2005 Loire vintage – some more photos from the Layon and l'Aubance

 Pickers in the Aubance 

Here is a further selection of photos from the 2005 vintage taken in the first half of October:

Château d'Avrille, Coteaux de l'Aubance  

Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut)

with Nigel Wilkinson (RSJ Restaurant)

looking at maturing Chenin Blanc 

destined for sweet wine

Christophe Daviau in his vintage van 

 

 Pascal Cailleau, Domaine de Sauveroy, Saint-Lambert-Lattay

Busy making wine 

 Jean-Hubert Lebreton (Domaine des Rochelles, Saint-Jean-de-Mauvets)

Christophe above and below

 

Rochelles' L' Ardoise + 100 AWEsome Wines

Following on from my Saturday post on the 2014 Les Chiens Chiens, Chinon from Domaine de la Noblaie, I tried this softly delicious L'Ardoise (AC Anjou) from Domaine des Rochelles. Deep coloured with dangerously attractive black fruits, this 2014 is already extremely seductive. Admittedly this cuvée, which is mainly Cabernet Franc with a small part of Cabernet Sauvignon, is intended for early drinking. At the moment it is certainly hitting the spot!  

••• 

100 AWEsome Wines 2016  – Association of Wine Educators 

The Association of Wine Educators (AWE) has just launched its 2016 selection of Awesome Wines. As Heather Doughty, AWE Chairman explains, 'this of our 2016 100 AWEsome wines showcases our members' expertise, while at the same time helping consumers towards some of the best value wines available in the UK.'

More information about the AWE from www.wineeducators.com; 01753-882320; admin@wineeducators.com 

#2015Loire: nearing completion apart from sweet wines

Alexandre Cady with a bunch of botrytis grapes 

destined for 2015 Coteaux du Layon St Aubin 

The 2015 Loire harvest, which started for some early varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc in the Cher Valley, is now beginning to near completion with the exception of sweet wines in Anjou. 

The good news is that the forecast for the at least until Tuesday 20th October is good, except for some occasional showers on Thursday afternoon and during Friday. Assuming that the showers are light a little rain could help the spread of botrytis. Temperatures are predicted to be in the low teens.

On Thursday afternoon (8th October) we dropped in on Domaine Cady to see them doing a tri from a parcel destined for Layon Saint-Aubin. 

The Cadys started picking on 10th September so their harvest has already extended over a month and their are further tris to be done for their Layons including a parcel in Chaume.    

 Promising looking grapes in the Domaine Cady parcel

Grapes in the trailer 

 

Philippe Cady before his Les Varennes 

parcel with vines between 60-70 years old 

where he has done at the end of last week 

a small tri at 19.5% potential  

 A developing bunch of Chenin in Les Varennes

 

Les Varennes, Domaine Cady 

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 A trio of Lebretons – Pierre-Emmanuel, Yves and Jean-Hubert 

(Domaine des Rochelles)

 Domaine des Rochelles: sorting Cabernet Sauvignon 

from La Croix de la Mission (Anjou-Villages Brissac)

Very clean fruit - little to discard 

(above and below)

After the Cadys we had another look at the Quarts de Chaume (post to come) before heading to the Aubance. After a brief stop at the Domaine de Bablut we went onto to see the Lebtretons at Domaine des Rochelles at Saint-Jean-de-Mauvrets. 

 

Jean-Hubert Lebreton: "Grapes from La Croix de la Mission are coming in at 14.2% potential with 4.3 acidity. This year we are picking La Croix two weeks early. Unusually our Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are ready at the same time."

 

Next post – Saumur and Chinon.

Salon des Vins de Loire 2012: tastings 4.2.2012

 The Hotel du Mail, Angers – our traditional base

A good day's tasting yesterday: we started with Jean-Hubert Lebreton at Domaine des Rochelles and then onto Domaine Richou with Didier and Damien Richou. The star of the morning's tastings were the 2010 sweet wines – both domaines are in the Coteaux de L'Aubance. Then it was back to Angers to collect Chris Kissack (The Wine Doctor) before heading out for a collective tasting at the Domaine de la Bergerie with Vincent and Catherine Ogereau (Domaine Ogereau), Château Pierre-Bise (Claude and Joëlle Papin) and Domaine de la Bergerie (Yves and Marie-Annick Guégniard). This was followed by a great dinner@La Table de la Bergerie, which is attached to the domaine and is run by their son in law – David Guitton. (This will be covered in another post.)

Jean-Hubert Lebreton: Domaine des Rochelles

An old water heater@Domaine des Rochelles – it has pride of place in their tasting room 

Didier Richou (Domaine Richou)

Damien Richou

Tom King (RSJ Restaurant)@Domaine Richou

Jean-Yves and Jean-Hubert Lebreton: Domaine de Rochelles

Jean-Hubert and Jean-Yves Lebreton tasting

Tried taking photos of Jean Hubert and Jean-Yves sitting around an interestingly lit table with decanters. Unfortunately I couldn't get the lighting right. Ideally they would have been sat the other side of the table but that would have been difficult as it was against the wall. Anyway I like to think there are some intruing effects here, even though it is too dark despite some adjustments on photoshop.

Table with decanters

Nigel Wilkinson (RSJ Restaurant) tasting @Domaine des Rochelles

 

2005 Ambre de Roches des Rochelles

Although the Lebretons Domaines des Rochelles has long been known for the quality of their red wines, especially the Cabernet Sauvignon dominated La Croix de la Mission, their whites were less successful. That has changed with the arrival of Jean-Hubert, son of Jean-Yves and Anita. Jean-Hubert spent time in New Zealand and under his supervision the quality of the whites has improved considerably.

This rich 2005 Ambre de Roches des Rochelles, Coteaux de l'Aubance (50cl) is a good example with its opulent honeyed and apricot flavours nicely balanced by acidity in the finish, so that it is not cloying. It is particularly impressive as although the Lebretons have some very good terroir for producing reds, they are less blessed when it comes to sweet whites.

Jean-Hubert Lebreton: Saturday 31st January (cont)

Domaine des Rochelles

(This report follows on from the report on the visit to Domaine Ogereau)

Jean-Hubert Lebreton

Following a very enjoyable lunch – simply but well cooked (Catherine Ogereau always promises us a simple meal with no starter but cheese and dessert always follows the main course) – it was off to the Lebretons at Domaine des Rochelles in Saint-Jean-de-Mauvrets close to the Loire and north of Brissac-Quincé.

Here Tom King (RSJ Wine Company) and I were looked after by Jean-Hubert Lebreton. Jean-Hubert used to be the assistant-wine maker at Hardy’s Banrock Station in Australia, where just one tank held more than the entire production of Domaine des Rochelles. On average the Lebreton’s press 700 tonnes of grapes – at Banrock Station it was 35,000. He also worked in Bordeaux at Pichon-Baron and Lynch-Bages.

As elsewhere the Lebretons had a small crop in 2008 – down overall by 15%-20% due to a combination of frost damage, poor flowering and small grapes with little juice. Normally they make 350-400 hls each of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, making a total of around 800 hls of Anjou Villages. In 2008 they made only 180hls-200hls of each. Jean-Hubert mentioned that they are now selling 240 hls of VIn de pays Sauvignon in bag-in-box.

Both the 2008 and 2007 Anjou Blanc, which is vinified in 400 litre barrels, were attractive. The 2007 showing moiré honey, while the 2008 at this stage a more mineral character. The 2008 L’Ardoise Anjou Rouge (10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 90% Cabernet Franc) has a sooty nose and quite ripe, easy drinking fruit – as an Anjou Rouge should be. (Ardoise means slate – one of the rocks of Anjou.)

Tom King tuning into the French language

The 2006 Anjou-Villages (80% Cabernet Franc/ 20% Cabernet Sauvignon) initially has soft, floral black fruits with quite tarry tannins in the long finish. As you would expect the 2007 AV is less rich. It is also less tannic, so best to drink this while waiting for the 2006 to show its best. “It is difficult to get Cabernet Franc soft and supple – it needs time,” commented Jean-Hubert. “It is easier to sell La Croix de la Mission.”

The 2007 la Croix de la Mission (90% Cabernet Sauvignon/10% Cabernet Franc) has pretty impressive richness and structure for a 2007 with remaining soft.

Jean-Hubert: “2007 wasn’t easy. The Cabernet Sauvignon was picked some 10 days after the Franc – the yield was 45 hl/ha. With Cabernet Sauvignon it is possible to push the maturity further than with Cabernet Franc because Franc’s skin is not as tough and robust. The wine had three weeks maceration.

“In 2008 we picked La Croix de la Mission on 1st and 2nd November with the fruit coming in at 13.5-14% potential for 35 hl/ha.”

The 2008 La Croix is very deep coloured with sweet, richly concentrated fruit with good length. A this stage it is a bit cloying but is still has a long way to go before it will be bottled.

Onto the very rich and powerful 2005 Les Millerits, Anjou Villages, which comes in at 15% with blackcurrant and coffee notes. Still too young, this needs leaving in the cellar for at least another three or four years. Les Millerits is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a vineyard planted on friable, yellow schist. In contrast the 10 ha La Croix de la Mission is on quartz-red schist. It is aged for 18 months in barrels – partly new, partly one wine and partly two wines.

Jean-Hubert: “We didn’t make Les Millerits in either 2006 or 2007. The 2008 is not yet in barrel. It went through malo in tank but in future we’d like it to do its malo en barrique once we have enough cellar space available. While I was at Pichon-Baron we did some experiments on this and found that malo en barrique made the wines rounder and richer. ”

La Croix de la Mission close to the vineyard

The infant 2008 Les Millerits is like the 2005 – dark and brooding, with very rich, concentrated fruit and unlikely to be ready to drink before 2015.

Tasting these powerful Anjou-Villages Cabernet Sauvignons is once again a reminder that you can get good results with Cabernet Sauvignon in Anjou but that it is very site-specific. To get ripe fruit you need a warm soil, so that the vines get off to an early start. Planted in cold soils it is very rare to get ripe Cabernet Sauvignon here. The Lebretons are fortunately to have some of the best vineyards for CS in the area.

Finally onto the sweet wines with the quite rich, nicely balanced and citric 2007 Coteaux de l’Aubance the first up. This is fermented and aged in 400 litre barrels. Not super sweet but one to enjoy as an aperitif or with blue cheese. The agreeably citric 2008 is lighter and without the same length as the 2007. It illustrates that 2008 is not a sweet wine vintage in the Loire. Providing you don’t pay very much for them, there are some perfectly pleasant wines to be enjoyed young and drunk as aperitifs or with rich pork and chicken dishes.

We finished by tasting the rich and concentrated 2007 L’Ambre, the Lebreton’s top L’Aubance with its fine peach and apricot flavours. Unsurprisingly L’Ambre was not made in 2008.

We talked about the rumours of some Anjou producers turning in 2008 to osmosis machines to try to make sweet wine without taking risks. Picking at 14%-15% potential and hoping the machine would work its magic. I guess this is an unfortunate illustration that despite the big renaissance of sweet wine in Anjou over the last 15 years that there are still producers who think that osmosis machines or chaptalisation for sweet wine are acceptable. They are not and we agreed that the sooner Anjou bans chaptalisation for sweet wine the better. Apparently the L'Aubance producers are considering banning chaptalisation – bravo I hope they soon take this long overdue step.