Thierry Germain, Domaine des Roches Neuves – PetNat innovator?

1996 Insolite – an early PetNat?

Thierry Germain of the Domaine des Roches Neuves has long been an innovative producer. Hailing from Bordeaux he was the first of his family to invest in the Loire Valley to be followed by his father, Bernard, and his brother, Philippe. In 1991 he bought Roches Neuves in Varrains from Denis Duveau, who went to Chile as a consultant.

It now appears that Thierry may have been one of the first in the Loire to produce a PetNat, although this may not have been entirely intentional....

Many years ago – probably in 1998 or late 1997 – I bought a case of Thierry's 1996 Insolite, AC Saumur Blanc. A little while after buying the case, which was stored in cool conditions, we opened a bottle. To our surprise the wine was distinctly cloudy with a lively fizz. It was clearly refermenting. It wasn't very pleasant to taste, so most of the bottle went down the sink. 

At that time Thierry tended to pick his Chenin Blanc when it was ripe enough to include some botrytis. I can only assume that there was some residual sugar and some yeast, perhaps, that caused a secondary fermentation in bottle. The secondary fermentation must have been quite gentle otherwise the bottle, which is an ordinary wine bottle and not a stronger one designed to cope with a secondary fermentation, would have broken or exploded.

To be fair to Thierry he did immediately offer to replace the case. However, I decided, in part, to see what would happen, and also I couldn't be arsed to take it back to Saumur even though we are often over there. 

Subsequently Thierry has dramatically changed his approach to white wine making looking to pick early to achieve a very taut, precise, linear style. 

Over the years we tried another two or three bottles of the 1996 Insolite but it was still cloudy, decidedly fizzy, rather cidery and not a very pleasant beverage. 

However, very recently looking at a couple of bottles from those that remain they now appeared to be almost clear and limpid, so time, I thought, to try again.

Last evening we duly opened a bottle. Thierry's 1996 Saumur Blanc remains slightly cloudy but very noticeably less than it was. The wine is now lightly pétillant rather than being markedly fizzy. 23 years on it is now drinkable with a marked yeasty/autolysis aromas, a touch of honey and a remarkable freshness for a 'PetNat' of this age. 

Whether Thierry can persuade the INAO to accept a Saumur Blanc PetNat appellation remains to be seen....

Santé !  

How to open a bottle of PetNat....from 2010 Salon des Vins de Loire

 This is our PetNat with its easy to open crown cork

Just a little pressure here ...

Err ... perhaps a bit more pressure will do it ...

Les Vins Contés: report on open day 7th May

Olivier Lemasson

On the afternoon of Saturday 7th may we headed across to Fougères-sur-Bièvre to the portes ouvertes held by Olivier Lemasson (Les Vins Contés), which featured a few other vignerons in addition to Olivier.

Pascal Potaire (roi des PetNats)

I started with Pascal Potaire, who we had intended to see a couple of weeks earlier when he was at an open day in Cheverny with Philippe Tessier, when our car developed a radiator problem and so forced us to creep back to Epeigné instead.

My favourite wine from Pascal was the agreeable and easy-drinking 2010 Rosé PetNat, a blend of 2/3 Côt and 1/3 Gamay. With red fruits to the fore it will make a fine summer apéro. The 2009 Orbois Menu Pineau is quite soft and weighty but mineral in the finish. Pascal makes good Menu Pineau, which are often more mineral and austere than the 2009 but this reflects the richer nature of the vintage. They age well. The 2008 Vignnason Sauvignon Blanc has some varietal character and length but I found the other two wines he was showing more interesting. 

Jérôme Lenoir

Next was Jérôme Lenoir, who with his dad – Alain, has 3.5 hectares in Beaumont-en-Véron (AC Chinon) planted on north-facing slopes. He had various vintages to taste 2001, 2003, 1989 and 1990. The 2001 and 2003 were quite light, although delicate. I preferred the more concentrated 1989 and 1990, although both also had delicacy. 

New producer: Jérémy Quastana 

The owner of Jérémy Quastana, who has two hectares in Touraine, was showing of a couple of wines from his first vintage. Firstly 2010 Buena Onda, a fun, clean, lightly sweet PetNat Rosé made from Gamay. Then a juicy, concentrated, still Gamay called L'insurgé with fair length.  

2010 L'insurge (above and below)

Olivier Lemasson has three hectares of his own vines in Monthou-sur-Bièvre and buys in grapes from a further six hectares. We started with the attractively ripe 2010 Sois Mignon made from 70 year old Sauvignon Blanc vines. Then onto the clean and precise 2010 bOis saNs sOif that is an equal blend of Menu Pineau and Romorantin, which should keep well. The funky but spicy and juicy 2010 Le P'tit Rouquin (Gamay from 20 year old vines) was the first red. 2010 Poivre et sel followed showing the typical spicy notes of a Pineau d'Aunis. R10 is a blend of Gamay, Pinot Noir, Grolleau, Pineau d'Aunis and Côt with attractive, sweet spicy fruit and good length although with slightly grainy tannins – it has 40 days of macération.

2010 Gama Sutra is all Gamay from 100 year old vines with ripe concentration and length. I finished with the fine, rich and long 2009 Cheville de Fer – Côt from vines between 20 and 50 years old. It spends a year in demi-muids (barrels normally of 500/600 litre size). This cuvée should age well.

  Marc Pesnot

The last producer was Marc Pesnot of the Domaine de la Sénéchalière in the Pays Nantais. Marc is careful to stress that although he uses Melon de Bourgogne he doesn't make Muscadet. "In 2001 I decided to take another route from Muscadet," he explains. The first wine was the 2010 La Bohême, which has some slight oxidation and sweetness. I liked the second wine much better: the 2010 Cuvée Miss Terre from old vine Melon, which has good concentration, minerality and length. Unusually Nuitage is made by treating the Melon grapes as though it was a typical Beaujolas as it has a 12-hour carbonic maceration. "To liberate the grapes' perfume," explains Marc. The 2009 has touch of white flower and is certainly very different from a traditional Muscadet. Fascinating character and wines worth exploring further, Marc is someone I need to see when I'm next in the Pays Nantais.  

Marc Pesnot

Les Chaffines, Touraine, Clos du Porteau

Opened a bottle of Aynard and Isabelle Clemont Tonnerre's 2009 Les Chaffines, AC Touraine. This is 100% Sauvignon Blanc and has mouthfilling texture and the typical richness of 2009 – more tropical fruit than grassy and gooseberry. It lacks a little bit of freshness in the finish, so is a better food wine than apéritif.

On our return to London Sunday evening we drank the Clos du Porteau's PetNat – a fun wine made from 80% Gamay and 20% Grolleau with an attractive mid-pink colour and 8% alcohol, so there is some residual sweetness. I should have taken a photo of a glass of his PetNat but the wine had been drunk by the time I remembered my camera!   

Duchesse de Clemont Tonnere

Le Pot de Lapin – an interlude 7th October

PetNat la Folie Lucé

Next stop after Frédéric Mabileau was the Pot de Lapin in Saumur. We started with a glass of PetNat rosé. This time from a new producer – Loïc Terquem at La Folie Lucé, who has taken over Yves Drouineau's vines in Dampierre. 2009 was Terquem's first vintage. His PetNat is a little sweeter than some with attractive red fruits. Later on in the meal Olivier Thibault, owner of Le Pot, gave us Terquem's soft and fruity 2009 Saumur-Champigny to try. 

Having talked about Yves Drouineau and the quality of the wines that he made it seemed appropriate to choose a bottle of his 2000 La Seignère, Saumur-Champigny. Still quite youthful, although showing just a touch of brickiness, Yves 2000 is medium weight with attractive mellow fruit. Good for a few more years, this shows the quality of Yves as 2000 was not an easy vintage in the Loire.

••

While on the subject of pétillants Jacky Blot told us that over the weekend he had decided to bring forward the first release of his Triple Zéro Rosé to this December. Bottled in January it will have had nearly 12 months sur latte by the time it is released. The rosé is a roughly equal blend of Grolleau and Gamay.    

   

Rools is rools! – Clos du Porteau 0 French wine bureaucracy 3

Aynard and Isabelle Clermont Tonnerre, Clos du Porteau 

News yesterday that the PetNat of the Clos du Porteau (AC Touraine) has fallen foul of France's byzantine wine laws with their Red PetNat, a new product. A blend of Gamay and Grolleau it has a fashionably low level of alcohol – 8.5%. It appears to correspond to a demand in the UK market as Aynard and Isabelle de Clermont Tonnerre, owners of the Clos, have orders for it from Waitrose and Harrods. 

Unfortunately the UK importers needed to check this new product out with the UK wine authorities before it could be imported. The query was referred to the French authorities who spent some time considering whether it was a product that could be sold. Unfortunately Aynard and Isabelle were informed by magnificently bureaucratic fax on Monday (31st May) sent by tperson responsible for le Pôle Concurrence of the Consommation et Répression des Fraudes that their PetNat could not be sold either in France or anywhere else. The family could either drink all the 3000 bottles made (vive la modération!) or it could be turned into wine vinegar or distilled.

Le Clos du Porteau PetNat, which is a VMQTA (vin mousseux de qualité de type aromatique) falls foul of the French rules on several counts: it contains Grolleau; it has 8.4% alc and has 7.3 bar.* Grolleau is not on the list of grape varieties permitted for VMQTA. Unless it is an appellation d'origine protegée, the level of alcohol has to be a minimum of 9.5%. Also for a pétillant the pressure must be between 1 and 2.5 bars.

The fax concluded thus:

'En conséquence, comme <<tout vin élaboré à partir des variéties à raisins de cuve visées dans les classements établis en application de l'article 120 bis, paragraphe 2, premier alinéa, mais n'entrant dans aucune des catégories établies à l'annexe XI ter >>, le produit dénommé <>, ne pourra être <> (art. 113, quinquies, 3 du RCE 1234/2007, modifié par le RCE 491/2009).'

The Clos du Porteau has been promised a visit from agents of the Répression des Fraudes to ensure that this decision is respected.

* 7.3 bar seems to be very high not sure how you would bet a PetNat up to this pressure.