Excellent Jamain Reuilly for Sauvignon Blanc Day

2010 Les Chênes, Reuilly, Denis Jamain

Although I was aware towards the end of April that May Day was in addition being Labour Day was also Sauvignion Blanc Day, I had conveniently forgotten this by the time we reached 1st May. I'm not a great fan of special days to celebrate a particular grape variety. Anyway but happy coincidence I selected this 2010 Les Chênes from Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly) on Friday 1st May. Along with Domaine Claude Lafond, Denis Jamain is Reuilly's top producer.

This is Denis' top white Reuilly – 100% Sauvignon Blanc as required by the appellation. It comes from 40 year old vines planted in one of the parcels of Pierres Plates in the middle of the coteau. The soil is clay-limestone Kimméridgean. Les Chênes is fermented and aged in barriques for a year. 

Denis recommends that you drink Les Chênes within five to ten years. However, this lovely 2010 still has wonderfully fresh with complex texture and concentrated fruit – peach and apricot. Showing beautifully and no reason why it should be good for at least another five years and may be more. When I first opened it was a little too cold, which subdued its complexity and made the oak more apparent. Denis recommends that ideally Les Chênes should be drunk between 13˚C and 15˚C. He is absolutely right – don't serve this cold otherwise you will miss out, which would be a great shame.        

First salon professionnell @Reuilly = bunfight!

The crowd jammed into the Salles de Fêtes @Reuilly

Virtually impossible to move 

The invitation for Le salon professionnel des Vins de Reuilly – 1er édition came through Le Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins du Centre (BIVC). A salon open 'aux professionnels et à des ambassadeurs privilégiés du vin de Reuilly' with possibility of tasting the wines from 15 Reuilly producers. Being able to taste a good range of Reuilly wines was decidedly an attraction, so I accepted.

After a low point during the 1980s when AC Reuilly had shrunk to considerably less than 100 hectares, recent years have seen a renaissance with 230 hectares now in production. 

Yesterday we drove the 110 kms from Epeigné to Reuilly looking forward to a good, detailed look at a significant slice of the current vintages available from Reuilly. Sadly we found a bunfight rather than a 'professional salon' with a mass of people crammed into the main room of Reuilly's Salles des Fêtes intent on eating and drinking – most of spittoons were as dry as the Sahara. Nothing wrong with this but don't call the event a 'professional salon'!  

Seeing the packed room my first instinct was to head straight back to Touraine but decided having made an effort to get here I would try to taste with some of the producers. Pushing through the melée I found Denis Jamain. As ever his wines are excellent in particular the delicious and delicate 2014 Pinot Gris Reuilly Rosé (10€) ready for the hoped for sunny days and evenings of spring and summer, 2014 Les Fossiles Reuilly Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc) and the finely textured and structured 2009 Les Chênes Reuilly Rouge (Pinot Noir). 

After I finished tasting with Denis Jamain I tasted with another four producers before giving up the unequal struggle. I was particularly impressed with the wines of Damien Aujard of Domaine Aujard. He has a good 2014 Pinot Gris Rosé with length and a touch of spice and his 2014 Les Varennes Reuilly Blanc from a single vineyard stood out. His Reuilly Rouge had attractive weight and texture, albeit with a slightly rustic finish.

From Gérard Bigonneau (Domaine Bigonneau) the 2014 had weight and concentration. The 2014 Pinot Gris Demoiselles Tatin Rosé was my preferred wine from Domaines Tatin. I think their Quincys very good and more successful than their Reuillys. For their Reuilly Rouge they have opted for a light, fruity style with relatively high yields – 50 hl/ha (2013) and 58 hl/ha (2014).  I also tasted the wines of Christian Dyckerhoff (Domaine Dyckerhoff).  

 

Denis Jamain, Domaine de Reuilly 

Damien Aujard, Domaine Aujard 

(above and below)

Maroussia Wilk Tatin (Domaines Tatin, Reuilly and Quincy)

Jean Tatin, Domaines Tatin (Reuilly and Quincy) – father of Maroussia

Gérard Bigonneau, Domaine Bigonneau

Christian Dyckerhoff, Domaine Dyckerhoff 

Dinner with the Wine Doctor and Tony Aspler

 2012 Le Haut-Lieu Sec, Vouvray, Domaine Huet

 2012 Clos du Bourg, Vouvray, Domaine Huet

Taking advantage of the Decanter World Wine Awards we held a dinner with Chris Kissack (The Wine Doctor) and Tony Aspler, Canada's leading wine writer and wine novelist.

We started by tasting the second bottles of Domaine Huet's 2012 Le Haut-Lieu Sec and the Clos du Bourg Sec. Chris and I had tasted both wines back in early October and been disappointed by them – see here. It would be good to be able to report that a further six months in bottle had given these two wines greater complexity and interest. Sadly they were little changed with the Clos du Bourg the more exciting of the two but both lacked depth and length of fruit. The 2012 Le Mont, tasted at the pre-Salon des Vins de Loire Renaissance event in Angers, was certainly the best of the three Huet 2012s.    

 2013 Chenin Château Petit-Thouars, 

AC Touraine or IGP Val de Loire?
Excellent label design!

After the two Huets we tried the first Chenin Blanc produced from Château du Petit-Thouars from vines planted three years ago. This was bottled at the beginning of April and I have been holding off trying it just to allow time for the wine to recover from the shock of bottling. Although still obviously very young, this is an impressive start with both concentration and character along with Chenin typicity. I have two more sample bottles to try, so it will be very interesting to see how this Chenin develops. 

 1995 Muscadet Sèvre & Maine, 

Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papi

  

As the first course was cerviche of salmon and smoked haddock with some salad leaves I thought the 1995 from Pierre Luneau would be a good and interesting idea. Sadly the wine initially had a mushroomy character. Hoping that this would disappear I served the wine but although initially there were some other interesting characteristics, full blown TCA became all too evident especially in a glass with a wide bowl. The unusual frustration of having kept a bottle for several years only for the cork to let you down!  

In the light of the TCAed Luneau the Domaine Ogereau 2007 Clos le Grand Beaupréau, Savennières was pressed into service – with a quick spell in the freezer! – its attractive concentration and racy acidity worked well with the fish.   

Onto the main course a daube of beef with black olives, sundried tomatoes, orange juice and peel and some mushrooms. I chose to hightlight a couple of Loire Pinot Noirs. We started with the 2006 Cuvée de la Comtesse, Reuilly from Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly). Over the last couple of years we have treally enjoyed the 2005 Cuvée de la Comtesse that spends a year in local oak barrels. Sadly the 2005 was too good and we have polished off all the bottles, so it is onto the 2006, which has good and attractive concentration but needs some more time in bottle to develop further.  

We followed the Reuilly with a rare bottle of La Pertétuelle, Sancerre 1996-2008 from Claude and Laurent Champault. This comes from a solera system that Claude and Laurent started in 1996. The wine is aged in a 600-litre barrel. They take out a third every year and refill with the same quantity. It had good, sweet Pinot character and drank well. 

Rather mischieveously I asked Chris and Tony to guess the vintage. Chris went for 2008, so was half right!   

Following the daube we moved onto the 1998 Menetou-Salon from Bertrand Minchin and the 2007 Cuvée Sarah Coteaux du Saumur from Domaine des Champs Fleuris to partner the cheese. 

 

1998 Menetou-Salon Morogues, La Tour Saint Martin

Bertrand Minchin 

This 1998 Menetou-Salon was a strong candidate to be wine of the dinner with lovely aromatics – ripe but restrained asparagus notes and yellow plum, good concentration and a long finish. Additional complexity from aging in the bottle but still at its best and not at all in decline after nearly 16 years. 

2007 Cuvée Sarah, Coteaux de Saumur, 

Domaine des Champs Fleuris  

Attractive mid-weight sweet wine from Saumur with sweet citrus flavours not one to match with desserts but a good foil for blue cheese or as an apéro or equally after a meal or as an alternative to a dessert. 

 marc sancerrois Famille Vacheron

A curiosity to end with a marc sancerrois from the time of Jean Vacheron. A touch rustic but with a mark of the terroir. Ideal to set us up for the first flight tomorrow@the 2014 Decanter World Wine Awards! 

2013 Loire Vintage: a Reuilly happy vigneron!

Denis Jamain, Domaine de Reuilly

Sadly, but not surprisingly, it is difficult to find Loire producers who are really happy with the vintage. There are a number who think they are doing pretty well given what nature has dealt them this year but unalloyed joy is rare. We did, however, find it in Reuilly on Thursday afternoon (10th October) when we dropped in on Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly).

Denis expressed his delight with his 2013 harvest and was convinced that it was his long adoption of organic viticulture and his more recent conversion to biodynamics, which had paid off in 2013. "2013 for me is excellent both in quality and quantity. The Pinot Noir is superb, although the Sauvignon Blanc was more difficult, especially the vines on sandy soils while those of clay limestone resisted better. Last year it was very different with the frost on 18th April 2012 when we lost 50% of the Pinot Noir."

The 2013 yields will have made up for the frost-affected shortage in 2012. "The Pinot Noir is at 50 hl/ha +, the Sauvignon Blanc at 55 and the Pinot Gris 59. Potential alcohols range from 11.5˚ to 12.5˚ and acidity between 4.5 to 5.5. We will finish harvesting either later this afternoon or on Friday."

Reuilly and Quincy always harvest a good week or more before Sancerre and Pouilly. This will have paid off for them this year as the forecast for today and next week isn't very good and these appellations will now have finished their harvest. Here in Epeigné-les-Bois it started raining heavily around 4am this morning, gradually easing off before stopping around 8.30am. It has rained again early this afternoon, although it now appears to have cleared up and we have some blue sky. Although it is difficult to be sure how widespread this rain is, the Météo-France indicates that there is rain across the Loire Valley today. 

This is not good news for producers in Sancerre and Pouilly, who still have a good part of the harvest to finish nor for the Cabernet Franc in Touraine. There will be a separate post on Friday's visit to Western Touraine.

Denis Jamain in one of his Pinot Noir vineyards           

    

Anne de Varennes: exhibition in Paris

Anne Meyer, the partner of Denis Jamain, an excellent producer in Reuilly, is having an exhibition of her paintings in Paris. The exhibition is at the Paul Amarica Gallery and opens this Thursday 21st February. She signs her paintings Anne de Varennes as she now lives and has her studio in part of the Abbaye de Varennes.  

'Née aux Etats Unis à la fin des années cinquante, Anne Meyer réside en France depuis 2004.

Elle se consacre pendant une vingtaine d’années à l’importation de vins français aux Etats-Unis et exploite, de 1996 à 2003, une grande surface dans le Vermont, à proximité de la frontière Canadienne. Ces activités lui donnent l’occasion de nombreux voyages en Europe et de venir à plusieurs reprises dans le Berry dont elle avait très jeune pris passion à la lecture de Lélia ou la vie de George Sand d’André Maurois.

Parallèlement à son activité professionnelle, elle se consacre très tôt à la peinture et a la chance de bénéficier, de 1986 à 1996, des enseignements de Frank Mason, le maître New-Yorkais des techniques picturales héritées du passé.

Pendant les années quatre vingt dix, elle dirige une galerie dans le Vermont, la St. Johnsbury Art League, et expose ses propres oeuvres dans plusieurs villes des Etats-Unis, notamment à Boston et à New York.

En 2000, Anne Meyer acquiert une partie des bâtiments de l’ancienne Abbaye de Varennes, monastère cistercien fondé au coeur du Berry en 1148, et les restaure pour y installer à la fois sa demeure et son atelier. En 2004, révélant son attachement pour la région, elle décide de signer ses oeuvres « Anne de Varennes ».

L’oeuvre d’Anne de Varennes est centrée sur la peinture à l’huile, sur toile ou sur panneau, mais s’ouvre à tous les sujets figuratifs : portraits, paysages, natures mortes. L’utilisation d’une palette de couleurs assez sourdes et mates lui permet d’exprimer une perception très sensible de tout ce qui l’entoure. A première vue discrètes, ses toiles s’imposent et captent progressivement l’attention de celui qui, les ayant dans un premier regard trouvées agréables, se rend ensuite compte qu’elles portent beaucoup d’émotion et qu’elles invitent à entrer dans l’univers de leur auteur.'

Anne de Varennes

Galerie Paul Amarica

21 Rue Washington

75008 Paris

Métro: Georges V

Tel: 01.53.96.97.96

Email:  paulamarica@yahoo.fr

Site: galerie-amarica.fr

The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 13.30 to 20.30.

Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly) and Anne Meyer

tasting Denis' fine Pinot Noir October 2011   

A round up of recent Loire bottles

2005 Cuvée de la Comtesse, AC Reuilly Denis Jamain, Domaine de Reuilly

Time to round up a few bottles enjoyed over the past couple of weeks or so. Starting off with Denis Jamain's wonderful 2005 Cuvée de la Comtesse – an eye opening red (Pinot Noir) from Reuilly. I've posted about this before but worth posting again.  The Comtesse is aged for a year in barrels made from local Berry oak and has lovely silky fruit and a fine balance. Drunk with a duck bought from Hunters, an excellent butchers in Kinross.  

The Comtesse is yet another reminder that Pinot Noir reds from the Central Vineyards can be excellent and that this is not just limited to Sancerre. I hope that Denis fares better weatherwise than he did in 2012 when he has hit by the mid-April frost affecting his Pinot Noir in particular. 

2011 Pinot Noir Rosé Val de Loire, Eric Chevalier

Changing the register this is a Pinot Noir Rosé from Eric Chevalier, who is based at the southern end of the Lac de Grand Lieu in the commune of Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu some 365 road kilometres west of Reuilly. This made an attractive apéritif on Christmas Eve with its red fruits and crisp, balancing acidity – better than many rosés from Sancerre. 

 2010 illuminations, Bourgueil, Laurent Herlin 

Have been enjoying the selection of Laurent Herlin's reds that we bought from him in September. The latest to impress was the 2010 illuminations a reminder that although this vintage received a less enthusiastic press than 2009, this is actually a very good year for the Loire's Cabernet Franc based reds.   

  

2005 Clos de l'Echo, Chinon, Couly-Dutheil 

We drank this 2005 Clos de l'Echo, Couly-Dutheil on New Years' Eve with a rib of Scotch beef bought from George Gow, the very good butcher in nearby Kingussie. It is probably now the best part of a couple of years since I tried the 2005 Echo. With its rich, concentrated black fruits, it matched the beef well with the alcohol (15%) in much better balance than it was previously. I see no reason why it won't continue to improve.   

2005 Clos de l'Echo, Couly-Dutheil 

 

   

Denis Jamain: Reuilly's first organic wine + dynamising cow horn

Denis Jamain: Reuilly's leading exporter and the producer of the first organic wine in Reuilly 

(above and below)

Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly) is Reuilly's leading producer – certainly in terms of export and no-one is making better quality Reuilly. 60% of his wine is exported with the USA, Germany and Scandinavia as leading markets. The overall average export figure for Reuilly is 13%. Jamain has just released the 2011 Les Fossiles, Reuilly Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc). This is the first certified organic wine from Reuilly. It is more minerally and austere than Jamain's regular Reuilly Blanc cuvée but at the same time has some soft texture and good length.       

2011 Les Fossiles, Reuilly Blanc 

Reuilly's first organic wine 

Jamain is now in the first year of converting to biodynamics and I was able to see them getting ready to treat the vines with powdered cow horn (query- cow dung?) dissolved in water and dynamised before spraying. Six hectares were due to be sprayed with 270 litres (45 litres per ha) of the dynamised mixture, which was dynamised for an hour. The spray is intended to stimulate the roots. 

Readying the dynamiser

The dynamiser

Adding the corn horn to the water

 Dynamising 

Death row vines in Saint-Georges sur Cher 

Biodynamics continues to receive an often sceptical press. However, whatever one's view biodynamics, it surely cannot be as mad as this example of 'conventional' vineyard management with all life apart from the vines blitzed by weedkiller. This particular example comes from Saint-Georges-sur-Cher (AC Touraine) but unfortunately could come from a number of other appellations in the Loire.