Ampelidae – an update

Frédéric Brochet, founder and dynamic, driving force of Ampelidae 

I have covered Ampelidae in Haut-Poitou on several occasions on both Jim's Loire and Les 5 du Vin, so time for an update as the story has now moved on. Sadly it now includes Les 5 du Vin's midwife – Pierre-Jacques Druet.

My initial post was during the harvest of 2013 and focused on the decidedly fraught negociations with the rapidly sinking Cave de Haut-Poitou. At the end of March 2014 Ampelidae took over the bankrupt co-operative. Ampelidae has taken over one of the co-op's old premises in Neuville-de-Poitou (see below) and some equipment from the other facility in Neuville has been moved to Ampelidae's winery facility at Château des Roches.

Late September 2013: The shop + one of the winery facilities for the co-op
in Neuville-de-Poitou

6th October 2016: same premises under the Ampelidae colours 

 
Late September 2013 the closed main winery of the Cave du Haut Poitou
(above and below)

6th October 2016: demolition of winery to make way 
for new Lidl supermarket and other shops

Existing Lidl shop opposite new site 

In addition to absorbing the bankrupt Cave de Haut-Poitou and many of its members, this year Ampelidae has moved into Touraine taking over Pierre-Jacques Druet's bankrupt domaine in Benais (Appellation Bourgueil) as well as also taking over from bankruptcy the Touraine and Montlouis holdings of the Clos du Porteau based in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher (Aynard de Clermont-Tonnerre family). The Ampelidae will be making the 2016s at both of these properties. Ampelidae also makes the wine for Levin, which is owned by UK hotelier and restaurateur David Levin, close to Montrichard (Touraine).

The disappearance of the highly reputed Pierre-Jacques Druet as a vigneron is particularly poignant as it was his singular Bourgueil Rosé that gave the impetus to the creation of Les 5 du Vin in 2010 during a lunch in the press office at the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers – a sad end for a very talented producer but poor businessman.

Some of the stock of Druet's Bourgueil

S

When Ampelidae took over Druet they inherited 80,000 bottles of Bourgueil of various vintages. Last Thursday I tasted several of Pierre-Jacques' Bourgueil and overall I was disappointed as they were not at the level that I have always associated with Pierre-Jacques' wines.

I was not really impressed by the entry level 2007 Cents Boisselées from a difficult vintage and also the 2000 Grand Mont – again not the easiest vintage – unlike Bordeaux – due to rain during the vintage. But most disappointing was the 2010 Vaumoreau, whose initial attractive fruit soon disappeared into a dry finish. The Vaumoreau has only just been bottled, so perhaps it has lost some of its fruit during the long delay before bottling – nearly six years after the vintage. Perhaps Druet just couldn't afford to bottle this wine. I can hope that the 2010 Vaumoreau is suffering from bottle shock following its recent bottling. Here's hoping!

It is Brochet's ambition to at least restore Druet's Bourgueils to their past glories and aim to go beyond this. This is perhaps Frédéric's most high profile challenge to date!

As well as tasting some of the Druet Bourgueils I also tasted a range of other wines in the Brochet stable. There are three main ranges – Marigny-Neuf, Brochet and Ampelidae. Marigny-Neuf is the entry level from 7€ retail from the domaine with the emphasis of varietal fruit. With Brochet the emphasis is on terroir, with prices ranging from 11€ for the Sauvignon Fie Gris to 29€ for the Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru made from fruit bought from Château de Suronde, which has recently changed hands. Ampelidae takes the top rank as 'Grands Vins' with prices ranging from 18€ for Le S (Sauvignon) and Le K (Cabernet up to 75€ for the the 2009 PN 1328 (Pinot Noir from a single plot) and 2005 Le K. 

The following wines stood out: the 2015 Marigny-Neuf made from a blend of Gamay, Cabernet and Pinot Noir – 50% direct press and 50% Saignée, 2014 Ampelidae Le S, 2014 Pinot Noir Marigny-Neuf, 2014 Ampelidae PN 1328 – although it needs more time in bottle. Over lunch we drank the 2012 Ampelidae PN 1328, which was impressive, as well as the aromatic and precise 2015 Lavauguyot, one of the 11 Crus of the Vienne – all Sauvignon. These are sold at auction – the 2016 version was held on 30th April. 

 Part of the winery at Château des Roches 

 Frédéric is keen to keep his finger on 

how the vintage is progressing.....

 Frédéric with three fermentation options: oak, 

a cement egg, small stainless steel vat 

– he prefers the stainless steel

Château des Roches, Marigny-Brizay

home of Kate and Benjamin Meuli

partners in and backers of Ampelidae 

Photos from a day at Ampelidae – Haut-Poitou plus .....

On Thursday I spent the day at Ampelidae in the Haut-Poitou. Here are some photos from this trip – the text will follow tomorrow. 

Frédéric Brochet – founder of Ampelidae and its driving force

 

Frédéric with his barrel, concrete egg and small stainless steel vat

– he prefers the stainless steel

Château des Roches winery 

Frédéric keeping his finger on the 2016 vintage ....

The tasting area at the Manoir de Lavauguyot, Marigny-Brizay

(above and below)

 Some of the range of wines

 Pierre, who used to be the sommelier at 

Jean Bardet in Tours, looks after the tasting area

Aynard Clermont-Tonnerre

export manager for Ampelidae 

(above and below)

Part of the Château des Roches winery 

 Stainless steel vat

The interior of the vat

 Blending into the background

Ampelidae's premises at Neuville de Poitou

previously part of the Cave-Coop

 Martial Lecomte, winemaker at Neuville de Poitou

 September 2013 – then disused vinification 

premises of the Cave du Haut-Poitou

 

 October 2016 – as they are now – demolished to 

make way for a larger Lidl supermarket and other shops

 The current Lidl shop just opposite the Cave Coop site

2013@Ampelidae in Haut-Poitou

Frédéric Brochet (centre) with part of son equipe

including Kate owner of Château des Roches 

where the wines are made

Part of winery@Château des Roches

On our way back from the Fiefs Vendéens we dropped in on Frédéric Brochet's Ampelidae operation in Marigny-Brizay (Haut-Poitou). I hadn't made an appointment but Jérémie Mourat thought they would have started picking so  I thought it would be worth turning up to find out how things were going.

They started picking here on Friday with Sauvignon Blanc. They also attacked the Chardonnay very early on Saturday - the picking machine getting underway at 5am, some 20 kms away from Château des Roches where the wines are now made. 

François who takes the early shift on the picking machine

starting well before daylight. He supplies Ampelidae with grapes from 25 ha

Philippe supplies grapes from 4 hectares 

Frédéric and his team have 107 hectares to harvest, so in a vintage that is looking delicate because of the rapid spread of rot, at least for the early varieties, the picking machines will be operated almost without a stop.

We had never visited Ampelidae before nor the Haut-Poitou vineyards. Although they are only about an hour and half from Epeigné-les-Bois, they are out of our normal line of travel, which is up and down the Loire mainly along the line of the A85 autoroute. 

Because of the disruption to small local roads, it took a while to find Frédéric's base at the Manoir de Lavauguyot about two kilometres from Marigny-Brizay. Here I was told that Frédéric was out looking at the crop in the vineyards and that we would probably find him at nearby Château des Roches.

 

Arriving at des Roches we met Kate Meuli, owner of the château with her husband Benji, since 1990. In 2004 they were able to buy the farm – 500 acres including 25 hectares of vines – and the buildings attached to the château. They entered into a partnership with Frédéric Brochet, who transferred his wine-making facilities here. 

Frédéric was supposed to return around 1pm, so Kate kindly invited us to join them for the workers lunch. which was extremely good as it is prepared by a former chef at the Fauchon restaurant in Paris. Frédéric used to be the wine consultant for Fauchon. L'Heure Brochet is rather different from customary time as he returned at 2pm.  

Frédéric reported that rot was spreading rapidly in the early varieties – you could almost see it developing as you watched. He also talked about the developments over the Cave de Haut-Poitou in nearby Neuville, which has long struggled with its debts, which have now reached 3.3 million euros. Having rejected a plan to go into partnership with Ampelidae, the Cave went into administration on 18th September. Out of 40 members of the co-operative, who own 250 hectares of vines, 16 with 93 hectares of vines have just signed this week a three-year contract with Ampelidae. The 16 will deliver their grapes to the coop as usual and Frédéric and his team will make the wine there as there isn't sufficient capacity at the Château des Roches and also Ampelidae is organic, so they need to vinify non-organically produced grapes elsewhere.  Whether Frédéric will have the use of the coop's facilities next year remains to be seen.

 Cave du Haut Poitou (above and below)

 My post for Les 5 du Vin this Tuesday will cover this story in more detail.