A couple of 2009 Loire treats

A couple of bottles from 2009 that I have recently really enjoyed, while being slightly surprised but pleased by their quality: a Touraine Sauvignon from Lionel Gosseaume and a Pinot Beurrot from the Charitois' vineyards of Serge Dagueneau et Fils. 

Firstly Lionel Gosseaume's 2009 Les Sauterelles Touraine Sauvignon. Often the advice given for Touraine Sauvignon is to drink the youngest vintage available. Although it depends upon how you like your Sauvignon to taste but, like the Sauvignon Blancs from the Central Vineyards, those from the best producers keep well. Les Sauterelles from Lionel Gosseaume is a good example. Showing the typical richness of a 2009 it has retained attractive freshness in the finish and the extra bottle age has brought addition complexity.    

Domaine Didier Dagueneau is rightly famous and acclaimed but this is a reminder, along with their wines from Pouilly, that there is a another Dagueneau domaine – that of Serge Dagueneau et Filles – of merit. Pinot Beurrot is a synomym for Pinot Gris, while Côtes de La Charité IGT used to be called the Coteaux Charitois.   

The vineyards of the Côtes de La Charité lie to the north east of La Charité, an attractive small town on the Loire between Pouilly-sur-Loire and Nevers. This Pinot Beurott is very much a Pinot Gris made in the style of Alsace – opulently rich with an attractive touch of evolution in the long finish – rather than most Italian Pinot Grigios. I started off drinking it as an excellent apéro. Then tried it with a piece of smoked haddock poached in milk. Doubtless an interesting experiment but too rich for the delicacy of the haddock. 

Although not a major Loire variety Pinot Gris/Pinot Beurrot crops up in various parts of the valley playing different roles. In Reuilly it makes a delicate and pale rosé. It is one of the three Pinots that goes into Noble Joué (just to the south of Tours) – the other two are Noir and Meunier. In The Coteaux d'Ancenis, at the gates of the Pays Nantais, it is known as Malvoisie where it is mainly used to make sweet wine, which ages well. In this guise it also pops up in eastern Touraine but rarely made in commercial quantities rather for consommation personnelle.        

 

2012 Loire – picking Chasselas@Serge Dagueneau et Filles

Chasselas for Pouilly-sur-Loire 

We spent Tuesday afternoon in Pouilly. One of the first producers we saw was Valerie Dagueneau who was picking Chasselas. Although Chasselas is central to the grape history of Pouilly, the area planted continues to slowly disappear. It is now down to only 30 hectares.  

 Twisted and gnarled 100-year-old Chasselas vines 

Golden, ripe Chasselas (above and below)

Chasselas as an eating grape: specially selected by Valerie Dagueneau to be stored until Christmas 

Valerie with a bunch of Chasselas to be stored and enjoyed later

Might well be interesting to make a vin de paille with this variety if it has enough acidity!

 Auguste – one of the Serge Dagueneau pickers

Is it a bird? No it is Patrice another picker, who has also worked in Champagne

More pickers (above and below)

Chasselas' hoddie (above and below)

 Emptying the hod

Recently tasted: 2009 Les Montées de Saint Lay, Pinot Noir

2009 Les Montées de Saint Lay, Pinot Noir, Côtes de la Charité, Serge Dagueneau & filles

This is a juicy, attractively easy drinking Pinot Noir from the Côtes de la Charité, which used to be called the Coteaux Charitois. It has enough soft fruit – the opulence of 2009 – to be drunk by itself and is best served a little cool. It should keep easily for a couple of years but I think probably best drunk now to enjoy the youthful fruit. Another example of how consistent the wines from Serge Dagueneau & filles are.  

2011 Loire vintage: Pouilly-Fumé – a pleasant surprise

Sébastien Redde (Michel Redde et Fils) and the nascent 2011 Pouilly-Fumé

Apologies for a rather belated report on our visit to some producers in Pouilly-Fumé on afternoon of Friday 23rd September.

Although we didn't have time to visit very many, and a couple of people we wanted to see weren't around, our impression was that a number of producers here have been very pleasantly surprised at how 2011 has turned out and that their fears at the beginning of the harvest have not been realised. Certainly the nascent wines that I tried were all clean and precise with no off flavours.

Valérie Dagueneau (Serge Dagueneau et Filles): "I was afraid before the harvest that the grapes would not have enough potential alcohol, that many would be rotten and that the acidity would be low. Certainly we needed to be very selective – we now pick a third of our vines by hand. We started on Monday 5th September and finished on Friday 16th. The Sauvignon came in at around 12% potential and had kept a good level of acidity. Our Chasselas is at 10.5%, which is a good level for this grape, which is very rot resistant."

Jean-Michel Masson and Melanie

Pierre Masson

In the centre of Pouilly-sur-Loire I dropped in and tasted at Masson-Blondlet, who were also happy with the outcome, despite the threat of rot in early September. They harvested between Thursday 8th September and Monday 19th.

Alain and Loïc Cailbourdin

Picked between 6th and 16th September.

Cailbourdin winery extension

Sébastien Redde

Sébastien Redde: 'The Ban des Vendanges was on the 5th September but we had a special derogation to start on Friday 2nd because of the threat of rot in some of our parcels. We finished on Friday 16th. Everything is picked by hand – this year we had a team of 60 pickers and a sorting table in the cellar." Sébastien and his father, Thierry, think that 2011 may be better than 2010.

After tasting with Sébastien we went to see a new Redde vineyard – see a separate post shortly.

2009 Pinot Noir Rosé, Coteaux Charitois, Serge Dagueneau et Filles

2009 Rosé Les Montées de Saint Lay

Normally I should have drunk this 2009 Rosé (pure Pinot Noir) about nine months to a year ago. Fortunately this rosé from the Côtes de la Charité has withstood time well – many rosés need to be drunk within a year of being made otherwise they become tired. Serge Dagueneau's has remained fresh in colour and flavour with seductive red fruits and grenadine. Being 2009 it has a little sweetness in the finish, which I find slightly cloying after a glass or so. However, I'm well aware that this will apeal to those who find sharp acidity difficult.

The vineyards of the Côtes de la Charité lie to the east of La Charité-sur-Loire, particularly around the hamlets of Saint-Lay and Chasnay.

2009 Tradition, Pouilly-Fumé, Serge Dagueneau

 

Following on from the two 2008 Pouilly-Fumés drunk earlier this week, last night I tried the 2009 Tradition from Serge Dagueneau et Filles. This has the richness that I expect from the 2009 vintage and while it doesn't have the same concentration and complexity that their 2008 Clos des Chaudoux has, it does have well balanced grassy and citric fruit well balanced with mineral acidity. In any case you would expect the single vineyard Clos des Chaudoux to be a more interesting and complex wine than the Tradition, which is Dagueneau's 'entry level' Pouilly-Fumé.

Certainly it is a more interesting and complex wine than the 2008 de Ladoucette. Furthermore it is considerably cheaper: wine-searcher shows that it can be bought in France from 11.80€, while the de Ladoucette is now from 17.99€.

Two 2008 Pouilly-Fumés: de Ladoucette and Clos des Chaudoux

 

2008  Pouilly-Fumé, de Ladoucette

Yesterday evening we tried a couple of 2008 Pouilly-Fumés. We started with the ripe, soft 2008 de Ladoucette, which has some grassy aromas. Although pleasant enough it is rather bland – lacking complexity and length. 

2008 Clos des Chaudoux, Pouilly-Fumé

It was probably unfair on the Ladoucette, which is a cuvée with a substantial production, to taste and drink it alongside this single vineyard wine from Serge Dagueneau et Filles. Had I had a bottle a fairer comparison might have been with the Ladoucette prestige cuvée Baron L.

The Clos des Chaudoux comes from 45 year old vines planted on the 1.5 hectare parcel called Pentes de Chaudoux (slopes of Chaudoux). After 10-12 hours of skin contact it is vinified in stainless steel and then spends 16-18 months on its fine lees before bottling.

The 2008 Chaudoux is richer, more vibrant with some complex citric aromas and flavours. Although it has 13% alcohol, the wine has a freshness in the finish. With its more powerful flavours this was a better match with our cod and tuna fishcakes than the Ladoucette.

As one might expect the Clos du Chaudoux is more expensive: a check on wine-searcher shows that the Ladoucette sells for around 18€ and the Chaudoux (2007 vintage) for 23€. I think the Chaudoux is worth the extra 5€ if you are looking for a Pouilly-Fumé with character. 

2010 Pouilly (part 2): Serge Dagueneau et Filles

 Florence Dagueneau in August 2008

We dropped into to see Valerie Dagueneau (Serge Dagueneau et Filles, Les Berthiers, Saint-Andelain) and she kindly invited us to stay for lunch. This was the first time that I had visited the domaine since the very sad and sudden death of Florence Dagueneau in mid-February. It was clear that Florence has left a big hole in this close knit family and I imagine that her absence is being particularly keenly felt at vintage time. 

Over a simple harvest lunch, which included a delicious home-made pork and rabbit terrine made by Rémy from rabbit shot by Serge, we tasted their current range. This included a 2009 Pinot Noir from the Côtes de la Charité (formerly called Coteaux Charitois). Medium weight with attractive black fruits with length and freshness in the finish. "C'était Flo's truc," said Valerie.  

"We started last Tuesday," said Valerie, "beginning picking by hand the young and old vines. The old vines came in at 13% and 5.5 acidity. Fruit coming in from those parcels we machine-pick is at nearly 12% with a little under 6.0 acidity. Our Pinot Noir from Saint-lay has been picked and has a potential of 12.3%. We are about halfway through picking."

••

Landrat-Guyollot
We also dropped in to see Sophie Guyollot (Landrat-Guyollot also in Les Berthiers). Sophie reported that they had started last Wednesday with the grapes coming in at between 11.0%-11.5% with 6 acidity. "We have five days of harvesting left and we need now to pick as quickly as possible."

Michel Redde et Fils
I also stopped off at Michel Redde and saw Sébastien, Thierry Redde's son. "This year we are picking 50% by hand and 50% by machine – essentially it is our Petit Fumé which is machine harvested. However, the objective is to move to 100% hand picking into 10-12 kilo cagettes. We started picking last Monday (27th September) and we should finish on Thursday or Friday. The fruit is between 12%-12.5% with around 5.8 acidity. I think 2010 will probably be similar to 2007 and 2002."