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. 

Frost in Loire the night of 26th/27th April 2016 – grim and heartbreaking news (an update)

La nature est parfois difficile avec ceux qui pour autant l'aime encore.
Exemple confirmée à La Charpenterie.

Photo by 

Sabrina Cyprien Caslot-Bourdin

Near La Chapelle-sur-Loire 

(Photo taken from a post by Sabrina Cyprien Caslot-Bourdin.

I hope my use of her very sad photo will be acceptable.) 

Sadly the news coming out of the Loire continues to be largely grim. 

Unfortunately due to my commitments as the Regional Chair for the Loire at the Decanter World Wine Awards this week at Tobacco Dock, it has been difficult to spend much time checking on the damage caused by the frost early in the morning of Wednesday 27th April.  

Central Vineyards 

A brief update from Benoît Roumet, director of Les Vins du Centre Loire:

Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly have been hit to varying degrees in places very severely. He will have a better idea of the damage next week. However, once again Sancerre appears to have been lucky with apparently little damage.

Touraine – Vallée du Cher 

Report from Vincent Lacour, Domaine Lacour, Saint-Georges–sur-Cher:

'Sur St Georges tous les bas de coteaux sont gelés et même certains endroits sur les hauts des coteaux.

Aucune exploitation n'est épargné avec des situations différentes allant de 10 a 80 % de perte selon les exploitations.

La situation va etre tres compliqué car les stocks sont bas et les récoltes faibles des années précédentes ont fragilisés les trésoreries. Beaucoup d'exploitation vont se retrouver dans des situations critiques et on se demande comment les marchés vont réagir.

A priori plus on va vers St Aignan moins il y a de degats mais des secteurs comme Couffy, Lye and Saint-Romain a priori sont très touchés également

Bléré est tres touchés egalement et sur Civray c'est proche des 90% de degats.

Voila ce que je peux dire pour l'instant j'en saurais plus cette apres-midi, mais on connaitra le bilan veritable la semaine prochaine.

(Vincent reports that many parts of Saint Georges-sur-Cher, which is the commune in the Cher Valley with the most significant area under vine, has been hit especially the lower parts of the coteaux but even some parcels of vines high up have suffered damage. No-one has escaped with losses ranging from 10%-80%. 

As you move further east up the Cher Valley towards Saint-Aignan the damage appears to be less but the communes of Couffy and Lye to the east of Saint-Aignan have been hit as has Saint-Romain to the north of Saint-Aignan. 

West of Saint-Georges-sur-Cher – Civray has been very badly hit as has Bléré. 

Pays Nantais

Damage reported here and in the Fiefs Vendéens.

Vouvray

Benoît Gautier, Domaine de la Châtaigneraie, Vouvray is reporting considerable damage to some of his parcels of vines.            

 

Better news: Jérôme Billard, Domaine de la Noblaie, Ligré, AOP Chinon repoprts that only 20% of his vines have been affected and I believe these are mainly the Cabernet Franc vines that Jérôme uses to make his rosé which are not the best parcels and on the lower part of a slope that would be frost prone.  

 

••

Now that the Loire DWWA judging is now over, I will have time to get fuller information, so I expect to post further updates in the days to come. 

 

   

 

Domaine Saint Nicolas – Portes Ouvertes: 23rd - 24th April 2016

The new chai

Domaine Saint Nicolas, one of the leading Fiefs Vendéen producers,  is holding a Portes Ouvertes this weekend – Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th from 10h to 19h. This is at their new chai – Les Clous, 85340 L'Ile d'Olonne. Tel: 02.51.33.13.04 email: contact@domainessaintnicolas.fr

Thierry Michon – the main man @Saint Nicolas

'La Semaine à La Vendéenne': 14th-27th March 2016....

 

 

Press release from the Fiefs Vendéens:

L'AOC Fiefs Vendéens, ce sont cinq terroirs vendéens, répartis sur 499 hectares, qui produisent chaque année des vins rouges, rosés et blancs de caractère : Brem, Chantonnay, Mareuil, Pissotte et Vix. Des vins fins et élégants, puissants et complexes, subtils et précis… Cinq terroirs uniques, ayant chacun leur spécificité et leur personnalité.

 

 Map of the Vendée and the five terroirs

 

Aujourd’hui, l’AOC Fiefs Vendéens est représenté par 17 vignerons qui ont à cœur de dynamiser l’appellation et qui mettent tout en œuvre pour faire connaître les vins vendéens à l’extérieur du département.

Pour ce faire, et pour la deuxième année consécutive, l'AOC se mobilise pour faire connaître les richesses de ses cépages au plus grand nombre. 

 Clear that a 'week' in the Vendée is more like a fortnight!

Du 14 au 27 mars 2016, l'AOC Fiefs Vendéens organise « La Semaine à La Vendéenne » : deux semaines seront consacrées aux vins vendéens. Des rencontres et dégustations seront organisées chez les cavistes et restaurateurs participants, autour de bons verres de vins issus des Fiefs Vendéens. 

 

The perplexing mystery of the Loire's disappearing vineyards ...

Map of the Loire Valley Wines@ProWein 2014

without ACs Bourgueil, Montlouis and Fiefs Vendéens

Sharp eyed observers would have noticed something strange and mysterious about the map used by InterLoire at the 2014 edition of Prowein in Dusseldorf (23rd-25th March) to show the Loire Valley wines – no sign of Bourgueil, Montlouis nor Fiefs Vendéens nor a number of appellations like Cheverny etc.!

Have these décrets been cancelled, have they disappeared in a natural disaster or have the now famous hens of Ingrandes-de-Touraine multiplied and devoured appellation Bourgueil? In the case of the disappearance, as far as  Bourgueil is concerned, must be very recent as the appellation was in rude health as recently as the 15th March 2014 for their annual Fête des Vins à Tours. Furthermore I saw Jacky Blot on his Domaine de la Butte stand and he said nothing about the disappearance of Montlouis...  

Philippe Boucard@Bourgueil invades Tours 15.3.14 

A quick Google search draws a complete blank! However, an email from Philippe Boucard (Domaine Lamé Delisle Boucard) sent yesterday provides a clue:

'Je t' écris pour te dire que je suis très fâché par Interloire qui a fabriqué une carte des vins du Val de Loire qui était affichée à Prowein, où Bourgueil et Montlouis entre autre, ont disparu. Volatilisé , désintégré, éliminé.

Comme sur cette carte il n' est nullement précisé qu' il s' agit des AOC adhérentes à Interloire, le consommateurs lambda, va croire que nous n' existons plus. Il faudrait au moins qu' ils aient l' honnêteté de préciser que ce sont les AOC d' interloire. Pour moi je trouve cela très grave, scandaleux.

Quand penses tu ?*

(* Bourgueil, Montlouis and the Fiefs Vendéens have opted out of InterLoire -Jim.)

Unfortunately difficult to see but detail showing 

absence of Bourgueil and Montlouis

  Map from InterLoire's site showing Bourgueil, 

Montlouis and Fiefs Vendéens before they disappeared

Detail showing both Bourgueil and Montlouis 

An opportunity to find out what has happened to Bourgueil  – Saturday 19th April 2014 Des Poules & des Hommes@Ingrandes de Touraine.

2013 Loire Vintage: thundery, humid weather threatening rot

The approaching storm seen on A83 autoroute we were heading eastwards

Growers' obvious optimism aroused by last weekend's fine weather which continued into the early part of this week appears to be starting to give way to concern, especially for those picking early varieties like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. In the Fiefs Vendéens this was clearly the concern of Jérémie Mourat and Thierry Michon. The concern about the threat of rot was reinforced when we visited Frédéric Brochet of Ampelidae in Marigny-Brizay, Haut-Poitou. Frédéric report that you could virtually see rot spreading in their Sauvignon Blanc as you watched!

There also appear to be some fragile parcels of Sauvignon Blanc in the Central Vineyards, so picking will soon be getting underway. 

Friday was very hot, humid – tropical. Driving back from the Vendée yesterday we passed through a large area of stormy weather that stretched from Fontenay-le-Comte to north of Poitiers. We drove through some very heavy rain – fortunately we encountered no sign of hail. 

 Heavy rain on the A83

Fortunately the rain was much more gentle by the time 

it got to the Haut-Poitou vineyards

Reaching the Loire we ran into another, separate area of thundery weather with very dark clouds to the north of Bléré in the direction of Amboise. 

Unfortunately there are showers, some of them thundery, forecast of most days this coming week, so I expect growers to be picking their early varieties as quickly as possible while hoping that the later varieties resist better and manage to ripen properly before rot sets in.

2013 Loire vintage – a day in the Fiefs Vendéens

 The entrance to the impressive Mourat winery

 Pinot Noir@J. Mourat

We spent yesterday in the Fiefs Vendéens to see how the vintage was coming along.  We saw Jérémie Mourat at J. Mourat in Mareuil-sur-Lay and then Thierry Michon (Domaine Saint Nicolas) at L'île d'Olonne. I don't often get down here as it is nearly a three hour drive to Mareuil-sur-Lay and even further to Thierry's. 

Both Jérémie and Thierry are hurrying to get the early varieties picked, especially the Pinot Noir, whose skins are very fragile and the berries are starting to rot. "On Saturday 14th September we had 40 mm of rain," explained Thierry. After the dry August and September, the grapes sucked up the water and swelled up. This is not being helped by the warm, very humid weather. Thunderstorms are forecast for this weekend – hopefully less humid weather will follow on. Thierry, who started on Wednesday, reckons that the harvest will last three weeks instead of the usual five. I sense that Thierry may be regretting that he didn't start on Monday, especially as he has 40 hectares to pick by hand. 

"Petite année!" was Thierry's early but decidedly pessimistic take on 2013.   

    

 J. Mourat: visitors entrance to the winery shop

 

Egg fermenters in the very new winery section (2013) 
Above and below

(Photo: CRM)

 Clos du Moulin Blanc (above and below)

Mourat: Negrette – once accounted for 60% of the plantings

Now down to less than 10% but is being revived

Jérémie Mourat in his pre-phylloxera Negrette 

Sorting Pinot Noir@Domaine Saint Nicolas (Thierry Michon)
above and below

 

 Olivia from Felton Road, Central Otago (New Zealand)

She is spending part of the vintage here

Testing the grapes 

Case of 2013 Pinot Noir

 Thierry Michon hard at work 

Olivia, too

 Thierry with his new amphora

Thierry Michon's winery – different style to Mourat

Thierry has a tasting room and shop in nearby Brem-sur-Mer


Domaine Saint-Nicolas is biodynamic

Loire 2013 – getting underway this week

Emptying a hod of Melon de Bourgogne 2012@Chereau Carré

The Loire vintage is beginning to get underway this week. Although it will still be some considerable time before the Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, except I assume for grapes destined for sparkling wine in Saumur, some of the early appellations are now getting underway. Picking in Muscadet started today as it did at J.Mourat in the Fiefs Vendéens with Jérémie Mourat harvesting Pinot Noir for their sparkling wine using their recently completed new chai.

This week may well see some in Quincy and Reuilly also starting on their Sauvignon Blanc. 

Reports from Guilbaud Frères and Couly-Dutheil:  

'Chez GUILBAUD Frères, été indien pour le Muscadet ?

  

Début des vendanges le 23 septembre. La température est clémente et nous débutons sous le même soleil radieux que l’année dernière !

Après un printemps pluvieux et maussade, nous nous sommes réjouis de ce mois de juillet si beau et exceptionnellement chaud ; le mois d'août a été également très beau mais avec des températures plus habituelles : 26, 27°.  Ouf, nous avons échappé aux violents orages, c’est la douceur du bord de Loire !

Si la météo de 2013 ne devrait pas affecter la qualité de notre vin, elle a déjà eu des conséquences sur l’importance de notre production. En effet, nous voyons bien déjà que côté quantité ce sera hétérogène.

Si ce mois de septembre continue à nous gratifier d'un été indien, la récolte devrait être aussi belle qualitativement qu'en 2012.

Pascal Guilbaud

GUILBAUD Frères

COULIS-DUTHEIL : un vignoble épargné…

On attaque les vendanges des cabernets francs destinés aux rosés – 25 septembre

Le millésime 2013 ?

Nous vendangeons dès le 25 septembre les cabernets francs destinés aux rosés… puis dans la première quinzaine d’octobre, les parcelles dédiées aux Chinon rouge

L’essentiel pour nous c’était d’avoir un très bel été, car août et septembre sont des mois décisifs. Nous avons été exaucés : le mois d’août a été magnifique et septembre se poursuit avec des températures douces et du soleil.

Nous sommes ravis.

Et pourtant en 2013 : que d’émotions…

- Fin avril - gel à Chinon : immédiatement Arnaud et Jérôme font le tour des parcelles et soulagement, elles ont été épargnées

- Lundi 17 juin - l’info est à la une des télévisions : les violents orages ont traversé une partie de la France, la grêle a frappé, le vignoble de Vouvray est ravagé, à Chinon des dégâts importants sur la commune de Cravant les Coteaux. Une fois de plus Arnaud et Jérôme arpentent les vignes et notre bonne étoile nous a une fois de plus épargnés

- floraison vers le 20 juin, très beau mois de juillet,  les grappes sont bien formées homogènes…. quant aux mollets de nos vignerons : du solide.

Jacques & Arnaud Couly Dutheil

COULY-DUTHEIL