Save the Domaine de Vassal: video explaining work around the 7000+ grape varieties

There are now less than four more days to sign the petition to save France's collection of more than 7000 grape varieties currently at the Domaine de Vassal, Marseillan. The great advantage of this site is that the vines are planted on sand, which is phylloxera free because the little bastards can't construct tunnels in the sand as they just collapse. This means that the vines can be on their original rootstocks and not grafted.   

Here is a video (in French) that explains the work of the domaine and an article that stresses the importance of saving the Domaine and its work.  

If you haven't already done so please sign the petition and persuade your wine loving friends to sign as well. The number of signatories are gradually rising – 2987 (as of 22:55 25.11.13) but it is still some way off the target of 5000 signatures by 29th November. 

Signatories include a selection of the great and the good: Jancis Robinson MW, José Vouillamoz, Randall Grahm, Jean-Michel Deiss, François Mauss, Pierre Amadieu, Bruno Chevallet, Michel Grisard, Fabien Lainé, André Deyrieux,  André Dominé, Jamie Goode, Luiz Alberto, Jane Anson, Louise Hurren, Wink Lorch, Brett Jones, Antoine Kreydenweiss, Ken Payton, André Ribeirinho, Robert Plageoles, Julien Brocard, Sylvie Augereau, Thierry Germain, Catherine Breton, Eddy Oosterlinck,  Wilfrid Rousse, Olivier Jullien, Pascal Potaire, Stéphane Mureau, Lydia Bourguignon, Michel Bras, Benoit Tarlant, Vincent Carême, Xavier Weisskopf, Bertrand Jousset, Catherine Simon, Antoine Gerbelle, Élian da Ros, Gérard Marula, Agnès Mosse, Paul Strang, Becky Wasserman-Hone, Chantal Lecouty, Alice Feiring, Lincoln Siliakus, Olivier Grosjean Thierry Puzelat, Antoine Foucault, Eric Nicolas, François Pinon, Olivier Bompas, Olivier Humbrecht, Luc de Conti, Jeremy Seysses, Bernard Baudry, Philippe Gourdon, Philippe Faure-brac, Stephanie Caslot, Emmanuel Caslot, Michel Chapoutier,  Emmanuel Cazes, Eric Narioo, Xavier Amirault, Pascal Joulin, Yves Girardin, Bertrand Galbrun, Sylvain Fadat, Marcel Orford-Williams, Alexandre Monmousseau, François Plouzeau, Nathalie Prieur, Annie Sauvat,  Philippe Stuyck, Roger Kolbu, Robert McIntosh, Emmanuel Ogereau, Charles Philipponnat, Vincent Pétré, Jean Clavel, Elisabetta Tosi, Lily Dimitriou, David Cobbold, Jeffrey Davies, Irene de Vette, Jean Abeille, Marc kreydenweiss, Stefano Raimondi, Dominique Lafon, Peter Handzus, Philippe et Catherine Delesvaux, Ryan O'Connell, Pierre Pichot, Elisabeth Seifert, Tania Pithon, Luciana Braz, Elizabeth Gabay, Xavier Planty, Denis Gambier, Simon Woolf, Frédéric Brunier, Louis Villard, Patricia Boyer Domergue, Edouard Pisani-Ferry, Anne Graindorge, Nicolas de Rouyn, Patrick Baudouin, Vasco Magalhães, Heather Dougherty, Lizzie Shell, Jo Landron, Jacques Sire, Steven Defour, Ilkka Sirén, Cathy Henton, Roger Voss, Giampiero Nadali, Finkus Bripp, Andrew Barrow, Ted Lelekas, Mick Rock, Isabelle Legeron, Pieter Rosenthal, Leon Stolarski, Tom Perry, Benoît Fouassier, Chris Kissack, David Rowe, Ewan Murray, Elisabeth Gstarz, Ralf Kaiser, Margaret Rand, Gavin Quinney, Steve De Long, Boris Maskow, Hervé Lalau, Michel Smith, Anthony Rose, Georges Truc, Sabrina Sykes MW, Catherine Roussel and François Ribo.

Update (26.11.13): 3233 signatures

Bernard and Matthieu Baudry

View from the coteau over the vines and the valley of the Vienne
just to the east of the village of Cravant-les-Coteaux

(14 August 2008)

Bernard is the younger brother of Jean Baudry, father of Christophe Baudry, who is now allied with Jean-Martin Dutour in Baudry-Dutour. Bernard returned from working and studying in Burgundy in 1975 and decided to set up on his own, starting out with just two hectares in Cravant-les-Coteaux, a village about 10 kilometres east of Chinon. About 40% of AC Chinon’s vines are planted in the commune of Cravant.

Matthieu, Bernard’s son, studied in the Mâconnais and then in Bordeaux before undertaking a year’s work experience in Tasmania and California. Matthieu then joined Bernard in running the family domaine in 2000. They now have 30 hectares of vines with parcels on all three of Chinon’s soils – sand, gravel and the clay-limestone coteaux. All planted with Cabernet Franc apart from a small parcel on the coteaux with Chenin Blanc.

Domaine Bernard Baudry is among my top five producers in Chinon.

Part of our tasting was in the new cellar built in 2005. We started with the delicate, peachy and precise Chinon Rosé 2007. Grapes are quickly pressed with only 30 minutes maceration. Production is tiny. Next the Les Granges 2007, the easy drinking cuvée, which sees no wood – instead being fermented and aged in concrete. Soft, round, touch of green pepper, some length – all in all a success for 2007. Les Granges is made from vines on sand and gravel soils, while the next wine, the Domaine, comes from 60% gravel vineyards and 40% on the coteaux. As you would expect the Domaine 2007 is richer and fuller than Les Granges with notes of damson.

We tasted four unfinished 2007. The Clos Guillot from a 4 ha plot (3 in production) on Chinon’s coteau – near the Chêne Vert vineyard and above Le Clos de l’Olive. The particularly promising Les Grezeaux from gravel over clay vineyards at the base of the Coteau de Sonnay and right in front of Bernard’s house. We were lucky to be able to try the cuvée from the small parcel (30 ares) of ungrafted vines in the Clos Guillot. “The vines were planted in 1994,” Matthieu explained. “Unfortunately two thirds of them have now been eaten by phylloxera, which adores clay. We only made three barriques in 2007.” A pity as the wine has a lovely vivacity and finesse with raspberry and cherry flavours. The rich, concentrated and very fine Croix Boisée, which spends a year in barriques and then a further seven months in wooden vats, finished off this very impressive range of 2007s.

We then looked at three finished wines from 2006. The rich and powerfully fruited Domaine 2006 (€7.85 – price to public at the cellar door) – Bernard commented favourably on its freshness. Clos Guillot 2006 (€11) – juicy but currently angular fruit with good length. The rather closed La Croix Boisée has good concentration, structure and mineral character. All three of these wines, especially Guillot and Croix Boisée, will benefit from further time in bottle.

Cabernet Franc at the pea-sized stage
– June 2006 @Cravant-les-Coteaux

There was just time to taste the Chinon Blanc 2007 – rich with a hint of honey and very long. Fermented very slowly in a mix of 300 and 400 litre barrels. “It lacks acidity,” said Bernard. “I prefer not to have a malolactic fermentation. Some of the Chenin is picked when it is still green to give freshness, the rest when they are golden.”

Clutching our bottle of 2003 La Croix Boisée that Bernard very kindly gave us, we headed back to Chinon and our last appointment of the day with Pierre and Bertrand Couly.

Domaine Bernard Baudry, 9 Coteau de Sonnay,
37500 Cravant-les-Coteaux.
Tel: 02.47.93.15.79
Email: bernard-baudry@chinon.com
Web: www.chinon.com/bernard-baudry

Claude and Stéphane Riffault

Stéphane Riffault

(11th August 2008: Sancerre – cont)
Our next appointment was mid-afternoon with Claude and Stéphane Riffault (Domaine Claude Riffault) in Sury-en-Vaux. This gave us plenty of time to book into our bed and breakfast rooms in Sancerre – Les Logis du Grillon (http://nadcharp.club.fr/sancerre.biz/index.htm). Les Logis is a charming house in a narrow street in Sancerre’s old quarter. Run by Nadia and Pascal Charpentier, the rooms are comfortable with a breakfast area and an attractive secluded garden with tables and chairs. Nadia is from a family of hoteliers in the Auvergne and is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about Sancerre and its surrounding area. She also speaks English. Although they don’t take cards, this is certainly a chambre d’hôte to recommend.

We chatted with Claude Riffault, who now takes a back seat, while waiting for his son, Stéphane, to arrive. The estate has 13.5 hectares of vines – 10 of Sauvignon Blanc and 3.5 ha of Pinot Noir. 60% of their production is exported with Richards Walford as their UK agent.

We asked Stéphane about the history of red varieties in Sancerre and why Sauvignon came to dominate after the devastation of phylloxera, which arrived here around 1880. “Before phylloxera ¾ of the vineyard was planted with red varieties – mainly Gamay with a little Pinot Noir as well as Pineau d’Aunis,” explains Stéphane. Much of Sancerre was planted during the 1920s and 1930s after the First World War. At that time it was polyculture everyone would have a few goats, grow various crops and have some vines. You didn’t live from vines alone.” Such was the dominance of Sauvignon Blanc here during the 1930s that when the first French appellations were drawn up in 1936 it was only for whites. It wasn’t until 1959 that reds and rosé Sancerre from Pinot Noir were made an AC.

The Riffault harrow the soils in their vineyards as well as having a band of grass. The amount of grass that is allowed to grow depends on the paucity of the soils and the amount of competition that the grass provides for the vine. Stéphane is not a fan of green harvests preferring to get the vines in balance before then. It seems likely that Stéphane will take the vineyards organic or perhaps biodynamic. An increasing amount of their harvest is now being picked by hand – it will be around 80% for the 2008 vendange.

The Riffaults have vines in the three terroirs (terres blanches: the steep clay and limestone slopes; caillottes: often bare limestone; and silex: flint) of Sancerre, which they bottle separately. In all the three cuvées 15% is vinified in wood for six to seven months in barrels that have already had at least three wines through them

First up a trio of 2007s. We started with the soft, grapefruity Les Boucauds (terres blanches). Next the very minerally, brilliantly focused and long-lasting Les Pierrottes (silex), which for me was a real stand-out wine. Then quite rich Les Chasseignes (caillottes) with grassy and grapefuit flavours but not as long or focused as Les Pierrottes. We also tried the promising 2007 Antique (terres blanches) with 30% vinified and aged in wood for 12 months. The Antique 2006 was rich and fat with pineapple and grapefruit notes but lacked zip. I preferred the minerality and fresher 2007s.

Stéphane prefers his Sancerre to be young. “Not interesting to keep,” he said.

We had a quick look at La Noué rosé 2007. Stéphane observed that: “Although there is a big increase in demand for rosé in the UK, we are not seeing much of an increase in France.” I liked the black fruited and silky La Noue 2006 Sancerre Rouge with its attractive Pinot Noir character and delicate wood-notes. I was less keen on the more concentrated Antique 2006 with more noticeable wood and s light dry finish – extraction pushed a little too far. Doubtless Antique needs several more years in bottle but may show some of the danger of pushing Sancerre’s red revolution too far and too be fair Antique 2006 is not due to be bottled until November 2008. Certainly neither wine would have been made 15 years ago when few producers took their reds seriously preferring high yields and light wines. For the reds the Riffaults are moving to small conical, cement fermenting vats – interesting how previously reviled concrete is making a comeback, while stainless steel tanks are losing some of their gloss.

During our three days in Sancerre several people opined that they saw Stéphane Riffault is an emerging star, so clearly someone to keep an eye on.

Domaine Claude Riffault, Maison Sallé, 18300 Sury-en-Vaux. Tel: 02.4879.38.22