Fast approaching Loire dates for your diary

Biotyfoule21 vigneronnes et vignerons bio tourangeaux vous donnent rendez-vous dans le hall de la Mairie de Tours les samedi 24 et dimanche 25 novembre 2018 pour la 9e édition de Biotyfoule.

Alors que les Français n'ont jamais été autant intéressés par les vins bio, cet événement sera l'occasion de découvrir qui se cache derrière les étiquettes. De Bourgueil à Vouvray, en passant par Montlouis, Azay-le-Rideau, Amboise ou Chinon, les producteurs présenteront leurs cuvées issues des cépages locaux travaillés en agriculture biologique certifiée. Vous évoluerez de stand en stand, comme lors d'une balade au cœur des terroirs tourangeaux.

Dégustation et vente. Accès libre, verre à dégustation : 5€.
Hôtel de Ville de Tours, samedi 24 de 11h à 19h, dimanche 25 de 10h à 18h.
 
Ouvert aux particuliers et aux professionnels. Petite restauration bio sur place. Ateliers du goût gratuits.

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Anges Vins details here.

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Details of Saumur Salon: 1st and 2nd December.  

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La BoireSalon de vins bio et naturelsSamedi 1 et dimanche 2 décembre 2018Au Wattignies Social Club, sur l’île de Nantes

Loire

Manu et Marion Landron-Pescheux, domaine Complémen'Terre (Muscadet);
Jacques et Agnès Carroget, domaine La Paonnerie (Pinards et Jus); Marie Carroget et Sandra Chenal (Nord Loire); Johan Chassé (Pinards et Jus); Philippe Chevarin (Pinards et Jus); Adrien De Mello, domaine de la Petite Sœur (Anjou); Stéphane Delettre (Bourgueil); Jacques Février, domaine Le Raisin à Plume (Pinards et Jus); Xavière Hardy (Pinards et Jus); Mathieu Lhotellier (Pinards et Jus); Marc Pesnot, domaine La Sénéchalière; Rémy Sédès (Pinards et Jus); Thibault Stephan (Saumur Puy- Notre-Dame); David Landron, l’Aufrère (Muscadet); Benoit, Bernard et Françoise Landron, domaines Landron- Chartier (Pinards et Jus); Emilie Brunet Tourette, domaine la Tour brune (Anjou);  Igor et Melanie, domaine du Bois Rond (Pinards et Jus); Yoann Gillot, domaine les Vins jardinés (Muscadet)

Alsace
Julien Albertus, domaine Kumpf-Meyer

Beaujolais
Sylvère Trichard, domaine Séléné

Jura
Gilles Wicky

Languedoc-Roussillon
Victor Beau, Domaine Inebriati
Patrice Dethil, domaine Calimàs  Rhône Sud
Elodie Aubert, Clos des Cîmes (Rhône Sud)

Dordogne
Romuald Ambitio

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Producers:

Olivier BELLANGER-- Domaine La Piffaudière, Pierre-Olivier BONHOMME-- Domaine Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme, Mikaël BOUGES, Alain COURTAULT et Simon TARDIEUX-- Domaine Courtault-Tardieux, Cédric FLEURY--Domaine Les Gauchers, Moses GADOUCHE et Pascal POTAIRE-- Les Capriades, Corinne et Paul GILLET-- Domaine des Maisons brûlées, Jean-Christophe JÉZÉQUEL, Anouk LAVOIE-LAMOUREUX et Paul André RISSE--Domaine Les Jardins de Theseiis, Ariane LESNÉ-- Domaine de Montrieux, Estelle MAÎTRE et François SAINT-LÉGER-- Les Caves de l'Arche Macé, Damien MENUT, Berjan MOL--Domaine La Taupe, Noëlla MORANTIN, Julien PINEAU, Pierre PRADELLE--Domaine des Pies blanches, Vincent ROUSSELY-- Clos Roussely, Jérôme SAUVETE-- Domaine Sauvète, Cyrille SEVIN-- Domaine Cyrille Sevin, Philippe TESSIER-- Domaine Philippe Tessier, Brendan TRACEY, Yann LE POLLOTEC – bière, La PIGEONNELLE – bière

2018 Loire Millésime – some thoughts on the second edition

The second edition of Loire Millésime was based in Blois and ran from Sunday 22nd to 25th April. In all some 70 journalists were invited from around the world with a strong contingent from North America. 

Visits during this second edition naturally focused on appellations to the east of Tours – the various Touraine appellations, especially Oisly, Chenonceaux and Mesland along with Vouvray. Whereas the first edition, based at Fontevraud, focused on Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Chinon and Saumur. 

Sunday 22nd April

This second edition opened with a tasting of Loire Chenin Blanc, which was similar in format to that held at the Domaine de Rocheville (Saumur) in 2017. This year it and our other tastings were held in the Château de Blois.

During the tasting there are trays of canapés served with no sit down meal at the end of tasting. A number of the leading producers marking Loire Chenin were present at the tasting. These included Claude Papin, Olivier Lecomte, Patrick Baudouin, Philippe Porché, Joël et Ludovic Gigou, Vincent Lebreton, Tessa Laroche and Alexandre Monmousseau. 

There were many high quality Chenins to taste. It was also a useful reminder of the high average quality of wines from Jasnières and Coteux du Loir. Good to taste a couple of 2017s from Domaine Lelais, which with 14 hectares in Jasnières makes them the largest producer in this small appellation. Unfortunately Lelais lost 50% of their 2016 crop to frost.  

Unfortunately I find grazing on canapés and trying to taste these excellent Loire Chenin Blancs doesn't really work. I would rather taste without the distraction of food and then eat after the end of the tasting. Given the timing of this evening tasting, leaving eating until the finish of the tasting wasn't possible unless one was prepared to go hungry as local restaurants would be closing by the end of the event. 

Monday 23rd, Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th April
As it had been in the previous edition the centrepiece of the 2018 Loire Millésime was the possibility to taste some 700 wines from the 2017, 2016 and 2015 vintages that had been entered into the Le Concours des Vins du Val de Loire. Of these 700 wines – 287 had received medals. 

For the whole of Monday (9am-6.30pm) there was the opportunity to taste the 2017 vintage, then Tuesday and Wednesday morning for the 2016 and 2015 wines.

Doubtless it is admirably democratic that those who enter their wines into the Concours get them to be tasted by a global group of journalists as well as providing an incentive to enter. Unfortunately it is the nature of wine competitions, especially regional ones, that for a variety of reasons the best producers do not enter their wines. Most top producers already have established reputations and may well be a position to sell more wine than they can make. Furthermore with the 2016 and 2017 frosts in the Loire there is a shortage of stock. 

The result? From the 700 wines there were too few that were good and memorable. The overall quality was significantly below that of the Chenin Blanc tasting on Sunday night. The 2018 Loire Millésime is reported to have cost 140,000€ to stage. It does seem quixotic to fly in journalists from around the world and not show them the wines that you believe are the best the region has to offer. Furthermore it is very likely that it is the region's best producers who are present on export markets rather than producers who fail to get medals in their regional competition. 

To be fair the Tuesday afternoon trip to Vouvray, which I was not on, did include a visit with Vincent Carême to his vineyard and to the cellars of Domaine Huet, so two leading Vouvray producers. 

Next year's edition of Loire Millésime will be in the Pays Nantais, I trust that the organisers will have sorted out this problem and will show their guests the very best that the Loire has to offer. One solution would be to show only those wines from the Concours that are awarded medals and to show at the same time a selection from the Loire's best producers. 

Château de Chambord 

Two spectacular soirées
On Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed to two spectacular soirées: Monday evening at Château de Chambord and Tuesday at Château de Moncontour in Vouvray. On both occasions the weather was perfect. Monday featured wines from the straight Touraine and Touraine Villages appellations, while Tuesday was devoted to négociant and cave co-operative wines. 

 Château Moncontour

Visits to Touraines Oisly, Mesland and Amboise
On Tuesday afternoon I opted to go on the trip to Touraine Oisly. Here the focus was on two types of soil. The first, in the east of the Oisly appellation, had clay and limestone that had degraded to flint. The second was more sandy and had heavier clay making it a colder soil with the possibility of poor drainage during a wet winter. The visit included a tasting of Sauvignon Blancs from both Touraine Chenonceaux and Touraine Oisly. 

The tasting confirmed my overall impression from tasting 2016s from the two appellations  on Tuesday morning that the whites from Chenonceaux are more interesting, complex and varied than those from Oisly, which although in the wines we tasted have rich fruit, they have a tendency to blandness due to their soft finish that lacks vibrancy and punch. 

Wednesday afternoon was taken up with a drive in an iconic Citroen 2CV through the vineyards of Touraine Mesland and Touraine Amboise. The highlights were a tasting of five 100% Côt in a vineyard in the commune of Limeray. If the proposed Cru Amboise goes through the whites will be made only from Chenin Blanc and the reds solely from Côt (Malbec). Of the five the 2015 Prestige de Bessous, 2015 La Griffe d'Isa (Xavier Frissant) and the 2016 Domaine de Grande Foucardière stood out. At the end of our excursion a 1997 late harvest botrytised Touraine Amboise from Domaine de la Gabillière (the Lycée Viticole at Amboise) was a fine treat.  

Unfortunately the visits highlighted the high proportion of vineyards in Touraine that blasted with weedkiller. In some vineyards the destruction is almost total with a trace of biodiversity remaining. It is, however, encouraging that the proposal for the putative cru Amboise includes restrictions on the use of weedkillers. 

 Oisly vineyard completely blitzed by weedkiller

Less life in the soil than in the Gobi Desert?

Ouch – old Chenin Blanc in a lifeless vineyard 

@Limeray (Amboise)

There should be a law against treating old Chenin like 

   
  
  
     

    
        

2018 Loire Millésime – fireworks conclude magical soirée at Moncontour

Tuesday's night's soirée was at Château Moncontour (Vouvray) and featured wines from the Loire négoce. The evening concluded with a magical and spectacular firework display set to appropriate music.

Many thanks to everyone who organised this fine soirée.   

 

Floodlit Château Moncontour

 

2018 Loire Millésime – spectacular soirée @Chambord

The appellations of Touraine treated us to a spectacular soirée at Château de Chambord on Monday evening. Firstly an apéritif on the roof and then dinner downstairs at the base of the famous double staircase. During the dinner we were entertained by a very good jazz band.

Many thanks to all involved. 

More photos to follow. 

2018 Loire Millésime @Blois

It is good to be back in the Loire for the first time since late October 2017. The occasion is the second edition of Loire Millésime. The first edition was held at the Abbaye de Fontevraud near Saumur. This year we are much further up the Loire at Blois and amongst the assembled journalists – some 70 from around the world – I have been joined by fellow Les Cinqs – Hervé and Marc, so 60% of us are present here.

Unlike last year there is no threat of frost the days are hot and the nights are much milder – well above freezing. In contrast last year the days were wonderfully bright but the temperature plummeted at night giving the producers a series of frosts to fight.

We started this three and a half days of tasting on Sunday evening with a look at Chenin Blanc along the same format as last year at the Domaine de Rocheville in the commune of Parnay. The tasting included some of the Loire’s best exponents of Chenin Blanc in its diverse facets.

Producers present at the event included Claude Papin, Jérôme Billard, Francis Jourdan, Jean-Max Manceau, Olivier Lecomte, Ludovic and Joël Gigou, Philippe Porché, Patrick Baudouin, Tessa Laroche, Julien Fournier, Xavier Frissant, Nicolas Paget, Marielle Henrion, Alexandre Monmousseau, Vincent Lebreton and Alexandre Cady, There were many exciting and diverse wines to taste.

Monday has been given over to tasting the 2017 vintage from wines that were entered in the 2018 Concours de Vins Val de Loire, This doubtless is a good way to encourage producers to enter the competition and is admirably democratic but it does mean the wines from some of the best and most famous Loire producers are not in the tasting. It is a given for all wine competitions that many of the top producers do not enter them. After all they may well have more to lose than gain and furthermore they rarely need the publicity as their established renown sells their wines. However, this format does give me the chance to discover good producers that I don’t already know.

Monday’s tasting confirmed that despite the April frost 2017 completes a quartet of good vintages in the Loire with successes in both the dry whites and the reds.

Some favourites from 2017: 

2017 Pavillon, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu sur Lie, 
Domaine du Bourg, Hervé et Nicolas Choblet
– elegant and with real character

2017 Grolleau IGT Val de Loire, Michel Robineau
Fine example of why Grolleau can be an excellent quaffing wine 

Côt Garnon, Touraine, La Chapinière
This promising 2017 underlines that Côt (Malbec) 
is very well suited to the Cher Valley.
Also that La Chapinière is a consistently good producer

Barrel-aged Cuvée Anais Touraine Mesland, Domaine de Rabelais 
Good concentration and structure  

Les Vins du Coin: Blois on Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December

The annual Vins du Coin tasting will be on Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December at the Espace Jorge Semprun, 25 rue Jean Baptiste Charcot, Blois. 

The usual suspects will be there to welcome you. 

La Loire@Blois early Saturday morning

Looking upstream

A quartet of photos taken early Saturday morning from the north bank of the Loire@Blois just by the Hotel Mercure shortly before we headed off to taste the last of the Sauvignons.

 

 Bridge over the Loire from the centre of Blois

Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2013 more photos of tasters

 Baudouin Havaux

Some photos from yesterday morning's tasting session at the Château of Blois. 

 Lionel Gosseaume

Pierre Chainier, Loire négociant and producer

Pieter de Waal, Hermit on the Hill, South Africa

 

Laurence Fourgeray

Thierry Michaud – Touraine producer@Noyers-sur-Cher (above and below) 

 Julie Guillot, one of the organisers of the Concours 

After the tasting: Lionel Gosseaume (world expert on Meslier Saint François and 

Interloire's representative for the Concours), Paul Buisse (retired négociant and producer), Christian Girard (retired Touraine producer)

 A previous edition of Jim's Loire and a taster@the 16th century Concours

Blois by the Loire

Bridge across the Loire (above and below)

A few photos of the Loire@Blois grabbed between the conference which opened the Concours Mondial Sauvignon 2013 last evening. Off to taste this morning  

The south side of Blois 

Night-time by the Loire