Four or five festive sparklers... and where to enjoy them

One English sparkler

Sugrue Pierre South Downs: The Trouble with Dreams
by Dermot Sugrue   

Unlike British politics which has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons for best part of three years now, English or more precisely English and Welsh wines, have been garnering headlines for excellent reasons. We are now making some very good sparkling wines, which account for around two thirds of our production. The area under vine here is predicted to reach 3000 hectares by 2020. This is still small – similar in size to Sancerre (2987 in 2017) but given that vine growing only restarted here in 1952 this is a fair change. Plantings have tripled since 2004. Of course all this pales into insignificance if you consider how much the Chinese have planted over the past decade or even, on a lesser scale, the way wine production in New Zealand has increased and changed since the 1970s.

Wine has been made here since the Roman times but following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536 vineyards in the UK gradually declined until they disappeared altogether just before the First World War. It wasn't until 1952 that vines were replanted for commercial production and there was a gradual revival during the rest of the 20th Century. 

Irish wine-maker Dermot Sugrue has been an important influence on English wine, in particular sparkling. His precise and thrilling Sugrue Pierre South Downs: The Trouble with Dreams (Chardonnay 60% Pinot Noir 40%) can be best enjoyed at The Harrow in Little Bedwyn – a brilliant Michelin starred restaurant.

Just out a quick monograph - 70 pages – to English wine
Copies from International Wine & Food Society

•••

Four Loire favourites: 

Pure Chenin Blanc from Château de L'Aulée, Azay-le-Rideau. No added sugar and 24 months minimum on the lees. Brilliant value, which makes it our house fizz.

Also pure Chenin Blanc with no sugar added at any stage hence the name – Triple Zéro, which has been a great success for Jacky Blot. Triple Zéro can be best enjoyed at Jacky's Le Bistrot des Belles Caves (Tours).

A Saumur fizz – Chenin Chardonnay – from Bouvet Ladubay – zero dosage. Zéro can be best enjoyed at La Route du Sel (Le Thoureil).

Lamé's delicate Crémant de Loire is a blend of 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon with 24 months sur latte. This Crémant can be best enjoyed at Vincent le Cuisiner de Campagne  (Ingrandes-de-Touraine).

 

A Giant e-bike – recommended to assist in fighting off the extra calories and weight over the Christmas period. 

(This post was first published on Les 5 du Vin. This is one of a week-long series on festive sparkling wines.) 

Some recently enjoyed Loire bottles .....

We opened the 2005 Mi-Pente, Bourgueil from Domaine de la Butte to welcome one of the new members of our French group. She had first visited us in the Cher Valley in 2005. her stay included a visit to Jacky Blot and she was very struck by Jacky's explanation of the terroirs of La Butte. Naturally it felt appropriate to mark the occasion with the 05 Mi-Pente, which is currently drinking very well. Lovely soft, developed fruit, supple structure – all in all the 2005 Mi-Pente seems much younger than its 13 years.

Château de l'Aulée's Crémant de Loire Crémant de Loire Brut Zéro is our house Loire sparkler. Made from 100% Chenin it is very clean, pure and precise. Despite having no dosage, the finish is attractively austere but never acidic. A fine sparkler, which spends between 24 and 36 months sur latte, for less than 10€ from the domaine!

Bought on Sunday at the latest edition of the Bios Jours de Bourgueil attended by organic producers from the Pays Nantais, Saumur and Touraine. This well-made 2017 Bourgueil cuvée printemps from Domaine du Rochouard offers great value at 6.50€ the bottle.  Ripe fruit, some fairly soft structure, this entry level Bourgueil can be drunk now with pleasure but should improve over the next two or three years in bottle.

In contrast with many of the other wines on sale at the Bios Jours Jean-Luc Duveau's Bourgueil was offered at a very good price. Many of the other exbibitors had wines that started at around 10€ without the quality found in this 2017.

A magnum of 2012 Negrette bought from Jérémie Mourat's domaine in the Fiefs Vendéens. A magnum is an ideal size if you have a number of people around the dinner table. Negrette is the majority grape of Fronton, to the north west of Toulouse. It is also found, however, in the Fiefs Vendéens. Mourat's Negrette has lovely juicy black fruits – the 2012 slipped down without a struggle. Time to buy some more!

The 1989 Grande Année is a lovely classic from Bernard Fouquet's Domaine des Aubuisières and it was wines from this great Loire vintage that established Bernard's reputation. Less rich than his 1989 Le Marigny, Grande Année has lovely delicacy, finesse and balance with potential to continue to age brilliantly as on close to 30 years old it has lovely freshness.

Several bottles in search of a 70th birthday celebration

Elegant, Touraine Brut, Château de l'Aulée 

Mainly Chenin Blanc with a little Chardonnay

Back to Tuesday 3rd October and a 70th birthday celebration. We warmed up with a bottle of Elegance, Touraine Brut from Château de l'Aulée before moving onto Jacky Blot's Triple Zéro, a firm favourite from Montlouis.   
 

Apéros over it was time for the first course a largely seasonal salad with goats' cheese, lardons and a selection of different mushrooms including cèpes and girolles. This was accompanied by a magnum of the 2009 Clos Saint André, Fiefs Vendéens from Jérémie Mourat. 100% Chenin Blanc this had the richness and soft acidity that worked very well with the salad 

With the main course a couple of plain roasted Poulet de Racan a couple of bottles of the classic 1996 Vieilles Vignes, Saumur-Champigny from Château de Villeneuve. With aged this wine has developed lovely complexity while still remaining youthful. This 1996 must surely be good for at least another 10-15 years and probably more.    

 

Back in time for the cheese with the 1961 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec from Domaine Huet. Still amazingly youthful it opened out in the carafe and then in glass. I probably should have opened and decanted this several more hours in advance. Even so it was stunning – wonderfully precise with some honeyed tones.  

We finished with a rich chocolate birthday cake. The 1988 Banyuls Cuvée Francis Cantié from Domaine la Tour Vieille with its rich nutty, raisined and coffee flavours. 

Happy Christmas everyone! Joyeux Noël ! Small selection of Loire fizz to assist in celebrations

 Crémant de Loire, Brut Zéro, Château de l'Aulée

 Triple Zéro, AC Montlouis, Jacky Blot 

 Crémant de Loire Rosé, Lamé Delisle Boucard 

 Miss Eugénie, Méthode Traditionnelle, Extra Brut, Grolleau Gris 

Domaine des Herbauges

(above and below)

Striking out: driving from London to the Loire!

L'eglise à Epeigné-les-Bois, Indre et Loire 

Today we drove from London to the Cher Valley (Touraine). Having followed the recent news about strikes in France and the shortage of fuel we were a little apprehensive about the journey. 

We made sure that we filled up on our way out of London, giving us plenty of fuel to complete our journey without needing to fill up in France. However, it was clear that there was fuel at the service stations we passed on our way down from Calais via Rouen, Alençon, Le Mans and Tours.  Certainly no sign of the motorways we used being blocked. 

We arrived in time to crack open a couple of bottles of Château de l'Aulée's very good Brut Zéro and a couple of Bruno Curassier's excellent 2014 Gamay – Domaine de la Grange, Touraine.    

Recently enjoyed Loires in late March

2012 Vouvray Sec, Domaine du Clos Naudin, Philippe Foreau

Very precise, classic Vouvray Sec 

Two very good Vouvrays from Philippe Foreau: 2012 Sec above and 2003 Demi-Sec below

 2003 is famous as the heatwave year 

This lovely demi-sec while rich has good balance of acidity.

Just delicious, especially paired with blue cheese  

 

During our three week stay in the Loire we enjoyed (avec modération) a number of good bottles. This should be the first post of several. 

 1989 Cuvée Cénomane, Coteaux du Loir, Joël Gigou
Red from the Loir Valley – 100% Pinreau d'Aunis or mainly so.

This was an emergency consummation as I discovered that 

the cork had been leaking and the level was mid-to low shoulder.

Showed how resilient Loire wines can be still in 

very good, spicy condition. Memorable!  

 

Crémant de Loire Rosé, Lamé Delisle Boucard

100% Cabernet Franc 

Very attractive, light red fruits, delicate 

2008 Sancerre. Henry Natter 

Excellent mature and complex Sancerre from 

the consistently good Henry Natter, who is based in 

Montigny at the western end of the appellation.

Underlines again that good Sancerre can age beautifully    

 Crémant de Loire, Brut Zéro, Château de l'Aulée

100% Chenin Blanc and brilliant value from this 

Azay-le-Rideau based domaine

 2014 Pélo, Saumur-Champigny, Le Petit Saint Vincent  

Good concentration of black fruits but retaining freshness in the finish.

Yet another 2014 Cabernet Franc showing very well at the moment

 2011 Vieilles Vignes, Saumur-Champigny, 

Château de Villeneuve, Jean-Pierre Chevallier 

Softly fruited 2011 red showing that this vintage 

is showing well at the moment 

and shouldn't be overlooked

 

2003 Anjou Villages Brissac, Domaine de Bablut, Christophe Daviau

Rich, concentrated and now mature 

Unlike 1855, 1856 is a wine that delivers!

Château de l'Aulée in the appellation of Touraine Azay-le-Rideau specialises in sparkling wine. Their top Crémant de Loire is 1856 – their top cuvée to mark the creation of the estate in 1856. This full, creamy sparkling wine was first made in 2006. Pure Chenin Blanc it is vinified and aged in wood for two years before spending at least 30 months sur latte. It is excellent value at 8/9 € a bottle from the estate, so not everything from the 1850s is unreliable! Just don't order it from 1855 or Cave Privée! 

Stepping back a year, the antics of the 1855 'management' – Fabien Hyon is the CEO – over Cave Privée continue to astound on this thread on La Passion du Vin. Fortunately Mr Bernard Michel de la BIEV continues to squeeze Fabien Hyon where it hurts, so that he coughs up cheques to reimburse clients for wines that are never delivered. 

A week ago I had an interesting conversation with Jacky Blot (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups in Montlouis) who told me that they don't supply Cave Privée, which hasn't stopped the company listing them. Jacky said that they get frequent enquiries from clients of Cave Privée wondering what has happened to their wines. 

Shares in 1855 continue to limp along at between 0.03€ and 0.04€ a share.  

1855 called an arnaque by France2

Loire: more diary dates: Chedigny, Epeigné-les-Bois, Azay-le-Rideau etc.

The annual Blues Festival in Chedigny runs from Friday 10th August through to Sunday 12th. Details here – site is rather slow to load.

Soirée au Lézard Vert, Epeigné-les-Bois: Mozaik Ethnik this Saturday 11th August

To reserve places call: 02.47.23.97.94

Bonjour Monsieur Le Maire: Nacer (Le Lézard Vert) greeting Michel Mergot on Le Lézard's newly paved terrasse

**

Thursday 16th August: Contes et Chansons de Terroir@Château de l'Aulée

Une soirée sous le signe du terroir et de l'humour suivie d'une dégustation de nos crûs accompagnés de mise en bouche. Animée par Richard Oullié

13€ par personne (A partir de 12 ans)

**

Lionel Gosseaume: Soirée dans les vignes: Samedi 11 août

Lionel Gosseaume dans les vignes Avril 2012

Details here.

**

Jérôme et Dominique Sauvète

Domaine Sauvète, Monthou, Cher Valley:

Vendredi 10 août à 21h : soirées contées dans les vignes

 Tout en arpentant les vignes, Marie vous emmènera en Chine ou en Italie,

pour faire vivre des contes sucrés, de sagesse ou d’origine.

Des contes entre lacets à écouter sans modération.

Possibilité de plateau gourmand sur réservation, à 20h.

Tarif spectacle : 10 € par adulte et 5 € enfant.

Tarif plateau gourmand et spectacle : 20 € adulte et 12 € enfant.

Dimanche 12 août à 10h : randonnée gourmande

 Dégustez nos vins au milieu des vignes, accompagnés de produits du terroir.

Tarif : 8 € - gratuit pour les enfants. Durée approximative : 2 h.

Samedi 25 août : randonnée olympiades

 Venez défier vos amis à travers divers jeux dans notre vignoble ! Sans oublier bien entendu, notre traditionnelle dégustation qui viendra récompenser tous vos efforts.

Tarif : 8 € - gratuit pour les enfants. Durée approximative : 2 h.