Touraine Chenonceaux and Touraine Oisly – out with a whimper

Château de Chenonceau on the Cher has refused to allow 'Chenonceau' to be used for the new appellation. Instead it is 'Chenonceaux' after the village name. 

Tomorrow sees the official release of the first wines to carry the new Touraine Chenonceaux and Touraine Oisly appellations. The new Oisly appellation covers 10 communes in the Loir-et-Cher to the north of the Cher Valley and to the south of the Cheverny AC, while the larger and more extended Chenonceaux runs along both sides of the Cher and includes 27 communes from the départments Indre-et-Loire and Loir-et-Cher. 

The Oisly appellation is for whites only using Sauvignon Blanc and for the first vintage producers have opted to put forward only 16 hectares for appellation. The rest of the Sauvignon Blanc in the ten communes will continue to be sold as straight Touraine. 

The Chenonceaux appellation is for both white (100% Sauvignon) and red but the reds will not be released until 1st September. Like Oisly, only 16ha has been put forward for the white Touraine Chenonceaux and 19ha for the red. 

For the moment it looks like the Touraine producers have been sold or have opted to buy a pup as the price of the two new appellations was to 'rationalise' the grapes varieties are allowed for the straight Touraine AC. Previously a considerable range of varieties were allowed recognising that Touraine east of Tours is the melting pot of vinous Loire combining varieties – mainly Sauvignon and Pinot Noir from the Central Vineyards – with those from further west – mainly Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc but also Pineau d'Aunis, Arbois, Grolleau and others. Mix in Gamay, Côt and Sauvignon Gris and you have a wide palette of varieties. Clearly all too much for the bureaucratic mind and perhaps also for large companies wanting to simplify their marketing message. 

Under the new regulations pure Cabernet Franc there have been a number of casualties – no pure Cabernet Franc, nor Chenin Blanc, nor Pineau d'Aunis – either as a rosé or a red and no pure Fié Gris (Sauvignon Gris). Already producers of Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc in the birthplace of Rabelais have successfully sought refuge with AC Chinon. I suspect that a number of producers of the often delicious Pineau d'Aunis Rosé and those like Jacky Preys, who make Fié Gris will sell their wine as vin de pays or Vin de France.

A complete dog's dinner and for what?

Rather than worrying about grape varieties you might have thought that the architects of the new régime might have followed the lead given by Saumur-Le-Puy Notre Dame and Savennières Roche-aux-Moines and either severely restrict or ban the use of weedkiller in the vineyard. The only restriction on the use of weedkiller in the new regulations is to ban producers from spraying their ditches close to their vines. And where pray does the water from the weed killered vineyards drain to if it does go into the ditches?

    

Loire: some bottles enjoyed sur place – March/April 2012

2002 demi-sec Le Haut-Lieu, Domaine Huet

 Wonderfully well balanced vintage, some evolution, delicate sweetness matched by precise acidity 

Some bottles drunk and enjoyed during our three week stay in Touraine from mid-March to early April. 

2004 Sancerre Rouge, Domaine Vacheron 

 2004 was not the easiest of vintages – some attractive fruit but toughish tannins from a time the domaine used more wood for their reds than they do now. Admittedly a different vintage but the emphasis in their 2010 Sancerre, drunk at the La Tour restaurant in Sancerre, is much more on the fruit.     

2005 Éclipse, Saint Nicola-de-Bourgueil, Frédéric Mabileau 

A couple of 2005 reds – one from Frédéric Mabileau and the other from Château Pierre-Bise. Both showing well with the potential to age further. The Pierre-Bise is the more ready to drink as Frédéric's Éclipse really needs more time.      

2005 Gorges, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Auguste Bonhomme

2005 Gorges, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Martin-Luneau

2009 Jubiliation Le Pallet, Vignerons du Pallet

We tried another three examples of new Muscadet crus communaux with two from Gorges and one from Le Pallet. Of the three Le Pallet was the least complex. Dangerous, I know, to draw any conclusions from just one bottle but I wonder whether the slightly shorter minimum aging on the lees for the wines from Le Pallet – 17 months compared to 24 for Clisson and Gorges – plays any part here.  Of the two 2005s from Gorges the Auguste Bonhomme was especially fine. Once again you have to forgot your traditional ideas of Muscadet and be prepared for a much fuller and more complex wine that will show best with more elaborate fish dishes than customary fruits de mers or moules marinières. 

2005 La Moussière, Sancerre Blanc, Alphonse Mellot

Les Alphonses 'basic' Sancerre is developing nicely and was served at a dinner with friends with a small selection of cheese including some local goat.

2006 Côt, AC Touraine, Clos Roche Blanche

Rich, delicious black fruits showing that Côt (Malbec and Auxerrois as in Cahors are synonyms) is probably the best red variety in the Cher Valley. As far as I can make out it will still be possible to sell 100% Côt under the insane new Touraine AC rules fashioned by bureaucracy and probably marketing conditions, while ignoring tradition, true 'typicity' and terroir in its widest sense. 

Sadly this next wine will be outlawed under the new AC Touraine Fou régime: 

    

2008 Cuvée de Fié Gris, Vieille Vigne, AC Touraine, Domaine Jacky Preys

Still quite difficult to find, Sauvignon Gris is often more interesting and complex than its more assertive cousin – Sauvignon Blanc. Jacky Preys has long made an excellent Fié Gris and has been instrumental in its revivial. The 2008 was a lovely bottle with weight, spice, delicacy with some floral notes, too, and more complex than many Touraine Sauvignons. Under the new Touraine regulations Sauvignon Gris can only make up 20% of the blend for AC Touraine Blanc. I hope the Preys family will continue to make this and sell it as a vin de pays or as a Vin de France. My guess is that they have built a sufficient reputation for this wine not to need the new fatally flawed Appellation Touraine Contrôlée label.

2009 petites grappes sur Basalte, Côtes d'Auvergne, Caves de Verny

2011 Enjoy, Côtes d'Auvergne Rosé 

Two impressive wines from the Caves de Verny, a cave co-operative at Veyre Monton in the Côtes d’Auvergne, kindly given to me to try by Fabrice Dagaut at the excellent Bon Laboureur hotel restaurant in Chenonceaux. Fabrice has recently started to list these wines.  2011 Enjoy (a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir) is an ideal pale rosé for a summer apéritif – red fruits and a fresh clean finish, while the Basalte is a concentrated Gamay coming from low yielding vines – only 25 hl/ha. It will surprise people used to drinking (or avoiding) dilute Gamays that often give this variety a poor reputation.

    

2011 Les marcottes, Gamay AC Touraine, Lionel Gosseaume

Another example of a delicious Gamay, this time from Touraine in the commune of Choussy, just to the west of Oisly and made by Lionel Gosseaume. Not a wine to analyse rather one to enjoy with friends. I hope Lionel hasn't been too badly hit by the frost in mid-April.  

 2010 Pinot Noir Marigny-Neuf, Ampelidae, Frédéric Brochet

2010 Sauvignon, Marigny-Neuf, Ampelidae, Frédéric Brochet

Two wines (samples) from Frédéric Brochet's Ampelidae: both from 2010 – a Pinot Noir and a Sauvignon Blanc. The Pinot Noir is exuberantly juicy in a modern style made to drink young, while the Sauvignon is more restrained and more classic.    

Cuvée JM Monmousseau, Touraine

Ackerman bought the Touraine sparkling wine producer, Monmousseau, in the autumn of 2010. Cuvée JM (sample) is a creamy, pure Chenin aged for between 24 and 36 months in the cellars on the eastern side of Montrichard. Available direct on-line for customers in France for 45€ for six bottles. 

2009 Vent d'Anges, Pouilly-Fumé, Régis Minet

An impressively fine Pouilly-Fumé from Régis Minet with lovely racy, minerality. Added to the list of producers that I need to visit. Profile by Kermit Lynch here.   

   

Chinon adopts Touraine's ophans!

Château du Petit Thouars, Saint Germain-sur-Vienne

Finally there is good news for the producers growing Cabernet Franc and Chenin in western Touraine, so cruelly orphaned by their heartless parents, AC Touraine, in their insane pursuit of grape purity: they have been adopted by AC Chinon. The producers of Chinon turned good Samaritan on the 15th March when they voted to extend the appellation to the west and accept producers in communes like Lerne, Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne and Seuilly.

The vote at 60% for and 40% against was a comfortable majority if not an overwhelming endorsement. Perhaps there was a feeling that Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne had its chance be part of the Chinon AC when it was created in 1937 but the Mayor at the time turned it down fearing that being part of AC Chinon would push up taxes. The vineyards joining Chinon, some 70 years late, have the same limestone and clay soils as those in communes like Ligre on the south side of the Vienne.

The next move is down to the INAO who will have to delimit the area that can be admitted and revise the appellation's cahier de charge (criteria). This will take a while but producers like Châteaux du Petit Thouars and Trochoire will be part of the Chinon appellation by 2014. Because they grow the traditional varieties – Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc – in the Pays de Rabelais, they were to be excluded from the 'reformed' Touraine appellation under its ludicrous restrictive and regimented rules. Does a surfeit of Sauvignon Blanc drive you insane!?

Château du Petit Thouars, Saint Germain-sur-Vienne

2010 Pineau d'Aunis Rosé, Jean-Marc Villemaine

2010 Pineau d'Aunis Rosé, Jean-Marc Villemaine, Thesée

Delicate. lightly spicy Pineau d'Aunis Rosé is something of a speciality in eastern Touraine. Often the grapes are pressed very soon after they picked with little or no maceration on the skins giving a delicate pale pink colour. This 2010 example from Jean-Marc Villemaine in Thesée in the Cher Valley, where he has some 20 hectares, was sent to me by Charles Hawkins & Partners Ltd. This is certainly an attractive, easy drinking rosé ideal for spring and summer apéros.

Unfortunately pure Pineau d'Aunis will soon not be entitled to the Touraine appellation. Under the proposed vinously illiterate reforms Touraine rosé will have to be a blend. Utterly idiotic when Pineau d'Aunis works here so well as a light, refreshing and distinctive rosé and there is both an established tradition and a market for these wines.

“Completement fou! Catastrophic!’ Jacky Preys

Jacky Preys during the 2009 harvest

I’m not at all surprised that Jacky Preys doesn’t mince his words about the stupid and nonsensical reform of the Touraine Appellation to make it ready to become an appellation d'origine protégée.

 

Read the rest on Les 5 du Vin here.

Folie de AC Touraine

2010 Sauvignon Blanc in Touraine

Some evidence here that opting for plain Appellation Touraine or Chenonceaux and removing the Sauvignon from the label will hurt sales of Sauvignon de Touraine in the UK. Enotria is one the UK's largest wine importers and imports the wines from the Clos du Porteau.

To: Aynard de Clemont-Tonnerre, Clos du Porteau, Saint-Georges  

From: Tim Sykes, director of buying for Enotria 

Monday 22nd November 2010  

Dear Aynard,

Thank you for your e-mail.

 
Whilst I understand the motivation of trying to differentiate wines from the Chenonceaux commune from the rest of the Touraine appellation, the British consumer expects to see the words Touraine and Sauvignon on the label.  You will remember that a few years ago the word "Sauvignon" was taken off the label, and this had a detrimental effect on sales in the UK.

Taking the word "Touraine" off the label would have a similar effect. 

Therefore I suggest you label the wines Sauvignon Touraine Chenonceaux.

Kind regards,

Tim

Tim Sykes

Director of Buying

e: t.sykes@enotria.co.uk

w: www.enotria.co.uk

enotria

4-8 Chandos Park Estate, London. NW10 6NF

Getting into bed with Esca!

A vine affected with esca

I'm afraid if you clicked on this page expecting to read some sensational new exposé about some famous footballer and their 'steamy' sessions with an exotic prostitute I fear you will be disappointed. This post is about esca – the deadly vine disease.

Over the past couple of weeks La Nouvelle République has carried several articles that reflect mounting alarm about Esca and its increased prevalence this year. Esca like eutypiose attacks the roots and the wood of the vine blocking off the sap. The consequences for the vine are usually fatal, although it appears that there is a slow acting version of Esca and one that kills the vine rapidly. 

'En attendant, l'esca fait des ravages. Tout particulièrement cette année, où la maladie s'est développée à la faveur de longues périodes de sécheresse. « Auparavant, on avait 2 à 5 % de mortalité. Là, on dépasse les 10 % pour les cépages sauvignon notamment. C'est devenue une préoccupation majeure », témoigne Serge Bonnigal, vigneron à Limeray.' (From La Nouvelle République 20.9.2010.  Read the rest here.

These are apparently not new vine diseases. Until 2001 they were kept in check by using sodium arsenite. However, its use has been banned because it is a dangerous chemical and can leave residues. To date there is no alternative treatment, although Didier Barouillet (Clos Roche Blanche, AC Touraine) suggests that vines that have always been cultivated organically show a lower incidence of the disease and that the planting of wild leeks can help the vine to resist and even overcome esca,

In Touraine, Sauvignon Blanc is particularly prone to the ravages of Esca. This, of course, is the sole variety that will be permitted for AC Touraine if the reforms go ahead. A true stroke of genius by those responsible!

Furthermore Hervé Lalau reports on his Chroniques Vineuses that the UK's passion for Sauvignon Blanc may be abating. See here.

I suspect that the impetus behind making Sauvignon Blanc, the only permitted variety for AC Touraine, is to avoid having to use the name of the grape variety on the label. I will be amazed if AC Touraine will ever be sold in the UK without Sauvignon Blanc appearing somewhere on the label. Almost all Bourgogne Rouge sold in the UK mentions Pinot Noir somewhere on the label and Chardonnay for Bourgogne Blanc. I cannot see why Touraine Sauvignon will be any different.    

 

Nearly dead vine

A delicious Touraine rosé facing expulsion

 

2009 Pineau d'Aunis, Clos Roche Blanche, AC Touraine
 

If the proposed reforms to the rules for permitted grape varieties in Appellation Touraine are passed, this delicious rosé made with an indigenous Loire grape variety and in a traditional 'vin gris' style will no longer be allowed. All Touraine rosés will have to be a blend in future if the proposals are agreed.  

As Ken Broadhurst (see comment) says some of the most interesting rosés made in the Cher Valley are pure Pinreau d'Aunis. Usually pressed immediately without any maceration or any significant skin contact giving them their delicate pale pink colour – like a vin gris.  This 2009 has very attractive floral notes but without the peppery, spicy character that is often typical of Pineau d'Aunis. It made an ideal glass or so to start the evening off sitting outside on a night that was considerably warmer and mlre enticing than yesterday evening.  

Worth remembering that Pineau d'Aunis is also called Chenin Noir, a reminder of the variety's Loire origins. Fortunately those producers who believe in inherent quality of their Pineau d'Aunis rosé will continue to make it and sell it as a vin de pays or vin de table. The producer will continue to be the crucial name on the label not the appellation.

AC Touraine – continuing madness

Clos Roussely (St Georges-sur-Cher): Pineau d'Aunis planted in 1905

A friend sent me a copy of this press release about the reform of AC Touraine. With respect to the plans to severely limit the permitted grape variety. I've already posted about these stupid reforms which appear to be driven solely by a demand for bureaucratic tidiness, uniformity and not at all based on region's tradition. Take the apparent wish to do away with Pineau d'Aunis, which can make very attractive light, peppery reds and refreshing rosés. Although there is not a lot of Pineau d'Aunis planted in Touraine, its presence adds to the diversity of regions wines as does a variety like Menu Pineau. Why will Touraine rosés have to be a blend in future?  

Before they ratify these daft proposals the Touraine producers would be well advised to look at what is happening in New Zealand with an over-supply of Sauvignon Blanc, falling prices and a number of wineries going bankrupt.   

The release: 

'Deux nouvelles AOC pour les vins de Touraine
Les AOC Touraine regroupent plus de 5000 ha en Indre-et-Loire et Loir-et-Cher, et une grande variété de cépages depuis leur décret de 1939. Sous la présidence d’Alain Godeau (vigneron aux Caves du Père Auguste, Civray), deux réformes sont en cours pour faciliter lÅapproche par les clients des vins de ce vaste ensemble.

D’une part, deux AOC nouvelles, Touraine Chenonceaux (blanc et rouge) et Touraine Oisly (blanc) vont permettre de distinguer les meilleurs terroirs de tout l’ensemble. Tout vigneron intéressé, disposant de parcelles situées sur les terroirs identifiés, pourra déclarer une partie de ses vins de Touraine dans ces deux appellations. Les vins seront ensuite validés qualitativement par une dégustation en plusieurs étapes.

D’autre part, sous l’impulsion de l’INAO, les viticulteurs ont décidé de restreindre l’utilisation des cépages dans les différentes couleurs. En blanc, le Touraine ne pourra plus provenir que de sauvignon, et plus de chenin. En rouge, il y aura deux « profils », un constitué de gamay à 85% minimum, l’autre, plus structuré, de cot à 50% minimum. En rosé, tous les cépages rouges seront acceptés, mais uniquement en assemblage.

Toutes ces réformes devraient être validées en fin 2010.'    

 

Foire aux Vins d'Amboise: 3rd April 2010

Visitors to the Foire in costumes from the time of François I

I went to the first morning of the Foire aux Vins d'Amboise, which is on for the three days until Monday and is held in the tunnel under the château. Conditions weren't ideal for tasting as it was cold in the tunnel, so all the wines were cold making the whites closed up and unexpressive, while many of the reds were tight with the tannins to the fore. 

The overall standard of the wines was well below that at the Fête des Vins de Bourgueil last weekend. There were a few really very poor whites from some quite large producers. 

The following producers impressed – little change on last year!

 Xavier Frissant

Xavier Frissant – particularly his two Fie Gris (Sauvignon Gris) wines. Under the new mad AC Touraine (AC Touraine Fou) regulations it will no longer be possible to make 100% Fie Gris and have the Touraine AC.

 The son of Xavier

François Péquin and his son

François Péquin, Domaine des Bessons: good range of wines.

Willy Debenne , Closerie de Chanteloup

Closerie de Chanteloup  – particularly the 2008 Malbec AC Touraine.
Given the poor quality of the two Plou et Fils wines  – 2009 Chenin sec and 2009 Sauvignon – I can well imagine why Frédéric Plou decided to leave the family company in December 2005 and join Vincent Guichard at Chanteloup.

Lionel Truet, Domaine de la Grande Foucardière.

 Stéphane Mesliand

Domaine Mesliand – Stéphane Mesliand. A young producer with 17ha of vines in Limeray.

2009 Clos Roche Blanche, 1960 Romorantin plus rare good sense@ACs

 Didier holding the cork for the 1960 Romorantin Clos Roche Blanche

Wednesday afternoon we dropped down to see Catherine Roussel and Didier Barouillet at Le Clos Roche Blanche to taste the 2009s. Having scaled back their vineyards to just 9 ha Catherine and Didier are in the fortunate position of having far more orders for their rightly highly regarded wines than they can fulfill. This now means being able to turn away fair weather clients who only bought the best vintages and stayed away in the difficult years.

In their heavily pregnant cat in attendance, we started with the Touraine Sauvignon Blanc Cuvée No2 which has just been bottled. Rich on the nose and palate with ripe yellow plum flavours, this comes in at 14.5%, although I didn't find any alcohol burn in its mineral finish, although Didier did. Although SB Cuvée No5 has three grams of residual sugar (against one for No2) this gives the impression of having a little more zip at present. This is partly due to the No2 being bottled very recently and also No5 won't be bottled until the end of August, so it currently has more CO2 which gives it an additional freshness. Both Sauvignons have been through malo. 

Next onto the pale pink Pineau d'Aunis Rosé – a typical vin gris with the touch of pepper – the signature flavour of Pineau d'Aunus and well as the aromas of rosehip. The three reds – Gamay, Cabernet and Côt – all really really well. The Gamay, which was bottled just a week ago, has wonderful ripe, spiciness. It will be one of those reds that no sooner have you pulled the cork than the bottle is suddenly empty. Just delicious uncomplicated drinking but which will keep surprisingly well if you can keep your hands off it.

Both the Cabernet (black fruits) and Côt (spice and powerful but ripe tannins) are concentrated, the Côt especially, and will need time to show their best. We finished the tasting of recent vintages with a return to white and the lovely 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Cuvée No5 dominated by ripe yellow plum.

Didier then pulled out a 1960 Clos Roche Blanche Romorantin that was a mid gold in colour with some oxidation on the nose – perhaps maderisation is a better descriptor  along with aromas of honey and dried but not sweet rainsins with a high acid – tonic! – finish. Catherine and Didier explained that some Romorantin was planted on the property until 1974 when Catherine's father grubbed up the vines. He died the following year and Catherine replanted with Sauvignon Blanc. The Romorantin,  and this may well have been the same the other wines, was only bottled in good years, so clearly 1960 was a good vintage for Romorantin. One reason for only bottling the best vintages was the lack of bottles in the 1950s and early 1960s. Wine would be bottled in previously used bottles – quite often Champagne bottles as this one looks to have been.  

The top of the 1960 Romorantin

It seems to be a typical Champagne or sparkling wine bottle from the time when these bottles were closed with a normal Champagne cork for the secondary fermentation and, not as almost all are today, with a crown cap. 

Talking about the Romorantin and the diversity of grape varieties that used to be grown in Touraine moved us onto to discussing the current madness – the urge to simplify the Touraine appellation. I had fully appreciated the stupidity of the current proposals. Not only will Sauvignon Blanc with Sauvignon Gris be sole authorised varieties for white Touraine but pure Pineau d'Aunis will not be allowed for the rosé (or as a red either). For the reds 100% Gamay will be permitted, otherwise it will have to be a blend of Cabernet and Côt. This simplification flies in the face of the history of the area where pure Côt is typical and is often the best red produced here. These new regulations ignore that eastern Touraine is naturally the melting pot of grape varieties found in the Loire and that this diversity should be treasured. Instead the plan appears to be to legislate it out of existence – just at the moment when many other wine regions around the world are increasing celebrating and promoting a plurality of grape varieties, especially indigenous ones. 

It is tempting to blame bureaucrats for this stupidity but it is the vignerons themselves who have voted to put themselves in a strait-jacket. I suspect that the desire to banish grape varieties from the label is the motivation behind this. The goal is to be able to sell Touraine Blanc without the mention of Sauvignon Blanc on the label. 'Touraine Blanc' may work on the French market but I'll be amazed if it does on export markets. In the UK Touraine Blanc is highly unlikely to sell without the magic words – Sauvignon Blanc. You only have to look at Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge which is very rarely sold in the UK without Chardonnay or Pinot Noir on the label.

Where's the C word?
Amongst all this nonsense there is one crucial element that has been ignored – the C word: culture. In all this rule making there is no mention of how the vineyards should be cultivated. You can  use as much artificial fertilizer as you and zap the whole of your vineyard with weedkiller and it doesn't matter – it is still appellation contrôlée. Surely the vineyard – the terroir should be the cornerstone or the foundation of the appellation contrôlée system. Instead producers can do what they like. Driving around it is shamefully evident that the use of weedkiller is indiscriminate and widespread in AC Touraine.

Didier Barouillet's three proposals
To have the right to sell wine as appellation contrôlée, producers should not use:

a) artificial fertilisers
Their use both causes vines to over-produce and encourages the plant to grow a lot of roots on the surface rather than to search deeper into the soil for nutrients. 

b) weedkiller throughout the vineyard
Destroys a vineyard's biodiversity and the natural balance which assists in keeping the vine healthy. Widespread use means that other chemical products have to be used to protect the vine against various diseases. It also encourages erosion.    

c) systemics
These penetrate into the soil destroying the microbacterial life and this Didier believes is responsible for diseases like esca because the protection this life provides for the roots of the vine has been destroyed.

Producers, who want to use the above products and practices, would have to opt to sell their wine as vin de pays or vin de table: they would not have the right to appellation contrôlée.  Perhaps a new France wide vin de pays could be created – vin de pays de Monsanto – it could prove to be a popular choice.

Those who say that this measure is too extreme should be reminded that the rules for the new AC Saumur Le Puy-Notre-Dame ban the indiscriminate use of weedkiller (desherbage total) in the vineyard.

AC Touraine should be following Le Puy's good example.