La Table de la Bergerie: reunion of Le 6 Mousqueteries

Santé!: Les six mousqueteries with Nigel Wilkinson and Tom King (RSJ Restaurant, London)
(LR: from empty place – Catherine Ogereau, Nigel Wilkinson, Vincent Ogereau, Tom King, Claude Papin, Yves Guegniard, Joëlle Papin)
 

Mid-afternoon yesterday we headed out to the Domaine de la Bergerie (Champ-sur-Layon) to taste the wines of the six Mousqueteries who had come to London to for the last of the tastings to mark ther 30th anniversary of the RSJ restaurant. We started with Domaine Ogereau (Catherine and Vincent Ogereau), followed by Domaine de la Bergerie (Marie-Annick and Yves Guegniard) and then finishing with Château Pierre-Bise (Joëlle and Claude Papin). 

  

Scallops and a jerusalem artichoke sauce

After the tasting we had an excellent dinner with some lovely older vintages from the six at La Table de la Bergerie, run by David Guitton the son-in-law of Marie-Annick and Yves.

Wonderfully tender venison with vegetables and a rich wine sauce

We finished with a small selection of cheese, which included a very good Cantal, and then a varition on crèpes suzette.

Never forget that the wines of Claude Papin are superb!!*

* Jamais oubliez que les vins de Claude Papin sont toujours superb – Premier Règle de Château Pierre-Bise!

 

Joëlle Papin forgets the First Rule of Pierre-Bise 

(Stars of the Layon – L-R: Catherine and Vincent Ogereau, Joëlle and Claude Papin, Marie-Annick and Yves Guegniard)

Stars from the Layon in London: Guegniard, Ogereau, Papin

At least Eurostar arrives on time for strike threatened party 

The stars from the Layon – Martie-Annick and Yves Guegniard, Catherine and Vincent Ogereau and Joëlle and Claude Papin – arrived in London early yesterday afternoon for a brief 24-hour visit for a couple of tastings at the RSJ Restaurant in London's Waterloo. Unfortunately the six are threatened with transport strikes on both sides of the Channel. Starting yesterday evening there is a 24-hour London tube strike and when they get back to Paris later today they could hit the start of a French rail strike. 

Here are some photos from the tasting at the RSJ last night:

Claude Papin

Catherine Ogereau

Joëlle Papin

Marie-Annick and Yves Guegniard

Vincent Ogereau

Tasters

Three stars of the Layon@The RSJ Restaurant, Monday 6th September

Claude and Joëlle Papin with their Decanter World Wine Award Trophy for best Loire sweet wine 2009

This Monday night sees three of the Layon's best producers at the RSJ Restaurant in Waterloo showing their wines at a tasting and dinner – unfortunately now completely sold out.

 Vincent and Catherine Ogereau

Yves Guegniard, Domaine de la Bergerie

Details of the wines to be tasting before and drunk during the dinner here.

RSJ's wine producer dinners: 2010

RSJ Restaurant – September 2009

The RSJ Restaurant in Waterloo celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Over the years it has established a reputation as having one of the most comprehensive Loire wine lists in the world with around 250 references. Nigel Wilkinson's passion for Loire wines was born during a series of now legendary visits to the Loire from the early 1980s. I have been involved as a consultant since around 1990 – mainly presenting the wines during the tasting dinners.

To mark the 30th anniversary there will be a series of wine producer dinners. Dates were finalised during this week's Salon des Vins de Loire.

Christophe Daviau

We kick off on:

Tuesday 9th March: Christophe Daviau, Domaine de Bablut

£45 for four course dinner and wines – see details here.

Frédéric emptying his hod of Chenin Blanc: Le Puy-Notre-Dame: 3rd October 2009

Tuesday 11th May: Frédéric Mabileau and Vincent Roussely (Domaine du Clos Roussely)

Frédéric has rapidly established himself as one of the stars of western Touraine. He now makes Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Bourgueil, Anjou Rouge et Blanc as well as Saumur Blanc. Vincent Roussely is one of the young vignerons, who are making the Cher Valley an exciting region.
Pricing details to follow.

Vincent Roussely

••

Claude and Joëlle Papin with their 2009 Decanter World Wine Award Trophy

Monday 6th September: Anjou special: Claude and Joëlle Papin (Château Pierre-Bise), Vincent and Catherine Ogereau (Domaine Ogereau), Yves and Marie-Annick Guegniard (Domaine de la Bergerie)

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau

Yves Guegniard and his daughter Anne

You have doubtless heard of the Three Tenors. Well now we have the three Layon producers. All excellent producers in their own they work closely together and each have a share of the Clos le Grand-Beaupréau in Savennières.

Pricing details to follow.

Provisional bookings are now being taken as we expect these events to be very popular.
Please contact Tom King on 020-7928 4554 or tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Salon trip Day 1: 30 January 2010: Dom Ogereau and Ch Pierre-Bise

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau, Domaine Ogereau

With a light dusting of snow when I got up around 5am and flakes still falling  there was a concern that our journey from London to Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay would prove difficult. Fortunately the fears were groundless and we arrived at Domaine Ogereau almost on the stroke of 3.30 as arranged as, apart from the odd flurry of snow, the journey was uneventful. We were soon tasting with Vincent and Catherine Ogereau – a few 2009s with the rest from 2008 and 2007.

The news from Vincent and Catherine is that they are considering slightly simplifying their range dropping their Anjou Blanc Cuvée Prestige. In the future they will have two dry whites: their Savennières and Anjou Blanc sec, which will be pure Chenin with the Chardonnay that used to be part of the Anjou Blanc blend being used for their Crémant de Loire. They are also likely to simplify their sweet wine range. Again dropping the Cuvée Prestige and having the light and versatile 'generic' Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert and the single vineyard Bonnes Blanches. They would hope to make the Bonnes Blanches every year with less of an accent on the sugar and more emphasis on a refreshing citric character.

Stand out wines from the tasting:

2009 Rosé de Loire (60% Grolleau/40% Gamay)
Soft grenadine character with just enough acidity (malo fait) to carry it off.

2008 Savennières Clos du Grand Beaupréau

2007 Anjou Villages Côte de la Houssaye
Pure Cabernet Sauvignon with remarkable concentration in this difficult year for reds.

The still infantile 2009 Houssaye is already showing a lot of promise but there is a long time to go before it is bottled.

••

Château Pierre-Bise

The next rdv was just across the Layon at Pierre-Bise with Claude and Joëlle Papin. Claude is running an experiment on not using sulphur on a small number of bottles of his 2007 Anjou Blanc Haut de la Garde. We started the tasting by comparing the 2007 without SO2 with one with the normal dose that Claude uses – both wines came from the same vat and were bottled on the same day. The bottles had been open for five days. The one with sulphur was a little more deeper – more golden in colour. It was also had more aromas with no signs of oxidation. When bottling Claude had used CO2 to give the unsulphured wine more protection. He is now carrying bottles around in his car to see how it will react to changes in temperature etc. An experiement to follow!

Stand out wines from the tasting:

2008 Roche aux Moines, Savennières
Honey and floral nose, lovely concentration and balance – one of those seamless wines where everything is in harmony. This was recently bottled because its malo started late – 75% complete. Unanimously our favourite wine.

2008 Schist Anjou Villages

More detailed notes on your visits to follow in the next week or so.
   

Claude & Joëlle Papin collect their Decanter award

Presentation of the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards

Claude and Jöelle with their trophy

On Tuesday evening, at a glittering dinner at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Claude and Joëlle Papin (Château Pierre-Bise) collected their Sweet Loire Trophy Award for their 2007 Quarts de Chaume. Theirs was the only regional trophy the Loire panel awarded this year. Unfortunately they missed out on the International Sweet Wine Trophy Over £10 that went to the 2008 Seifried Estate, Winemakers Collection Sweet Agnes Riesling Ice Wine, Nelson, New Zealand.

Receiving the award from Steven Spurrier

Steven Spurrier: the awards' chairman

Tables – looking down at the dining area before the start - places for some 320 people

Table No 2

Six years after its birth, the Decanter World Wine Awards is now the largest wine competition in the UK with 10,285 wines entered and 196 gold medals, 91 regional trophies and 24 international trophies gained.

In the retailers' awards, Waitrose won supermarket of the year with M&S as runner up. Majestic won wine chain of the year (little competition here, sadly), Tanners (independent merchant of the year with Lea & Sandeman running up), Berry Bros & Rudd taking online merchant of the year, with The Wine Society running up, while The Sampler won much praise in winning small independent merchant of the year with Les Caves de Pyrene running up.

Christelle Guibert (Decanter's tastings director) with Claude and Joëlle

Claude and Joëlle were on good form – over in London for just the evening, arriving in the afternoon by Eurostar and heading back out again before 7.30am this morning. One reason for the rush to get back is that this weekend sees the delayed celebrations (Claude was born on 21st August 1949) for his 60th birthday in Brittany – a three day weekend of activities, jollity and good food arrosé avec modération is planned.

Claude reported that it has been very dry this summer in the Layon – drier than it was in the famous drought year of 1976. The vines are suffering and many of the oak trees around them are dying due to the low level of the water table. This, Claude believes, is due to higher evaporation rates caused by the move by farmers to larger fields and removing the hedges and copses. One affect of this is to increase evaporation from the greater wind force no longer broken up by the small fields. This has been a long process over a number of years with annual evaporation rates exceeding rainfall. Now when planting new vines the Papins choose vine root stocks that have a lower transpiration rate.

I was delighted to hear that Vincent Ogereau is making a good recovery following his operation in May.

Wines served last night (following a request from The Wine Doctor)

Aperitif
Champagne Jacquart, Brut Mosaïque 2002
Good to sip standing on the Royal Opera terrace high above the Covent Garden Plaza.

With first course
Nepenthe Sauvignon Blanc, Adelaide Hills 2008
Domaine Schlumberger, Riesling Grand Cru Saering, Alsace 2007
Weingut Johann Donabaum, Riesling Smaragd, Setzberg, Wachau 2007
The two Rieslings overshadowed the Sauvignon Blanc, especially Donabaum's.

With main course
Bodegas Luis Cañas, Hiru 3 Racimos, Rioja 2005
Robert Mondavi, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2005
Allegrini, La Poja, Veronese, Veneto 2005
The complex Allegrini stood out particularly over the heavily wooded Rioja. The Mondavi worked well with the lamb.

With dessert
Charles Heidseick, Rosé Réserve, Champagne NV
Simic Marjan, Leonardo, Brda, Primorska 2004