Trio of very recently enjoyed Loire wines

 2012 Oriane, Sancerre Rouge, Gérard Boulay

2015 Fief Guérin, Vieilles Vignes, 

Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu, Jérôme Choblet

 2014 La Haute Olive, Chinon,
Pierre & Bertrand Couly

Three attractive Loire wines – two reds and a white – drunk yesterday and today.

Gérard Boulay makes brilliant Sancerre Blanc. His red Sancerre, although well made and very enjoyable to drink, is not at the same height as his whites and doesn't have the same ambition. His 2012 is a juicy, easy drinking Pinot Noir with charm but not at the same level as top Sancerre reds. Certainly a vin des copains. 

This – 2015 Fief Guérin, Vieilles Vignes, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu, Jérôme Choblet – is a very good example of how good many Muscadets are today. It has lovely rich fruit and texture. Not a style of Muscadet to try to match with shellfish, rather with fine fishes. Would also work with roast chicken. 

The 2014 La Haute Olive, Chinon, Pierre & Bertrand Couly comes from a well known vineyard on the clay limestone coteaux in the commune of Chinon. It has attractively soft cherry fruit and is a pleasure to drink now, although given that it comes from the coteaux I would have expected more structure and concentration.

 

 

 

Gérard Boulay: two magnificent 2014 Sancerres

2014 Monts Damnés

2014 La Côte 

Saturday evening two friends – Suzie and Mark – came for apéros. They are now Epeigné-les-Bois' sole wine producers with their bijou vineyard – Clos Chossay.

I thought it would be interesting to try two of Gérard Boulay's single site wines – Monts Damnés and La Côte – both from 2014.

I decided to serve the Monts Damnés first as it is more austere and mineral, while La Côte, which is the last of Gérard's vines to be harvested, had a little more weight. Both were excellent and still young with many years ahead of them. 

Les Monts Damnés site is now well known but La Côte (La Grand Côte) is much less well known – in part because it is off the beaten track unlike Les Monts Damnés.

 View of Chavignol (nestling below the surrounding hills in the distance)

Les Monts Damnés are to the right of the village in this photo,
while La Grande Côte is round to the left towards Amigny

  Part of Les Monts Damnés 

looking towards Sancerre

Gérard Boulay 

    

Lovely 2014 Sancerre from Gérard Boulay

Despite being the basic Sancerre (AC Chavignol!!) from Gérard this is wonderful. It has an ethereal, delicate quality – with none of the overt, obviousness that can be a trait of Sauvignon Blanc. At the same time, however, it has some weight and concentration – just beautifully balanced. It is also very reasonably priced for the quality and once again underlines that nobody makes better Sancerre than Gérard Boulay. There may some Sancerres equal in quaiity but none, I think, surpass him. 

Gérard Boulay   

#2015: Central Vineyards: Sancerre – photos of a few producers

Jean-Marie Bourgeois: the patriarch of Chavignol 

 Luc Prieur of Domaine Paul Prieur in Verdigny
(above and below)

Gérard Boulay

Off to the Digital Wine Communicators Conference in Plodiv, Bulgaria very early tomorrow. More detailed notes on these producers when I return at the end of the month. 

Sancerre: evening light 22nd September

 Small commune of Amigny, part of the commune of Sancerre, and just to the west of the town 

Series of photos taken on the evening of Thursday 22nd September in a soft, warming light.

 Amigny and some of its vineyards

 Amigny with more vineyards

 Le Cul de Beaujeu  

Although the Côte de Monts Damnés is better known, Chavignol has another equally good and equally steep vineyard – Le Cul de Beaujeu. Similarly terres blanches (clay and limestone), it lies just to the south of the village and like Les Monts Damnés towers over Chavignol. Cul de Beaujeu wines from the Cotats and Gérard Boulay are often amongst the top Sancerres – powerful but with a strong minerality.         

 Vines above Chavignol, Hotel Côte de Monts Damnés and the Monts Damnés

 Looking east from above Chavignol (south of the village) towards Sancerre

Western part of Sancerre with Saint-Andelain in the middle distance   

 Vineyards and the railway viaduct at Saint-Satur

Gérard Boulay + a change of email in the Roannaise

Gérard Boulay: June 2006

David McDuff has a good posting on Gérard Boulay, an excellent Sancerre producer in Chavignol, now beginning to get the press attention his wines deserve. Like the Cotat wines Gérard Boulay's Sancerre need time in bottle to develop fully. I remember enjoying his 1998 Les Monts Damnés in 2006 when, although it had evolved, it still had plenty of life left.

•••

Change of email address

Simon Hawkins@Le Salon des Vins de Loire

Simon and Isabelle Hawkins of the Domaine du Fontenay (Villemontais) in the Côte Roannaise have a new email address: info@domainedufontenay.com