2013 Salon des Vins de Loire: Angélique Léon

Angélique Léon

Angélique Léon has six hectares of vines at Savigny-en-Véron. Her vines are planted on deep sand, which is very characteristic of this western part of the Chinon appellation. Angélique took over the family estate, which also grows asparagus, in 2002. The wines from this part of Chinon tend to be light and easy drinking, which her 2011 certainly is. The 2010 has some more concentration and more structure. 

Ça c'est bon! Lebled's Touraine 2011 Gamay

Ça c'est bon!, 2011 Touraine Gamay, Laurent Lebled, Savigny-en-Véron

Another of the new wines from Les Caves de Pyréne and again some details from Douglas Wregg:

'Laurent Lebled vinifies with his friend, Sébastien Bobinet, master of carbonic maceration. The vineyards are on the clay/sand terroirs of Savigny-en-Veron in the Touraine. Viticulture is organic and harvest is meticulous, in small cases, by hand. Whole grapes are put in cement vats and saturated with carbonic gas.'

Savigny-en-Véron, in the western, sandy sector of AC Chinon, is better known for its Cabernet Franc rather than Gamay. This easy drinking juicy, Gamay has favours and aromas of cherries and violets. It also has a light spritz and a slightly rustic character. Nevertheless certainly a bottle that will disappear rapidly between friends. 

2011 Les marcottes, AC Touraine, Lionel Gosseaume 

I tried the Laurent Lebled Gamay alongside the 2011 Gamay from Lionel Gosseaume, who is in Choussy close to Oisly in the Cher Valley. Lionel's is different in style perhaps a little more concentrated, certainly more structured with an accent on spicy black fruits. Personally I would drink Les marcottes before Ça c'est bon! despite its excellent name. However, it would be interesting to put a bottle of each on the table and see which one was finished first – always the acid test! 

Neither the Lebled or the Gosseaume were a particularly good match for some smoked haddock in a cream sauce – unsurprisingly la coccinelle 2010 from Patrick Rols was much better.