Majestic tasting (13.5.16) – my white picks

La Roche blanche, 2015 Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu sur lie from Lay & Wheeler closed with a screwcap. At £7.90 from Lay & Wheeler this attractively saline Muscadet with good concentration respresented one of of the best value wines in this Majestic/Naked/Lay & Wheeler tasting. To enjoy now but also with the potential to age. 

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On Friday Majestic held their summer press tasting at Kings Place near Kings Cross. Although I have been to several concerts in the venue's basement, this is the first tasting I have been to at Kings Place. It was held on the ground floor in an attractively light and airy room overlooking the canal. 

2014 Les Monts Damnés, Sancerre, Pierre Martin, Lay & Wheeler £18.70. Pierre Martin is a very good young producer in the little village of Chavignol close to the town of Sancerre. To the north Chavignol is dominated by the steep slopes of Les Monts Damnés – the damned slopes because they were and are so hard to cultivate. 2014 is a very good vintage and this will benefit from a little more time in bottle as it is currently a little closed in the finish. 

The 2014 Sancerre from Comte Lafond costs £27.50 a bottle or £24.75 for a mix of six bottles. I would far rather have the more interesting Pierre Martin, Sancerre (above) for £18.70 a bottle.    

Wonderful 2014 Vouvray Bretonnière – called Vin de France due to Clochemerle stupidity and petty jealousies. Some honey, toast, weight, length and balance – should age beautifully. £22.30 from Lay & Wheeler seriously good Loire Chenin Blanc. The 2015 Vouvray Cuvée de Perruches, Domaine des Aubuisières from Bernard Fouquet was another very good Vouvray and at a great price – £9.99 a bottle or £8.99 for mixed case of 6.  

There were a number of rather bland and anonymous whites in this tasting. However, the 2015 Alvarinho from Casal Ventozela from Portugal's Vinho Verde region stood out being delicious and with real character. Good value at £9.99 a bottle or £8.99 for mixed case of 6.  

Good Sherry remains a great bargain and this Pedro's Almacenita Fino is no exception. Lovely yeasty character for £10.99 a bottle or £9.89 for a mix of six.  

From Grands Chais de France this Château de Champteloup is a delicately sweet Coteaux du Layon for £10.99 or £8.99 for a mix of six. Would make a good apéro or with rich chicken and pork dishes – also blue cheese. Likely to struggle against most desserts.    

Muscadet in danger!

 

Melon de Bourgogne 

Can I taste your Melon-Colombard Muscadet blend please? If you want to upset a top quality Muscadet producer, this or a variant of the same, is the question to ask.

There is now a serious likelihood that in the next couple of years producers will be allowed to add Colombard, Chardonnay and possibly other varieties to Melon de Bourgogne in the making straight Muscadet. For the moment this will not be allowed for the zonal Muscadets – Sèvre-et-Maine, Côtes de Grandlieu and Coteaux de la Loire or the cru communaux – but we all know about 'mission creep'.

Many of the top Muscadet producers, like Vincent Caillé, the Luneau-Papins, Joseph Landron, Eric Chavalier, Gilbert Bossard and others, are vehemently opposed to allowing other grape varieties to be used for Muscadet.

However, I talked yesterday to Bernard Jakob, the directeur général of Ackerman. He is in favour of the change as providing a way of saving those producers who are struggling in the Pays Nantais. Bernard quoted the vote by a substantial majority of the vignerons in favour of the change.

When I pointed out that if producers wanted to blend other varieties to Melon it was already perfectly possible to do so and sell this as an IGP or a Vin de France. Bernard replied that producers wanted to be able to keep using the Muscadet name.

I have to say that I have little sympathy with this move to add new varieties to the Melon de Bourgogne for Muscadet. Even, if the change, is strictly limited to straight Muscadet it is all too likely to undermine the image of all Muscadet just at the moment that the qualities of good Muscadet – and there are now some very good Muscadets – are being rediscovered. Currently top Muscadet is easily among the best bargains to be found in the wine world, so why threaten to potentially destroy all the good work that has been done by conscientious producers to produce excellent wines and raise the appellations image.

The idea that producers want to be able to add new varieties while keeping the Muscadet name is deeply dubious. Just suppose that I have vines in the Clos de Vougeot or Chambertin and I wanted to include some Gamay or Syrah along with my Pinot Noir while keeping the appellation, I doubt if I would get a very sympathetic hearing.

It would be very interesting to know more about the background to the vote by producers to allow other varieties like Colombard in Muscadet.

There is, of course an administrative attraction in allowing producers to keep using the Muscadet appellation with the addition of other varieties as makers of AC wines are required to pay a cotisation (subscription), even though this has been considerably reduced recently, to InterLoire. If the wines are IGP or Vin de France then this cotisation is not payable.   

Furthermore is the addition of Colombard or other varieties really going to save struggling producers? Muscadet-sur-Colombard will surely be sold to supermarkets at a basement price in competition with the Côtes de Gascogne, cheap wines from the Midi as well as places like Australia, Chile and Argentina. Dealing with aggressive supermarkets is unlikely to provide salvation for struggling growers as the recent report into Tesco's habitual policy of screwing its producers to improve its bottom line only too clearly demonstrates – see here and here.

It is all too likely that if the change goes through there will soon be pressure to increase the permitted yields for Muscadet very substantially because producers in the Pays Nantais cannot compete with IGP Côtes de Gascogne and cheap whites from other countries. May be producers will again be asked to vote on keeping yields as they are at 65hl/ha or increase them to 80 hl/ha, 100 hl/ha or 150 hl/ha...

I fear if this change goes through it is all too likely to be catastrophic for the Muscadet appellations. While I have sympathy for struggling producers they should be looking to IGP or vin de France rather than bastardising Muscadet.

‘Brest’ to ‘Ars’ 500K cancer charity ride: 23rd May - 26th May

'Parents to cycle from ‘Brest’ to ‘Ars’ for Breast Cancer Care and Prostate Cancer UK

This May, a group of Islington parents have pledged to take on a tough 500km cycle ride to raise money for Prostate CancerUK and Breast Cancer Care.

After seeing friends and family affected by the two diseases the parents, who all have children at Canonbury PrimarySchool, decided to ride 500km from Brest in North West France to Ars on the Ile de Re in the west of the country, to help raise funds for the most common cancers in men and women in the UK – prostate and breast cancer.

The eight amateur cyclists have called the challenge, Brest2Ars, in reference to the start and finish points, as well as the charities Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer Care, for whom they are raising funds and awareness. Their journey will begin on Thursday 23 May, with the group cycling across the French countryside to reach their destination on Sunday 26 May.

Lu Zurawski, on behalf of the riders, said: “This event may sound cheeky, but it has serious intent. Having all lost family and friends at school prematurely to these diseases, we want to raise awareness of the support and preventative care that can help more of us to survive and thrive. And we hope Brest2Ars catches on to become a decent legacy for loved ones who struggled with breast or prostate cancer”.

Gemma Cornwell, Community Fundraising Manager at Prostate Cancer UK and Tom Whitehead, Sporting and Challenge Events Manager at Breast Cancer Care say: “Prostate and breast cancer are the most common cancers in men and women in the UK. So the chances are you know someone who’s been affected by life threatening diseases.  We are there from day one with expert information and support for everyone that needs us and can only do this through support from fundraisers like the Brest2Ars cyclists. Brest2Ars really is a brilliant way to raise awareness of these diseases, as well as raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer Care.

“We would like to say a huge thanks to the group for taking on the ride and wish them the best of luck with their challenge.”

All money raised through the Brest2Ars will be split equally between Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer Care.

For more information, please visit http://www.brest2ars.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Brest2Ars

https://twitter.com/Brest2Ars'

The Brest2Ars route unfortunately skirts around much of the vineyards of the Pays Nantais but it does pass through Bouaye in Muscadet Côte de Grandlieu. Producers there include Domaine des Herbauges run by Jérôme Choblet, whose wines are carried by Waitrose.

Jérôme Choblet with juice from the 2012 vintage