Vin de Thierry (Michon, Domaine de Saint Nicolas, Fiefs Vendéens) + brief vintage report

After spending a couple of days in the Pays Nantais looking at the 2017 vintage – report to follow tomorrow – we headed southwards on Wednesday morning to drop in on Thierry Michon, the sage and leading light at Domaine St Nicolas, at Ile d'Olonne. 

Like so many others Thierry was hit by the April 2017 frosts. It didn't help that their motor for their wind turbine broke down on the second night of the successive frosts. Thierry told me that the whites were very seriously affected. However, fortunately the reds escaped unscathed.

The Pinot Noir has now been picked and Thierry is very pleased with their quality. We tasted all the 2017 baby cuvées of his Pinot Noir at various stages into their fermentation. Deep coloured with rich fruit they seem to be very promising. I can well understand Thierry's enthusiasm over the potential of his 2017 Pinot Noirs.

Just as I came to leave Thierry kindly thrust a couple of samples into my hands. One Pinot Noir and this 2016 Vin de Thierry, Vin de France. He did quickly tell me the grape varieties in the blend but I confess I didn't write them down – slapped wrist! I thought I could find the details on the net but no such luck.

Suffice to say that the 2016 Vin de Thierry is delicious to drink now with good concentration of soft apricot and peach fruit and enough freshness in the finish to cleanse the palate in the finish. Definitely a relaxed wine to drink with friends – in no time you will be looking for another bottle to open....     

Domaine Saint Nicolas – Portes Ouvertes: 23rd - 24th April 2016

The new chai

Domaine Saint Nicolas, one of the leading Fiefs Vendéen producers,  is holding a Portes Ouvertes this weekend – Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th from 10h to 19h. This is at their new chai – Les Clous, 85340 L'Ile d'Olonne. Tel: 02.51.33.13.04 email: contact@domainessaintnicolas.fr

Thierry Michon – the main man @Saint Nicolas

2013 Loire Vintage: thundery, humid weather threatening rot

The approaching storm seen on A83 autoroute we were heading eastwards

Growers' obvious optimism aroused by last weekend's fine weather which continued into the early part of this week appears to be starting to give way to concern, especially for those picking early varieties like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. In the Fiefs Vendéens this was clearly the concern of Jérémie Mourat and Thierry Michon. The concern about the threat of rot was reinforced when we visited Frédéric Brochet of Ampelidae in Marigny-Brizay, Haut-Poitou. Frédéric report that you could virtually see rot spreading in their Sauvignon Blanc as you watched!

There also appear to be some fragile parcels of Sauvignon Blanc in the Central Vineyards, so picking will soon be getting underway. 

Friday was very hot, humid – tropical. Driving back from the Vendée yesterday we passed through a large area of stormy weather that stretched from Fontenay-le-Comte to north of Poitiers. We drove through some very heavy rain – fortunately we encountered no sign of hail. 

 Heavy rain on the A83

Fortunately the rain was much more gentle by the time 

it got to the Haut-Poitou vineyards

Reaching the Loire we ran into another, separate area of thundery weather with very dark clouds to the north of Bléré in the direction of Amboise. 

Unfortunately there are showers, some of them thundery, forecast of most days this coming week, so I expect growers to be picking their early varieties as quickly as possible while hoping that the later varieties resist better and manage to ripen properly before rot sets in.

2013 Loire vintage – a day in the Fiefs Vendéens

 The entrance to the impressive Mourat winery

 Pinot Noir@J. Mourat

We spent yesterday in the Fiefs Vendéens to see how the vintage was coming along.  We saw Jérémie Mourat at J. Mourat in Mareuil-sur-Lay and then Thierry Michon (Domaine Saint Nicolas) at L'île d'Olonne. I don't often get down here as it is nearly a three hour drive to Mareuil-sur-Lay and even further to Thierry's. 

Both Jérémie and Thierry are hurrying to get the early varieties picked, especially the Pinot Noir, whose skins are very fragile and the berries are starting to rot. "On Saturday 14th September we had 40 mm of rain," explained Thierry. After the dry August and September, the grapes sucked up the water and swelled up. This is not being helped by the warm, very humid weather. Thunderstorms are forecast for this weekend – hopefully less humid weather will follow on. Thierry, who started on Wednesday, reckons that the harvest will last three weeks instead of the usual five. I sense that Thierry may be regretting that he didn't start on Monday, especially as he has 40 hectares to pick by hand. 

"Petite année!" was Thierry's early but decidedly pessimistic take on 2013.   

    

 J. Mourat: visitors entrance to the winery shop

 

Egg fermenters in the very new winery section (2013) 
Above and below

(Photo: CRM)

 Clos du Moulin Blanc (above and below)

Mourat: Negrette – once accounted for 60% of the plantings

Now down to less than 10% but is being revived

Jérémie Mourat in his pre-phylloxera Negrette 

Sorting Pinot Noir@Domaine Saint Nicolas (Thierry Michon)
above and below

 

 Olivia from Felton Road, Central Otago (New Zealand)

She is spending part of the vintage here

Testing the grapes 

Case of 2013 Pinot Noir

 Thierry Michon hard at work 

Olivia, too

 Thierry with his new amphora

Thierry Michon's winery – different style to Mourat

Thierry has a tasting room and shop in nearby Brem-sur-Mer


Domaine Saint-Nicolas is biodynamic

Thierry Michon: Domaine Saint-Nicolas: portes ouvertes – 2nd, 3rd and 4th May

Thierry Michon (Domaine Saint-Nicolas), the leading ambassador for his domaine and the wines of the Fiefs Vendéens, will be holding a Portes Ouvertes over the 2nd - 4th May (Thursday to Saturday) at the Ile d'Olonne.
Thierry: 'Célébrons nos 20 ans de travail en biodynamie les 2, 3 et 4 mai 2013 de 11h à 19h.

Exposition de l'artiste peintre Eric Pénard.
Trois jours de fête pour visiter notre chai et déguster toute la gamme de nos vins naturels. 

Venez nombreux à L'Ile d'Olonne!'

THIERRY MICHON

La Croix Bégaud 85340 L'Ile d'Olonne

Tél. : 02.51.33.13.04 Fax : 02.51.33.18.42

Thierry Michon 

  

2011 Le Tour de France: peloton has 2nd opportunity to taste Thierry Michon's wines

Thierry Michon: Loire vigneron for Stage 1 Tour de France 2011

On Saturday the Tour swept through Brem-sur-Mer and past the Cave Michon (11 Rue des Vallées) where the Michon wines are on sale. Tomorrow the stage starts in Olonne-sur-Mer and heads northwards and initially inland – ducking to the east of Challans – before finishing in Brittany. Soon after the start of the stage the race will pass Thierry Michon's winery at La Croix Bégaud on the D32.

Thierry was my Loire vigneron for Stage One. However, as you can't be the Loire vigneron twice in the same edition of the Tour, I will be nominating someone else for tomorrow's stage, which passes through the southern part of Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu. I will be announcing my nominee for Stage 3 early tomorrow. 

Then there will be a gap until Stage 7: Le Mans to Châteauroux when there will again be a Loire vigneron for this stage. Apart from producing excellent wine, the nominated vigneron has to be on or very close to the Tour route.    

AOP Fiefs Vendéens: impeccable sense of timing

 Thierry Michon (Domaine Saint-Nicolas): one of leading producers of Fiefs Vendéens

Tweet from Jon-David Headrick (US importer):

'Wildly elated call from France. Fiefs Vendéens just passed from VDQS to AOP for 2011 vintage. Oysters are being shucked, ducks slaughtered.'

As Egypt celebrates the fall of Mubarak, so the Fiefs Vendéens celebrate their promotion from VDQS to AOP status from the 2011 vintage.

Jéremie Mourat, Vignobles Mourat  another leading FV producer

Domaine Aloha (Fiefs Vendéens)

An appropriate shirt for tasting wines of Domaine Aloha

Hervé Lalau, fellow blogger and also shortlisted for the Salon des Vins de Loire Wine Blogger Trophy, has kindly brought this Fiefs Vendéens estate and their blog to my attention.

'Dear Jim,

As a Loire-lover, but also as a flowered shirt lover, this "far west"
estate might interest you:
http://hlalau.skynetblogs.be/post/6711693/les-carottes-daloha

Regards

Hervé'

I haven't yet tasted their wines but must do so. Perhaps I'll manage to get down to see that star, Thierry Michon at the Domaine Saint-Nicolas, again this year and fit in a visit to Domaine Aloha. Once again this underlines how many interesting producers there are to see at the Salon des Vins de Loire and even with two days reasonably flat out you only manage to scratch the surface.

Domaine Aloha, Le Poiré, 85150 Vaire
Tel: 06.31.29.55.05
Email: smegnan@wanadoo.fr
Website: www.domaine-aloha.com

Mark Angeli's Anjou Blanc 1998: the answer to the fiendish quiz

This remarkably deep coloured wine is Mark Angeli's 1998 Les Vieilles Vignes des Blanderies, Anjou Blanc. The colour suggests that it is completely oxidised and probably undrinkable. Fortunately this is certainly not the case, although tasted blind I fancy I would guess a Palo Cortado or an Oloroso from Jerez rather than an 10 year old Anjou Blanc – certainly from the nose. This Anjou Blanc comes from Mark's no sulphur period. Wisely he now adds a little sulphur at the time of bottling. Whatever the 1998 is a fascinating and complex wine that will probably continue to age well, while getting darker and darker. Ending up the colour of a PX?

This wine, Alice Fiering's The Battle for Wine and Love, Sylvie Augereau's carnet de vigne Omnivore 1er Cuvée les 200 vins 100% raisin, which is a guide to 'natural wine' in France, and the forthcoming 2009 Renaissance des Appellations tasting in Angers all put the spotlight on 'natural wines'.

People, who know about Mark's often wonderful wines, will proably have no problem with this 1998 Les Vieilles Vignes des Blanderies. But what of someone who unsuspectingly orders this from a restaurant wine list? The chances must be that they will reject the wine as being out of condition.

How would the wine have tasted and developed with a small dose of sulphur at the time of bottling. Would it have had that almost painful austerity of a long aged dry Oloroso? It surely would have had a more golden colour and different aromas.

Which brings me to the Renaissance des Appellations tasting in Angers. I expect that the 2009 edition (1st February) will again provide some of the most fascinating but equally some of the worst wine that I will taste during 2009.

It seems to me that the current fashion or accent on 'natural' wines leads to a tendency to accept anything from a 'naturally made' wine. A little oxidation can give a wine additional interest but too much will make it undrinkable. Shouldn't the first criteria when assessing be – is this wine drinkable – is it enjoyable or will it be enjoyable in future with a bit more age? Not is this wine 'natural'. Instead too often the apostles and disciples of 'natural wine' applaud that it is 'natural' first and last.

I have no doubt that once again at the Renaissance tasting there will be wonderful wines from Loire producers like Richard Leroy (Anjou Blanc), Thierry Michon (Fiefs Vendeens), Eric Nicolas (Jasnières) and others. Equally there will be some horrors – unclean, impossibly oxidised wines where the producer, blinded the non-intervention, non-sulphur religion will have sacrified their fine grapes on the altar of neo-othodoxy and instead of making something delicious will proudly display crap wines that undermine the serious purpose of the Renaissance des Appellations.

Today everyone claims that wine is made in the vineyard. You can't make good wine without good grapes. Too true but not the end of the story as you can certainly stuff up your grapes royally in the winery as some Renaissance producers demosntrate too well and that was also apparent in the large tasting of reds from the Central Vineyards I did on the 19th December.

Didier Barrouillet

The fine wines of the Clos Roche Blanche will also be available at the Renaissance tasting – but not at the Salon des Vins de Loire this year. When we visited them on Tuesday Didier explained the various techniques including a lengthy cold stablisation he had used to lower the naturally high acidities of the 2008s. At the end of the tasting, once Didier had left to finish the row of vines he was pruning, Catherine spoke with admiration of the measures and care Didier had taken over the vinification of the 2008s – an on-going care as many of the ferments are not yet finished. Non-interventionalist winemaking? Probably not but surely an example of a fine and thoughtful winemaker using whatever techniques he can to modify what 2008 has thrown at him as naturally as he can.