14th edition of the Fête des Vins de Bourgueil in centre of Tours

 A good crowd but I believe it got even busier in the afternoon 

Serge Babary, the Maire de Tours 

wrapped up well for the chilly start

After a chilly start yesterday the Bourgueil producers' annual invasion of Tours was blessed with warm sunshine. This year they had two good vintages – 2014 and 2015 – to show. 

It was good to see that Serge Babary, the current Maire of Tours, is keen to support this Bourgueil Fête in the centre of Tours. An event that was started by his predecessor – the late Jean Germain, who came from Bourgueil. 

Although the Fête des Vins de Bourgueil is early in the year – mid March – the weather is usually kind. It is a great shop window: attracting large crowds, introducing and promoting Bourgueil to audience that includes a good proportion of #winelovers in their 20s. It was noticeable that producers were doing a brisk trade selling their wine. 

There was a considerable range of prices – from around 5€ to over 20€. The difference in price wasn't always matched by superior quality difference..

Given the success of this Fête it is surprising that, apart from the big pan-Loire festival – VitiLoire at the end of May – no other Loire appellations have ventured into the centre of Tours to hold a similar event.   

     

Aurélien Revillot 

fast emerging young star in Bourgueil

Sophie Raimbault commenting on 

Hachette's complaint against the former name of their domaine 

now Domaine Ansodelles

  Armand de Tilly with his head winemaker 

(above and below)

Armand was showing his first vintage (2015) from his 1.3 hectares of vines formed of various parcels mainly in the commune of Benais. After working for Pierre and Catherine Breton, Armand took over his vines in March 2015 and has vines on all three soil types – sand, gravel and clay-limestone.  

 Emmanuel Caslot (Domaine de la Chevalerie) demonstrates the halo effect 

 Bertrand Galbrun

Valerie Herlin (Domaine Laurent Herlin) 

I bought a very good saucisse au Montlouis here 

as a good spicy merguez with distinctly hot mustard 

+ good frites.

 Time for the chefs, making rillons and rillettes,

to enjoy lunch with a glass of Bourgueil

 Representatives of the Commanderie de la 

Dive Bouteille de Bourgueil et St. Nicolas

Bourgueil's 13th invasion of Tours: Saturday 21st March 2015 (part 2)

Jérémy Lorieux (Domaine Michel, Joëlle et Jérémy Lorieux)

Delphine Delanoue (la femme d'Armel)

Armel Delanoue

 Fine umbrella for miserable conditions 

Giant dish allows the chef to warm his hands!

 Claude Vidal wondering when Jim is going to send 

the photo he took at the end of January in Angers  

Séverine Godefroy, la soeur de Jérome (Domaine GODEFROY Jérôme)

 Michel Lorieux, Clos de l'Abbaye 

Thierry Boucard, Domaine de la Chanteleuserie

 Jean-Marie Amirault: the event is not 

just about tasting but selling too!

Cyril Langlois, gérant de "La Loère" (http://www.laloere.fr)

Paul Breton – nouvelle géneration à Domaine Pierre et Catherine Breton

 

Laurent Herlin

(above and below) 

Aurélien Revillot: 2 ha in Bourgueil, 0.25 in Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil

His 14s are looking promising 

Maeva Mabileau, Domaine de la Closerie

Third set of photos to follow tomorrow or Tuesday. 

2014 Salon des Vins de Loire: two newcomers – Aurélien Revillot and Clément Marchand

Over the next few days I hope to get time to catch up on the various tasting and shows I have been at recently including Millésime Bio, the Renaissance in Angers and the Salon des Vins de Loire. To start a couple of newcomers to the Salon: Aurélien Revillot (Bourgueil) and Clément Marchand (Domaine Marchand et Fils, Pouilly-Fumé). 

 Aurélien Revillot, Bourgueil

Aurélien Revillot

Aurélien's weekday job is with Pierre, Stéphanie and Emmanuel Caslot at the Domaine de la Chevalerie in Restigné (AC Bourgueil). Outside these hours he has 2.3 hectares of vines also in AC Bourgueil. Aurélien's first vintage was in 2012. I tasted his Sur Les Hauts, which had an attractive ripe nose and sweet, softly textured fruit. Sur Les Hauts comes from vines planted on clay/limestone. He has one other cuvée but that is still in barrel. 

A promising start and I fancy we will hear more of Aurélien Revillot in the future, especially as he comes from the Caslot stable!       

Clément Marchand (Domaine Marchand et fils, Pouilly-Fumé)

Clément Marchand

I first met Clément a number of years ago when he was involved with the Caves de Hauts Seyr (Coteaux Charitois) before it ran into financial difficulties and was bought by Alphonse Mellot. Although I believe this was the first time that Clément has exhibited at the Salon des Vins de Loire, he returned to take over the family domaine in Les Loges, Pouilly-sur-Loire in 2004. 

Clément grabbed me right at the end of my session at the Salon on Tuesday. Unfortunately I only had time to taste very quickly, so when I'm next in Pouilly I will have to try to arrange to visit him. However, his unbottled 2013 Pouilly Fumé is quite rich as are most of the Sancerres and Pouillys I tried both at Millésime Bio and the Salon. As well as the domaine Pouilly-Fumé he has a range of cuvées reflecting the different soils. 

I was pleased to hear that since his return Clément has phased out the use of weedkillers.   

A suivré.