Bref reportage sur 2014 Vignes, Vins et Randos en Anjou

Some of the vineyards of Chaume

(all rando photos by Michel Mergot)

Delighted to have this brief reportage from one of our occasional correspondents – Michel Mergot – on the 2014 edition of Vignes, Vins et Randos. Michel spent the weekend in Anjou – going on the Chaume randonée on the Saturday and the Brissac l'Aubance on the Sunday: 

Michel Mergot

'Samedi 6 septembre, VVR à Chaume et dimanche 7 à Brissac-Aubance.

Superbes randonnées et dégustations.

J'ai ramené quelques bouteilles.'

 

 

A good turnout for Chaume

Chaume: good to see a crop of wild flowers by the vines

Sunday:

 

Château de Brissac  (above and below)

The walkers setting off

Refreshments 

Santé!: Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut) and 
Jean-Yves Lebreton (Domaine des Rochelles)

I'm delighted that Michel will be joining me for part of my Loire ride. He will be riding with me for part of the étape from Beaugency to Bourgueil on Monday 22nd September. 

Un nuit de la modération...

On Tuesday we entertained Blair Speedy and Morgan, his fiancée. Naturally we tried one or two wines starting with a couple of zero dosage sparkling wines. First bottle up was the Crémant de Loire Zéro Brut from Chateau d'Aulée - 100% creamy Chenin Blanc fruit. This was their first experience of a sparkling Loire Chenin, so Aulée was as good a place to start.

We followed this with another Chenin sparkler with zero dosage but this time a pétillant - Triple Zéro from Jacky Blot with some bottle age to give it additional weight along with customary clean, long finish.

With the first course of chicken liver pate and assorted crudités plus mayonnaise we tried a white and a red. The 2005 Les Treilles from Domaine Jo Pithon comes from the time when Jo was still involved. It shows the weight and richness of the 2005 vintage. The red was a 1989 Touraine Cabernet from Domaine Michaud, which I had intended to serve with the main course but, having tried it, decided it was too delicate and best served before the other reds. The 1989 has kept its colour well with sweet, attractive savoury fruit.

The only guessing game I played during the meal was to ask Blair to guess the age of the Michaud. Not surprisingly he opted for seven or eight years and was amazed to learn that it was nearly 25 years old and very far from being on its last legs.

We had two reds with the main course of pot-roasted chicken, lardons and mushrooms. Blair found the rich and spicy 2003 Touraine Cot from the Clos Roche Blanche very floral. Still very youthful it has the ripeness and concentration of this heat-wave year. 1995 Le Grand Clos Saumur-Champigny Chateau de Villeneuve was wonderfully classy, complex, very long lasting and perhaps was the best bottle of a 1995 Loire red that I have drunk. 1995 has been a year that has taken a very long time to show its best.

With the cheese we had the 2005 Clos Le Grand Beaupréau, Savennières, Chateau Pierre Bise. Less opulent than in some vintages from Claude Papin this had a lovely balance of fruit and acidity. A very fine bottle. Finally with some fruit tarts we went back to 1989 and the Vin Noble, Coteaux de l'Aubance Domaine de Bablut made by Christophe Daviau. Not super sweet but with delicate apricot fruit, complexity and balance. 1989 was the vintage that confirmed for many Anjou producers the real potential of their sweet wines and led to a renaissance of these wines in the decade that followed, although sadly they remain difficult to sell. I'm sure that if we had the 1989 vintage again the resulting wines would be considerably richer. 18-19% potential was considered exceptional in 1989. These sorts of degrees have become commonplace in many vintages, although not of course in 2012.

#EWBC: Gala dinner – 1988 Coteaux de l'Aubance

1988 Coteaux de l'Aubance, Domaine de Montgilet, Victor et Vincent Lebreton
#EWBC12

Our bottle of the 1988 L'Aubance (100% Chenin Blanc) should have gone to the BYOB dinner on the Thursday night (9th November). However due to the late arrival of our train into Izmir we decided to take it as an apéro to the Gala Dinner instead – where it made  a lot of friends.

Golden hued, it was beautifully balanced with some honeyed and light apricot fruit. Quite rich but not over-sweet perfectly set off by its acidity. It made an ideal apéro and would have been good, I fancy, with cheese. Unlikely, however, to have worked with desserts.

This bottle from Victor and Vincent Lebreton (Domaine de Montgilet) in Juigné-sur-Loire is a reminder of what a good vintage 1988 can be for whites, having a similar seamless balance found in 2002, 2008 and 2010.      

Much improved Loire sweet wines: global warming or viticulture?

Chenin: bunches in the Coteaux de l'Aubance: late September 2009

The following post by 'fat boy' on the winedisorder forum raises the interesting question as to how far the improvements in the sweet wines of the Loire, especially in Anjou, are down to hotter summers/global warming or improved/modern viticulture. 'fat boy' picks up on my comment in the first post on the first part of the new Quarts de Chaume décret.

"The requirement of 18% potential may appear high and, indeed, back in 1989 18%-19% was considered newsworthy. However, potential degrees of over 20 are now commonplace with modern viticulture lower yields and better-exposed grapes etc. especially in well-sited vineyards. Chenin Blanc has the facility to develop high sugar levels, although chasing very high levels of potential alcohol would appear to be now a thing of the past. Now the concern is to achieve a balance between concentration and freshness in the finish along with drinkability."

no disrespect to jim, who is simply repeating what many folks are wont to say, but this is too f***ing awesome not to treasure and keep.

have i noticed that the summers are getting warmer?

"no" i will reply. "it's just modern viticulture"

thinning icecaps?

"oui, oui, modern viticulture"

what about all those changing patterns of droughts, floods and storms?

""modern viticulture. it is teh shit, dontcha know?"

fb.

posted by fatboy 2-19-2012 6:44am

http://winedisorder.com/comment/56/5991/

••

'fat boy' is incorrect to allege that I am 'simply repeating what many folks are wont to say' as my comments are based on over 20 years of regular visits to the Loire. It is, however, reasonable to suggest that climate change has been a factor in the improvement in the sweet wines from Anjou over the past 20 or more years. During the 1990s and since the millennium growers have not had to contend with the difficulties that some of the vintages of the 1960s and 1970s threw at them. But changes to viticultural practices have been the biggest factor in the renaissance of sweet wine in Anjou.

Although there were stirrings from the mid-1980s, 1989 was the year that showed both what was possible and also illustrated how far much of the sweet wine of Anjou had fallen as the potential alcohol levels of 18/19% in 1989 were exceptional. 1989 was a glorious summer and autumn and in the same conditions today 18/19% potential alcohol would probably be the level for 'generic' Coteaux du Layon/ Coteaux de l'Aubance with many of the prestige cuvées into the mid 20s.

The change has come about because producers have rediscovered the old art of picking selectively that had largely fallen into abeyance in from the mid-1960s to the mid to late 1980s. Yields have been reduced, deleafing and exposing individual bunches of well-aerated grapes to the sun has become the norm – see photo below. Previously bunches were often hidden amongst the foliage.

Carefully separated bunches in a Coteaux de l'Aubance vineyard: late September 2009

By 1997 a few Coteaux du Layon producers were competing to see how far they could go in the potential alcohol stakes. As far as I know Jo Pithon holds the record for picking grapes – admittedly selected grape by grape – with a potential alcohol of 50%. An interesting demonstration of what Chenin can produce in the Layon but hardly a commercial and marketable proposition as the must will barely ferment due to the quantity of sugar. Tokaji Essencia is its closest equivalent. The climate may have changed between 1989 and 1997 but not by that much.

Light snow in Anjou

 A light dusting of snow in the Coteaux de l'Aubance from Brissac-Quincé

Left London early this morning to head out to the Loire for the annual Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers, which starts on Monday. No snow in northern France – Calais/Rouen – but from Le Mans onwards the remains of the fall from last Monday. As in the UK it is intensely cold here.   

Vignobles Daviau, Brissac-Quincé

Looking towards the small River l'Aubance – in the trees at the bottom of the valley

Across the vineyards

Frozen cat wanting to be let into the warm

Coteaux de l"Aubance: some photos from 2009 harvest

Domaine de Bablut bunch of grapes concentrating


Small bunch of Chenin with morning dew

Mechanically harvesting Cabernet Franc

Château d'Avrille (Biotteau family)

Haute-Perche vineyard with high rise buildings of Angers in distance

Christian Papin's 2009 Coteaux de l'Aubance

 

My post this week on Les 5 du Vin features the 2009 Coteaux de l'Aubance from Christian Papin (Domaine de Haute Perche) and some reflections on matching sweet wines with food.

Domaine Baumard: a comment from Jacqueline Friedrich and my response

(This is continues a debate started on the comment section of my post on my questions to Domaine Baumard. Rather than make a lengthy comment I have chosen to post both Jackie's comment and my response.)  

From Jacqueline Friedrich

Jim.  This is a very thorny issue. It's not the first time the Baumards have been put on the firing line. I hope to address the issue more fully in my book. It would take much too long for me to get into all the details here.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you how gossipy and nasty vignerons can be about their neighbors and I'm pretty sure I've been shown the Baumard vineyards by the same people who directed you to them.

You seem to be able to get to Anjou with some frequency. Might I suggest you make an appointment with Jean and Florent and ask the questions about cryoextraction, vignes larges, and the opposition to the Chaume classification in person? (I might just point out here that IMHO the original decret making Chaume a Grand Cru was truly ill-conceived and it was inevitable that someone in Baumard's position would challenge it.

(For the record Jackie's original comment and my response on the earlier Baumard post:

'Jim, I think it's useful to point out that Domaine des Baumard has been making superb Quarts de Chaume for a long time and in many vintages predating cryoextraction. Jackie.'

*

Jackie. I agree and I do say that I have admired their wines in the past. I also made this point in a previous post and that they have won a number of awards with their Quarts de Chaume.

It still, however, doesn't answer the question whether these vines meet the regulations for Quarts de Chaume and indeed whether Quarts de Chaume produced by cryoextraction should be given the appellation. The Quarts de Chaume producers have recently decided that in future it shouldn't.

Jim 



Link here to the post and the comments.

**

The debate is about yields and overcropping not about vignes larges etc.

Above Domaine Baumard: Quarts de Chaume: 26.9.2010

Chenin destined for Anjou Blanc: Saint Melanie-sur-l'Aubance: 27th September 2010

Bunch in the Coteaux de l'Aubance: 28th September 2010

Jacqueline.

Thanks again for your comment, although I entirely reject the suggestion that my reporting has anything to do with ‘gossipy and nasty vignerons’. I have reported I hope fairly on what I saw. In any case I thnk the photos tell their own story.

I looked at a representative range of the vines in the Quarts de Chaume on Sunday 26th September and returned briefly on Tuesday 28th to have a further look.

I have just spent three weeks in the Loire travelling from the Pays Nantais to Pouilly-sur-Loire and have spent this time looking at vineyards and at the grapes coming into the wineries.  I consider that it is essential for me to spend several weeks during the harvest and only wish that I could have spent more than three weeks.

So I went to the Quarts de Chaume as part of this exercise. I also went because  as the Syndicat was meeting on Monday 27^th to discuss cryoextraction as well as take other decisions such as limiting the weight of grapes that each vine carries to further bolster the credibility of the Quarts de Chaume. I wanted to look again at the topography and at how the vintage was shaping up.

As you can see from the photos the grapes on the Baumard vignes larges are dramatically different from those of their neighbours and of other vines belonging to Domaine Baumard in the Quarts de Chaume. Indeed having looked at Chenin in various parts of Anjou (26^th-28^th September) I saw nothing like those on the Baumard terraces.

This has nothing to do with the vignes larges controversy. This is to do with over-cropping in a prestigious appellation and nothing to do as far as I’m concerned whether there are 3000 vines or 8000 vines  per hectare. I’m not a viticulturalist but I can recognise a mass of green and unripe grapes and see how different they are to those in neighbouring plots.

Do you consider that top quality Quarts de Chaume can be produced naturally at these cropping levels? 

I assume that yields can be moderated on vignes larges, bunches thinned and well-ventilated as is increasingly the norm in Anjou and other parts of the Loire Valley. Properly tended I assume that quality Quarts de Chaume can be produced naturally with this style of vine.  

As I have said several times I have been an admirer of the wines of Florent Baumard and indeed supported his brave decision to opt for screwcaps. I was utterly astonished and, indeed saddened, by what I saw on the terraces that Sunday. Particularly astonished since Jean Baumard has written a book about the Quarts de Chaume and taken court action over Chaume on two occasions. Given this I assumed that the Baumard vines would be impeccable. As you can see from the photos they weren’t.

I hope to see Florent Baumard at least at the Salon des Vins de Loire if not before, although I’m sorry that he has so far chosen not to respond to my questions, which I consider to be fair and relate specifically to overcropping and not to vignes larges, cryoextraction/cryosélection or to Chaume.  

I suspect, however, that given recent decisions taken by the Syndicat des Quarts de Chaume to require an average of 18% potential and to limit the weight of fruit on the vignes larges to 2.5 kilos per vine will mean considerable changes here for the domaine. Short term such changes may be painful, difficult and expensive but long-term I suspect that Baumard's Quarts de Chaume will be better and more reflective of their terroir. 

This debate also raises wider questions over the relationship between terroir and technology, which I intend to air in another post.

Santé Jim.    

17th October: In the light of further comment here is a review of a 1969 Clos Sainte-Catherine made by Jean Baumard.  

2005 Ambre de Roches des Rochelles

Although the Lebretons Domaines des Rochelles has long been known for the quality of their red wines, especially the Cabernet Sauvignon dominated La Croix de la Mission, their whites were less successful. That has changed with the arrival of Jean-Hubert, son of Jean-Yves and Anita. Jean-Hubert spent time in New Zealand and under his supervision the quality of the whites has improved considerably.

This rich 2005 Ambre de Roches des Rochelles, Coteaux de l'Aubance (50cl) is a good example with its opulent honeyed and apricot flavours nicely balanced by acidity in the finish, so that it is not cloying. It is particularly impressive as although the Lebretons have some very good terroir for producing reds, they are less blessed when it comes to sweet whites.

Layon and L'Aubance– some photos from 10.10.2005

 Ripening Chenin  Blanc near Pierre-Bise (above and below)

A few photos taken on 10th October 2005 in Anjou during that wonderfully warm, dry autumn.

 

  

Across the Layon: la douceur angevin!

Towards Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

The Aubance 

Base of La Croix de la Mission, Saint-Jean-de-Mauvets

 

Domaine des Rochelles: La Croix de la Mission – Cabernet Sauvignon

A few Loire photos

Confluence of the Loire and Vienne@Candes Saint Martin (above and below)

Domaine de Bablut: Chenin Blanc mid-October 2009 raisins dorés and start of botrytis

Victor Lebreton: Domaine de Montgilet

Visit 1st February 2009

Following our visit to Philippe Germain at Château la Roulerie we (I was with Tom King of the RSJ Restaurant) decided we had time on the way back to Angers to drop in on Victor Lebreton at Juigné-sur-Loire. Victor is in both the Coteaux de l’Aubance and Anjou-Villages-Brissac. Driving back along the top of the Layon, we passed Château du Brueil bathed in the bright late afternoon sunshine and looking magnificent after its recent renovation. I nearly got Tom to stop the car, so that I could take a picture but decided we ought to press on. Of course, I now regret that I didn’t – so it goes!

It was open day at Montgilet on the eve of the Salon de Vins de Loire. Victor wasn’t around when we arrived, so we were looked after by Xavier, the commercial and export manager. We started with a soft and easy drinking 2008 Grolleau VDP made using carbonic maceration and due to be bottled soon and then an attractive 2008 Anjou Gamay with good juicy fruit.

Anjou has a tradition of Gamay primeur and I asked whather Montgilet still made it. “We make about 3000 bottles that are sold locally,” said Xavier, “there is still a demand.”

By this time Victor had returned. “As far as our reds are concerned we are 30% down in volume in 2008,” he explained. We got frosted on 22nd April, there was a ‘petite sortie’ (small number of potential grapes on the vines), then coulure due to poor conditions during flowering and later hail damage as well.”

The 2008 Anjou Rouge is a blend of 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon – generally quite soft but with quite marked tannins in the finish. The 2008 L’Encerre Anjou-Villages-Brissac is again a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon with attractive and delicate red fruits. L’Encerre is a lieu-dit and the wine will be aged in barriques (un vin, deux vin, no new wood). The 2008 Les Yvonnais Anjou-Villages Brissac is richer, fuller and more structured than L’Encerre. We finished the reds with 2007 L’Encerre – quite soft, well balanced and with some length. A good effort for 2007.

It is interesting to taste Victor’s reds now. When I first tasted them at the beginning of the 1990s, they were big bruising wines with a lot of tannin rather built on the lines of Victor, himself. Now they are way better with real delicacy and balance and the fruit shows through properly no long crushed by a massive tannin attack.

So on to the whites starting with a 2008 Sauvignon VDP, which was a bit vegetal on the nose and short. The 2007 Anjou Blanc, however, that followed was very attractive – made from very ripe grapes with a small proportion of botrytis giving honeysuckle and honey flavours with some floral characters as well. It spent 7/8 months in 450 litre barrels and was bottled in June 2008.


(to be continued...)

Victor and Vincent Lebreton
Domaine de Montgilet
10 Chemin de Montgilet
49610 Juigné-sur-Loire
Tel: 02.41.91.90.48
Email: montgilet@wanadoo.fr
Website: http://www.montgilet.com/

Jean-Hubert Lebreton: Saturday 31st January (cont)

Domaine des Rochelles

(This report follows on from the report on the visit to Domaine Ogereau)

Jean-Hubert Lebreton

Following a very enjoyable lunch – simply but well cooked (Catherine Ogereau always promises us a simple meal with no starter but cheese and dessert always follows the main course) – it was off to the Lebretons at Domaine des Rochelles in Saint-Jean-de-Mauvrets close to the Loire and north of Brissac-Quincé.

Here Tom King (RSJ Wine Company) and I were looked after by Jean-Hubert Lebreton. Jean-Hubert used to be the assistant-wine maker at Hardy’s Banrock Station in Australia, where just one tank held more than the entire production of Domaine des Rochelles. On average the Lebreton’s press 700 tonnes of grapes – at Banrock Station it was 35,000. He also worked in Bordeaux at Pichon-Baron and Lynch-Bages.

As elsewhere the Lebretons had a small crop in 2008 – down overall by 15%-20% due to a combination of frost damage, poor flowering and small grapes with little juice. Normally they make 350-400 hls each of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, making a total of around 800 hls of Anjou Villages. In 2008 they made only 180hls-200hls of each. Jean-Hubert mentioned that they are now selling 240 hls of VIn de pays Sauvignon in bag-in-box.

Both the 2008 and 2007 Anjou Blanc, which is vinified in 400 litre barrels, were attractive. The 2007 showing moiré honey, while the 2008 at this stage a more mineral character. The 2008 L’Ardoise Anjou Rouge (10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 90% Cabernet Franc) has a sooty nose and quite ripe, easy drinking fruit – as an Anjou Rouge should be. (Ardoise means slate – one of the rocks of Anjou.)

Tom King tuning into the French language

The 2006 Anjou-Villages (80% Cabernet Franc/ 20% Cabernet Sauvignon) initially has soft, floral black fruits with quite tarry tannins in the long finish. As you would expect the 2007 AV is less rich. It is also less tannic, so best to drink this while waiting for the 2006 to show its best. “It is difficult to get Cabernet Franc soft and supple – it needs time,” commented Jean-Hubert. “It is easier to sell La Croix de la Mission.”

The 2007 la Croix de la Mission (90% Cabernet Sauvignon/10% Cabernet Franc) has pretty impressive richness and structure for a 2007 with remaining soft.

Jean-Hubert: “2007 wasn’t easy. The Cabernet Sauvignon was picked some 10 days after the Franc – the yield was 45 hl/ha. With Cabernet Sauvignon it is possible to push the maturity further than with Cabernet Franc because Franc’s skin is not as tough and robust. The wine had three weeks maceration.

“In 2008 we picked La Croix de la Mission on 1st and 2nd November with the fruit coming in at 13.5-14% potential for 35 hl/ha.”

The 2008 La Croix is very deep coloured with sweet, richly concentrated fruit with good length. A this stage it is a bit cloying but is still has a long way to go before it will be bottled.

Onto the very rich and powerful 2005 Les Millerits, Anjou Villages, which comes in at 15% with blackcurrant and coffee notes. Still too young, this needs leaving in the cellar for at least another three or four years. Les Millerits is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a vineyard planted on friable, yellow schist. In contrast the 10 ha La Croix de la Mission is on quartz-red schist. It is aged for 18 months in barrels – partly new, partly one wine and partly two wines.

Jean-Hubert: “We didn’t make Les Millerits in either 2006 or 2007. The 2008 is not yet in barrel. It went through malo in tank but in future we’d like it to do its malo en barrique once we have enough cellar space available. While I was at Pichon-Baron we did some experiments on this and found that malo en barrique made the wines rounder and richer. ”

La Croix de la Mission close to the vineyard

The infant 2008 Les Millerits is like the 2005 – dark and brooding, with very rich, concentrated fruit and unlikely to be ready to drink before 2015.

Tasting these powerful Anjou-Villages Cabernet Sauvignons is once again a reminder that you can get good results with Cabernet Sauvignon in Anjou but that it is very site-specific. To get ripe fruit you need a warm soil, so that the vines get off to an early start. Planted in cold soils it is very rare to get ripe Cabernet Sauvignon here. The Lebretons are fortunately to have some of the best vineyards for CS in the area.

Finally onto the sweet wines with the quite rich, nicely balanced and citric 2007 Coteaux de l’Aubance the first up. This is fermented and aged in 400 litre barrels. Not super sweet but one to enjoy as an aperitif or with blue cheese. The agreeably citric 2008 is lighter and without the same length as the 2007. It illustrates that 2008 is not a sweet wine vintage in the Loire. Providing you don’t pay very much for them, there are some perfectly pleasant wines to be enjoyed young and drunk as aperitifs or with rich pork and chicken dishes.

We finished by tasting the rich and concentrated 2007 L’Ambre, the Lebreton’s top L’Aubance with its fine peach and apricot flavours. Unsurprisingly L’Ambre was not made in 2008.

We talked about the rumours of some Anjou producers turning in 2008 to osmosis machines to try to make sweet wine without taking risks. Picking at 14%-15% potential and hoping the machine would work its magic. I guess this is an unfortunate illustration that despite the big renaissance of sweet wine in Anjou over the last 15 years that there are still producers who think that osmosis machines or chaptalisation for sweet wine are acceptable. They are not and we agreed that the sooner Anjou bans chaptalisation for sweet wine the better. Apparently the L'Aubance producers are considering banning chaptalisation – bravo I hope they soon take this long overdue step.

Wine journalists are clearly not vegetarian

Château de Brissac venue for the dinner

Sarah Ahmed, the ‘Wine Detective’, is one of the very few UK wine journalists who is a regular at the annual Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers. On Friday she accepted an invitation to the Anjou Villages Brissac and Coteeaux de l’Aubance dinner on the eve of the Salon and asked for a vegetarian option.

Sarah was very considerably taken aback and offended by the following blunt email she received today from the PR agency looking after journalists attending the Salon.

Dear Sarah,

Unfortunately the menu for the Brissac evening was already planned and starter and main meal are not vegetarian.

- entrée : terrine de foie gras accompagné d'une gelée à l'Aubance, de toasts aux figues et d'une salade légère
- plat principal : civet de canard, sauce griotte avec une touche de cacao accompagné de petits legumes
- dessert : poire pochée à l'Aubance et feuillantine au thé et raisins

I will understand if you decide not to come. Please let me know.
Best regards,

Agence Clair de Lune


As she finds the Brissac event a useful opportunity to get an overview of Anjou Villages and Coteaux de l’Aubance, Sarah is now hoping to find a way of getting out to Brissac to taste the wines and then get back to Angers to have dinner.

Staggering that in 2009 no arrangements are made for people who do not eat meat and what a good way to win friends!

Views of Brissac: April 2007

Brissac-Quincé

The market town of Brissac-Quincé is both the centre of the Coteaux de l' Aubance and can add its name to Anjou Villages as this is considered to be the best area for Anjou Villages. This is not to say that individual producers of Anjou-Villages from elswhere in Anjou do not make equally good wines – Vincent Ogereau and Claude Papin to mention but two.

Château de Brissac

Domaine de Bablut: 2008 grapes

Christophe Daviau

After a fairly miserable day for much of yesterday in the Pays Nantais, it cleared up a bit when we moved eastwards to Anjou in the late afternoon.

Today started misty over the Coteaux de l’Aubance. Initially it promised to be fine once the mist lifted but blue skies soon gave way to clouds. I spent the morning with Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut) looking at the vineyards that are now run biodynamically.

Cabernet Franc destined for Petra Alba (calcaire soil)

Cabernet Franc destined for Petra Alba
– note grapillons on ground bottom left

Now around 10˚ potential alcohol and 8˚ acidity the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignons are at least a good ten days to a fortnight before they are ready to pick. There are signs of the start of some botrytis developing on the Chenin but it will be a while before they start picking.

Currently the team of vineyard workers going through the Cabernets are stripping off the grapillons (also called verjus) and dropping them on the ground. Grapillons are second generation bunches that ripen later, if they ever do, than the main first generation bunches. At the moment they are green, so easy to spot. Once they change colour they will be much more difficult to identify. If the grapillons are not eliminated, then they will give the wine green, unripe flavours.

A grapillon – unripe second generation grapes
that will make your wine taste green and sharp

In 1989, which had an amazingly fine summer and autumn, Didier Richou of Domaine Richou in Moze-sur-Louet made a small cuvée of Gamay from the grapillons harvested in late November or early December, which I believe had 13% alc.

Grolleau Noir

As rain was forecast Christophe didn’t pick yesterday instead getting the highly reputed mobile bottlers Brault to come. Amongst the cuvées bottled were the Coteaux de l’Aubance Grandpierre 2005 and 2006. Picking started again today with the Sauvignon Blanc (VDP de la Loire) being machine picked.

Sauvignon Blanc: VDP de la Loire

Machine picking Sauvignon Blanc