – oenotourisme: really!

'Paysage culturel ... et vivant!' (above and below)

A living landscape!?

Many parts of the Loire, including some of the the vineyards, are very beautiful and along with its historical cultural heritage justifies the valley (between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes) being classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

But could you include the vineyards above, denuded of all life except for the vines, as 'a World Heritage' site? Although the photos used in this post were taken last week in some of the vineyards of St-Georges-sur-Cher, they could have been taken in a number of Loire vineyards. Nor are they a carefully selected minority – it is all too easy to find these desperately sad and shocking sights.

They mock and render hollow the resonant World Heritage citation:

'Paysage culturel ...

« Les paysages culturels sont des biens culturels et représentent les « œuvres conjuguées de l’homme et de la nature » mentionnées à l’article 1 de la Convention. Ils illustrent l’évolution de la société humaine et son établissement au cours du temps, sous l’influence des contraintes physiques et/ou des possibilités présentées par leur environnement naturel et des forces sociales, économiques et culturelles successives, externes aussi bien qu’internes. » 

  

... évolutif ...

Un paysage culturel évolutif « résulte d’une exigence à l’origine sociale, économique, administrative et/ou religieuse et a atteint sa forme actuelle par association et en réponse à son environnement naturel. » 

  

... et vivant

« Un paysage vivant est un paysage qui conserve un rôle social actif dans la société contemporaine, étroitement associé au mode de vie traditionnel et dans lequel le processus évolutif continue. »' 

Blitzed ecosystem....

...but the cheapest form of weed control

The real cost of cheap wine
 

Of course there are many producers who look after their vines with care and how have moved away from using weedkillers indiscriminately. Some stopping using them altogether, while others restrict their use. Despite its often difficult climate, the Loire is one of the leaders in France of organic and biodynamic viticulture. Over the past 15 years or more there has been a growing move to grassing over vineyards or tilling the soil or a mixture of both.      

It is not a surprise that there is a keen interest in developing oenotourisme (wine tourism) throughout the vineyards of the Loire. At the recent Vinocamp Loire we were all given a copy of an illustrated booklet called 2012-2013 Invitation dans le vignoble de Loire – Vignoble du patrimoine mondial. The booklet is a useful guide giving addresses of vignerons who are happy to welcome visitors.

The booklet's introduction claims: 'L'ensemble des appellations de Loire peut revendique aujourd'hui avec fierte le patrimoine historique et culturel de la région.' (All appellations of the Loire can claim with pride today to be part of the region’s historic, cultural heritage.)

Look through the booklet and there are no photos of blitzed rows of vines. Instead there are plenty of grassed over, living vineyards. Yet the reality in parts of the Loire is that the majority of the vineyards have been blitzed by weedkiller leaving the vines isolated without any ecosystem to provide a natural balance.     

It is, of course, all too easy and unfair to castigate producers who choose to use weedkiller indiscriminately as the cheap weed control option. We all bear a responsibility from the négociant who buys as cheap as they can, to the professional wine buyer who screws the price down only concerned to get cheap bottles onto retail shelves for us consumers who happily lap up cheap wine and think we have got a bargain. 

Not forgetting the INAO (Institut National des Appellations d'Origine) who appear to be more concerned to ensure that all Touraine white wines should be Sauvignon Blanc based or to stamp out 100% Pinot Noir in newly granted Loire appellations rather than tackle the indiscriminate use of weedkillers. It is good to see, however, that the new regulations for Savennières Roche aux Moines bans their use and Saumur Le Puy Notre Dame imposes restrictions.

Equally writers, photographers and publishers of magazines and books tend to play a part in portraying the pretty side of viticulture and ignoring this:

\

'Empruntez, avec cette brochure*, la route des vignobles, et voyagez à travers une mosaïque de terroirs et des paysages majestueux'! 

          

We are all of us complicit in this chain of Faustian pacts!

* 2012-2013: Invitation dans le vignoble de Loire.

         

Denis Jamain: Reuilly's first organic wine + dynamising cow horn

Denis Jamain: Reuilly's leading exporter and the producer of the first organic wine in Reuilly 

(above and below)

Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly) is Reuilly's leading producer – certainly in terms of export and no-one is making better quality Reuilly. 60% of his wine is exported with the USA, Germany and Scandinavia as leading markets. The overall average export figure for Reuilly is 13%. Jamain has just released the 2011 Les Fossiles, Reuilly Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc). This is the first certified organic wine from Reuilly. It is more minerally and austere than Jamain's regular Reuilly Blanc cuvée but at the same time has some soft texture and good length.       

2011 Les Fossiles, Reuilly Blanc 

Reuilly's first organic wine 

Jamain is now in the first year of converting to biodynamics and I was able to see them getting ready to treat the vines with powdered cow horn (query- cow dung?) dissolved in water and dynamised before spraying. Six hectares were due to be sprayed with 270 litres (45 litres per ha) of the dynamised mixture, which was dynamised for an hour. The spray is intended to stimulate the roots. 

Readying the dynamiser

The dynamiser

Adding the corn horn to the water

 Dynamising 

Death row vines in Saint-Georges sur Cher 

Biodynamics continues to receive an often sceptical press. However, whatever one's view biodynamics, it surely cannot be as mad as this example of 'conventional' vineyard management with all life apart from the vines blitzed by weedkiller. This particular example comes from Saint-Georges-sur-Cher (AC Touraine) but unfortunately could come from a number of other appellations in the Loire.