Charles Sydney's 2016 London Loire tasting – my selection of dry whites

Harvesting Cabernet Franc in 2015 

2015 Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre

Here is my selection of wines from this large tasting. I am not going to attempt tasting notes mainly because many of the wines, especially the 2015s, have yet to be bottled. Also I have chosen a fair number so it would take a long time to compile my notes and Millésime Bio starts tomorrow. This year's tasting underlined the quality of the 2014 and 2015 vintages.

Favourites (UK stockists in brackets):

Whites 

Muscadet 

2015 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Domaine de la Chavinière,
Jérémie Huchet (James Nicholson; Stone, Vine & Sun)

2015 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Domaine de la Tourmaline, Christophe Gadais. 

Also noted 

2015 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Château de la Tarcière, Bonnet-Huteau, 

(Majestic)

Pinot Gris

IPG Pinot Gris Le Chapitre, Christophe Réthoré  

Sauvignon Blanc

2015 Touraine Blanc, Moulin des Aigremonts, Cellier de Beaujardin (Oddbins) 

2015 Haut Poitou, La Tour Beaumont (Oddbins)
2015 Coteaux du Giennois Rive Droite, Quintin Frères 
2015 Quincy, Domaine André Figeat (Laytons)
2015 Pouilly-Fumé, Les Papillons, Domaine de Bel Air (Liberty, Averys - domaine label)  
2015 Pouilly-Fumé, Les Cris, Alain Cailbourdin (Enotria)
2015 Sancerre Cuvée Marnes et Calcaire, Domaine Jean-Max Roger (Majestic)
2015 Pouilly Fumé XXL, Domaine André Figeat
2015 Sancerre Cuvée Flores, Vincent Pinard (Justerini & Brooks, James Nicholson, Averys)

Oak fermented 2014 Sauvignon Blanc
2014 Sancerre Cuvée Nuance, Vincent Pinard (Justerini & Brooks, Averys)
2015 Sancerre La Côte de Bué, Domaine Jean-Max Roger 
  

Sauvignon Blanc with some Chardonnay 
2015 Cave de Mont-près-Chambord (Averys)

2015 Valençay Blanc, Le Clos du Château (Majestic)

(Other wines to be covered in a further post + another one to cover wines from The Famous Five.)  

 

2012 Loire Vintage: report from Charles and Philippa Sydney

 Bunch of Chenin Blanc in Anjou: 9th October 2012

Early October 2012 was fantastic for mushrooms – for grapes?

Report on 2nd half of the Loire 2012 harvest from Charles and Philippa Sydney, wine courtiers based in Chinon. Given the arrival of rot in the vineyards in early October, the report on the Chenin Blancs while encouraging may be a bit optimistic.  

'A quick follow-on to Philippa's and my early Loire vintage report  

 

The 2012 harvest is pretty well over, with just a few parcelles of chenin hanging out in the Layon, waiting for the weather to go cold, sunny and windy (the forecast is good), in which case we may get some stickies this year after all. Keep praying!

 

Otherwise :

 

Dry whites - sauvignon & Muscadet : as per, quality is good to fantastic in Muscadet, Touraine, Sancerre & Pouilly Fumé, with the Muscadets promising to be among the best ever. Quantities are way down in Muscadet and Touraine but look fine in Sancerre & Pouilly.

 

Muscadet's yields are a problem and compounded by the appellation going from 13000 hectares to under 8000 as growers have ripped up or abandoned 40% of the vineyards since the 2008 frosts as bulk prices have been way below production costs. Luckily the serious single estates have survived so far. Hopefully you'll be able to use the quality of the vintage to really put across to the consumer just how attractive this appellation can be.

 

Reds - cabernet franc : starting 2 weeks later than average (and a month later than last year) was always going to be a gamble, so the rain end September that helped ripen the sauvignons were less of a blessing here, especially as the last couple of weeks have seen about 5 inches of rain. That said, there's been hardly any rot until this week (picking is now effectively over) so although there's obviously been some concentration lost as growers waited for ripeness, this should be a pretty and easy-drinking vintage for the cab francs.

 

Reds - pinots : Our guys in Sancerre and over in St Pourçain are pretty ecstatic about quality, with lovely ripeness - and the concentration that comes with low yields. With 35 hectos/hectare, winemaker Sylvain Miniot in St Pourçain reckons they lost more through the grapes being roasted by the sun and drought than they did through hail or frost.

 9th October clear signs of rot in the Chenin Blanc in Anjou 

Chenin Blanc - Vouvray, Montlouis & the Anjou : First things first : there won't be any great moelleux this year - but growers have stocks of the truly great 2010 and 2011 vintages, so that's not a problem.

 

For dry and off-dry chenins, things are looking surprisingly good, though again, yields are down. In Vouvray and Montlouis the juice is tasting fresh, clean and nicely aromatic. Less concentration than 2009 and 2010 especially, but this should make for a pretty, consumer-friendly vintage - and growers like Jacky Blot, who really did a serious 'tri' at harvest should make some super 'secs'..

 

Meanwhile, the hand-picked chenins of the Anjou are promising to be really lovely, with some real ripeness and concentration.

 

The proof of the pudding is of course in the eating, and we're about to start tasting with our growers all along the Loire. We expect to send you a 'real' vintage report early in the New Year.'

 

Sydney soirée - speech to growers plus photos

Here is the speech given on Alastair Marshall’s behalf at Charles and Philippa Sydney's soirée at the Brasserie du Théâtre, Angers on Tuesday (2.2.10). Alastair (Adnam's chief buyer) was absent due to last minute illness. Charles and Philippa have been working as courtiers in the Loire since 1988/89. Hitherto they have concentrated on the UK but are now branching out and looking to flood India with Loire wines.

Attentive audience of growers, buyers and journalists

Here are the bullet points:

Sustainability - making the sales relationship last
Customers will want to know that you are making efforts to reduce your C02 emmisions.

Can you bottles be lighter?
Cartons - are they made of re-cycled material.

Do your clients know how many cases you can get on a palette? Do they order 600 bots when the could take 660 at a time?

Make sure you keep your clients informed and open as many lines of communication as possible. In the future only those who make extra efforts will survive the hard times yet to come - financial rising costs, anti alcohol, promiscuous clients - always being tempted away by deals, unhelpful government legislation etc..

Christophe Gadais pours himself a glass of his 2009 Muscadet.

Is he smiling because of the quality of the wine or is it due to his tie?

Fundamental:

Quality - This is a given since you are sitting in this room
Fair price - This is a given since Charles will soon tell you if you are not realistic.

Communication
The aim is to shorten the distance between the consumer and you the producer and in this way you will build loyalty and long-term sales.

To do this you must use the new technologies.

You must :

Have a web site - a good one, with information and pictures that change. You need a photo library which your clients have access to and can download pics for their promotional and publicity needs. See the site of Hugel in Alsace where you get a live webcast of the harvest. Make mini 2 minute videos of you, your family, your new tractor, your vineyard, the harvest etc and post them for anybody to look at.

e-mail - build up an e-mail database of clients & friends and send them regular newsletters with links through to your web-site

Facebook - set up a page and reach out to your customers. Tell the story of what is going on chez vous on an almost daily basis. When facebook is no longer fashionable move on to the next focus of communication.

Twitter - Sign up get twittering. Carry on conversations with wine lovers all over the world, tell them what you are doing i.e. Just had boudin noir with Montlouis demi-sec from a friend and it was a great match - My wife just ran off with an Englishman, that'll teach her! etc.. bavardez!

This does not cost you much money but it will cost time and effort. Perfect tasks for the children of the family, let them have a voice in the business.

Tell the world that you are great everyday of the week and soon they will accept it and you will reap the reward.

.

Loic Cailbourdin jnr demonstrates that the shirt can be the message as well as showing off the lining of his new jacket

Jim's comment

Alastair rightly highlights taking advantage of new technologies and social media. I would be inclined to go for both a website and a blog. I would treat the website more like a book, so including the estate's history, its geography, way of working, wines, etc. All things that don't change that rapidly. Then use the blog, which is easy to update, for your day to day commentary. All the time making sure you are linking the blog back into your website.

Certainly worth having a presence on Facebook and possibly twatter – still much less convinced about the latter. My priority would be to get the website and the blog right.

Christophe Surget, Couly-Dutheil's export manager, opts for the 'cuvée tradition' while David Furer (freelance US journalist) opts for the visionary look – possibly well to the left of Rudolf Steiner!

Group on first floor of the brasserie: including on the left André Vatan (Sancerre) – much easier to locate in Angers than in Verdigny; right: Christophe Baudry, l'eminent maire de Cravant-les-Coteaux, et Jean-Martin Dutour (aussi Baudry-Dutour)

••

Post on Aymeric Hilaire and Clos Mélaric now complete.

Charles Sydney, London tasting 5 March – the new generation takes over

The younger generation of Loire producers that Charles and Philippa Sydney represent in the UK were out in force today at the annual tasting held in the vaults of the RSA in London.

Florian Mollet (right – Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé) demonstrating to Rosemary George MW that he used to be a boy scout and can make fire by banging two flints together. Bertrand Minchin (La Tour Saint Martin, Menetou-Salon and Valençay) looks on incredulously

Alexandre Cady (Domaine Cady, Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné)

Anne-Françoise Blot (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, Montlouis, Vouvray and Bourgueil)

Jérôme Choblet (Domaine des Herbauges, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu)

Two new wines from Herbauges: La Roche Blanche and Château de la Pierre

Jérôme Billard (Domaine de Noblaie, Chinon) and Jean-Hubert Lebreton (Domaine des Rochelles, Anjou)
JHL: "I never understand why you bother with Chenin Blanc in Chinon – we do it so much better in Anjou!!"

Rodolphe & Ludivine Marteau (Domaine de la Bergerie, Touraine)

Jérémie Huchet (Domaine de la Chauvinière, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine)

Report on tasting to follow

Items updated

Chenin Blanc at the raisins dorée stage in the Layon 2005

Reports on the Renaissance des Appellations tasting and the launch of Domaine FL are now complete. There are still additions to be made to the reports on various visits made before the Salon as well as further comments on the Salon des Vins de Loire. However, the launch of Pithon-Paillé is now also complete as is the write up on Charles and Philippa's soirée.

Charles and Philippa's traditional Tuesday night bash

A possible nightmare: five Charles Sydneys for the price of one!

Now back in London having driven back up from the Loire. Plenty now to write up, especially the brief entries over the last few days. Spending the day at the Salon and then going out in the evening leaves little time for writing and posting. More pictures have been added to the Wine Bloggers trophy competition.

Time to post some photos taken at Charles and Philippa Sydney's traditional Tuesday evening event – a blend of the Loire growers, UK wine buyers and the odd journalist. Charles and Philippa are based in Chinon and have been Loire wine courtiers for over 20 years acting as a conduit between their Loire growers and the UK market.

Jérome Choblet of Domaine des Herbauges, Bouaye
– Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu

Jean-Hubert Lebreton (Domaine des Rochelles) gave his vintage report in English

"It only rained on my neighbours' vines!" Charles is frankly

sceptical of Alexandre Monmousseau's claim

Chris Hardy, wine buyer for Majestic Wine Warehouses
"It's going to be a tough year."

I'm sure Olivier Mouraud, commercial director of Bougrier SA, would agree. In the first year of their new vendangeoir in the Pays Nantais they made just 2500 hl of Muscadet-sur-lie in a facility designed for 8000-10,000 hls. "We are close to Castel's new facility in la Chapelle Heulin," Olivier told me, "and we have benefitted as Castel have paid for all the infrastructure to be put in."

In the light of current pressure from UK buyers on French producers to lower prices to compensate for the fall of sterling against the euro, Jean-Marie Bourgeois (Henri Bourgeois) remarks that when sterling was strong UK buyers didn't press producers to put up their prices!

Marielle Henrion, Château de l'Aulée, Azay-le-Rideau

Château de l'Aulée's very good Crémant de Loire Brut Zero was served as an aperitif.

Loïc Cailbourdin (Pouilly-Fumé) and Pierre Sauvion (Château du Cléray, Muscadet)

This is always a very good opportunity to taste lots of different wines, as long as you can remember what you have poured into what glass. The growers bring along a selection to try – sometimes new wines not but often bottled wines from the last few years – often from good vintages.

Some wines I enjoyed:

Whites:

2007 Haute Culture, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine, Château du Cléray
2008 La Grand Reserve du Moulin, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine, Gadais Père et Fils
2007 Typique, Pouilly-Fumé, Alain Cailbourdin
From 80 year old vines on flint at Saint-Andelain. I've always found Alain's wines to be pleasant enough but not thrilling. This one caught my attention.

Florian Mollet (Saint-Satur, Sancerre)

Reds:

2005 Le K Ampelidae, VDP de la Vienne
2005 Les Varennes du Grand Clos Clos, Chinon, Charles Joguet
+ 2007 Clos de la Dioterie, Chinon, Charles Joguet
A reminder that I need to seriously review the recent vintages of this domaine after the dilute disappointments released in the late 1990s and early 200s.
2005 Quintessence, Saumur-Champigny, Château du Targe

Very concentrated and initially very impressive but I suspect one of those wines where one's enthusiasm declines rapidly because it is showy but not drinkable. of course in 5 or 6 years it may be stunning!

Sylvain Miniot (oenologist, Cave de Saint-Pourçain) Olivier Mouraud (Bougrier SA) and Sophie Merlin-Cherrier (Bué, Sancerre)

Sweet wines
2007 Les Onnis, Chaume, Domaine des Forges
2007 Chaume, Domaine Cady
Two good sweet wines from the very attractive, vibrant and well-balanced 2007 vintage. The Cady has a little more concentration. Unfortunately it looks like the Branchereaus (Domaine des Forges) have gone for a catastrophic label redesign. The new label just looks naff and cheap undermining the quality in the bottle.

Chris Hardy (Majestic Wine) and Christophe Gadais (Gadais Père et Fils, Saint-Fiacre, Muscadet)

Table including Philippe Vatan (Château de Hureau, Saumur), Nick Room (Waitrose), Jérome Choblet and Stéphane Branchereau

Stéphane Branchereau (Domaine des Forges, Saint-Aubin)

Alain Cailbourdin (Pouilly-Fumé) wonders whether Alexandre Monmousseau (Château Gaudrelle) has fallen asleep in mid-sentence

With several growers from Sancerre and Pouilly present, the lamentable state of the Clos de la Poussie (Bué, Sancerre), owned by Baron Patrick de Ladoucette came up. They expressed anger and frustration that one of the finest sites in the area is now in such as ruinous state – contrasting this with the Baron Patrick's well-groomed vines around Château du Nozet in Pouilly.

The Clos de la Poussie showing many missing vines

Detail of one of the vines in the Clos de la Poussie

More on Baron Patrick de Ladoucette's Clos de la Poussie here.

Charles and Philippa Sydney’s 2008 vintage report

Loire Valley 2008 harvest report: The Golden Harvest’

To summarise this remarkable harvest, 2008 is just like 2007, only with both more and less of it! In fact we did think of calling this the ‘Grand Petit Millésime’...

The Sydneys are based in Chinon

Less, obviously, as a result of a dramatic spring frost in the Muscadet that cut yields by half – sometimes by much more – and of devastating summer hail that swept across swathes of Pouilly Fumé and the more unfortunate villages in Sancerre. But even vineyards that escaped these two scourges suffered from reduced yields, leaving the Loire as a whole 25% - 30% down on a normal year’s harvest.

More, though, because quite frankly 2008 is a bigger, better vintage than 2007 (as always, I’m talking about wines from those growers with the courage to gamble with the weather and wait for maturity), with wines that have more concentration of fruit and bigger breadth of structure.

In Muscadet, despite the tiny harvest, quality is high, although some growers (not ours!) were in such a hurry to harvest after the constant rain of end August and early September that their wines show signs of rot and the high acidity of unripe grapes. The better growers picked any parcelles that had started to show signs of rot, then waited – and were rewarded (as was the whole region) with fine sunny and cool weather right through September and October, allowing them to pick at a ripeness and acidity at least on a par with 2007.


For the dreadful summer had one big advantage here in the Loire – it slowed the maturity of the grapes to such an extent that when the sun did come out in the 2nd week of September, we still had those essential 3 weeks left before harvest.... Leading to harvesting in the glorious autumnal colours that have given the vintage its name of ‘The Golden Harvest’.

The Sauvignons of the Touraine, the southern Loire, of Sancerre and Pouilly are excellent - more precise, more aromatic and more concentrated than 2007, with comparable acidities. Again, better growers are comparing this to 1996 and 2002, but beware all the same – there were problems of mildew and therefore of a lack of maturity with growers unwilling or incapable of treating the vines properly. Interestingly, the best wines seem to come from growers who were happy to stop and start picking as and when each parcelle ripened – and it was notable that Pinard, Bourgeois and Dagueneau (where Didier’s son Benjamin looks to equal his father in his search for quality) were among the first to start picking and the last to finish!

Here in the middle of the Loire, the reds are altogether bigger wines than last year and the best Chinons, Bourgueils and Saumur-Champignys attained fine phenolic maturity, giving deep colour, pulpy ripe fruit and structure. The Malbecs of the Touraine and the Pinots of Sancerre and the central vineyards are also showing promise.

The only exception to this rule is with the Chenins, where the early promise of a truly great sweet wine vintage (you may have seen the photos of passerillage and the start of botrytis I sent out) was wrecked by a month’s rain that started end October just as the grapes were really starting to concentrate – giving some of the lowest degrees in 10 years! That said, and more importantly, the dry barrel-fermented Chenins of Anjou and Saumur have more fruit and purity even than the excellent 07s. And Jacky Blot, our star in the Touraine, rates 2008 as a great vintage for the dry Chenins of Vouvray and Montlouis.

Finally, whatever happens to prices in the UK, this is not the growers’ fault. The vast majority of our producers have again held prices and any increases are due to the combination of a voluntarily low £ to euro exchange rate and to iniquitous increases in duty that make for 44% tax on a £4.99 bottle – and just 16% on a bottle worth £49.99!

Whatever - it’s a good vintage.

Comments and caveats
Although it is tempting to bracket 2007 and 2008 together as both were saved by good weather in September and October, there are significant differences. Rainfall during the summer was generally much lower in 2008 than 2007. It was a ‘dreadful summer’ in Touraine because of it was cool and overcast. Frédéric Mabileau (Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil) reported in August that the dry weather was holding back the veraison.

The 2008 temperatures in September and October were lower than those in 2007. With the cool temperatures during the summer this led to a long, slow ripening for the grapes. One crucial factor in the success of wines from 2008 will be the acidity level and, as Charles and Philippa note, those who waited for ripeness and for the acidity levels to drop, should have made good wine. Additionally for the reds a long maceration may have not been a good idea as the grapes had little juice and a high tannin potential.

Although it is disappointing that the weather at the end of October made it difficult to fulfill the potential promise of the sweet wines, commercially it may not be too bad as it continues to be difficult to sell sweet wines and it is much more important to have a good dry white vintage.

Dialogue of the deaf?

On Monday I phoned Charles Sydney, the long established Loire courtier, to see whether he had any reds form the Central Vineyards that were being sold in the UK. The call rapidly turned to the quality and value of these reds with Charles maintaining that there were few decent reds from this part of the Loire and even fewer worth the money – a view that I certainly didn’t agree with, especially having tasted over 160 of them just before Christmas.

We did agree that we approached this from very different perspectives – Charles trying to interest British retail buyers that these wines are good and worth the money, which is particularly difficult as the UK market is increasingly price-driven. I may or may not have crosses to bear but I’m extremely glad that I don’t have to sell wine to UK supermarkets for a living. Charles and Philippa, his wife, have been doing this for over 20 years now. Amazingly they are still reasonably sane.

Salon des Vins 2008: cake to celebrate Charles and Philippa's
20 years in the Loire

I’m in the fortunate position of being able to approach wines from the perspective of whether they are interesting and well made. Price is, of course, a factor but it isn’t dominant and I certainly don’t have to worry whether I can persuade a grower, who has already proposed a fair price, to give a lot more in promotions, BOGOFs and to take the pain each time the UK Chancellor of Exchequer raises excise duty or sterling crashes throw the floor against the Euro. No wonder many fine producers are increasingly happy to ignore the UK market.

Over the past month I have posted a number of comments on Central Vineyard reds. The 2006 Sancerre from Domaine Serge Laloue is further evidence that there are a number of very enjoyable Pinot Noirs now being made in Sancerre and elsewhere in the Central Vineyards. Made by Franck Laloue from a reasonable 45 hl/ha and costing 9.20€ this has attractive, soft vibrant red and black fruits and definite Pinot Noir character. Looking for something comparable in Burgundy, I would suggest something from the Côte Chalonnaise.

The Laloue Pinot Noir was picked by machine. Perhaps this would be even better if picked by hand. Talking to Didier Barrouillet just before New Year he said that Chardonnay and Cabernet – both Franc and Sauvignon – were the two varieties that could best support machine picking, whereas thinner skinned varieties like Pinot Noir are best hand picked.

Wine Report 2009

My review copy of Tom Stevenson’s annual Wine Report 2009 (DK: £9.99) arrived on Friday. Naturally I turned immediately to the Loire section written by Charles Sydney, who has lived in the Loire for the last 20 years acting as a courtier en vins – searching out and selling wine to UK retailers.

Charles' opening headlined remark – ‘You’ve heard of Steven Spurrier’s 1972 Judgment of Paris, which pitted top California reds against the greatest clarets’ – sets him out as an man of vision as the famous tasting was actually held in 1976.

I know from comments on Tom Cannavan’s wine-pages that Wine Report is popular and esteemed. However, I have always thought that producing a newsy report in the era of the internet is rather like trying to consume soup with a fork, especially as the deadline is months before the publication date. Inevitably and through no fault of his own Charles’ news is now old. The alliance between Pierre Chainier and Caves de la Loire that created Loire Propriétés ended in January/early February 2008. Grands Chais de France took over Sauvion & Fils and Château du Cléray in November 2007 and the Pays Nantais (Muscadet and the Fiefs Vendeens) joined Interloire on 1st January this year.

Charles’ fatuous, but mercifully brief, rant against biodynamics and organic viticulture in favour of la lutte raisonnée would make even the most ill-informed taxi driver blush.

The most useful section is the 10 most exciting or unusual finds. Among Charles’ selection includes a Pinot Gris VDP from Muscadet producers Bonnet-Huteau, the Touraine Amboise Becarré 2006 from the impressive Damien Delecheneau and a Pinot Noir Blanc (vinified in white) by Alphonse Mellot.

Tom’s formula of having a series of top 10s – the greatest wine producers, fastest improving producers, new and up and coming producers, best value producers, most colourfully attired producers and best bargain I find artificial. It must be particularly difficult for David Furer, who is the regional specialist for Luxembourg, as the country apparently only has around 50 producers for 1300 hectares. Clearly he is allowed some leeway as there are only 9 ‘fastest improving producers’ and 9 ‘new up and coming’ ones.