Photos from Thorman Hunt tasting and The Real Wine Fair

 Christophe Surget, Couly Dutheil, Chinon

Christophe will be busy taking on 

some of the responsibilities of the late Jacques Couly

A few photos of Loire producers from the Thorman Hunt tasting on Monday 18th April at The Merchants Taylors Hall in the City of London.

 Loïc Cailbourdin, Domaine Alain Cailbourdin, Pouilly-Fumé 

2015 Les Cornets, Pouilly-Fumé showing well +

2012 Triptyque

 Jean-Pierre Chevallier, Château de Villeneuve, 

Saumur/Saumur-Champigny 

2014 Grand Clos Saumur-Champigny 

showing a lot of finesse

Maud and Firmin Dézat, André Dézat

Firmin rather in the shadow of Maud here –

I must remember not to stop the camera down 

so low when using the 85 lens! 

I particularly liked their 2015 Pouilly-Fumé Domaine Thibault

The Real Wine Fair, Tobacco Dock, Wapping, London  
After the Thorman Hunt tasting I headed to Tobacco Dock and The Real Wine Fair.

 Brendan Tracey, Domaine le Clocher, Vendôme

above and below

 Hervé Villemade, Domaine du Moulin, Cour-Cheverny

 Louis Germain, Domaine des Roches Neuves, 

Saumur, Saumur-Champigny

 Louis, son of Thierry who for the moment 

does not talk quite as fast as his dad...

Pierre Breton, Domaine Catherine & Pierre Breton,

Bourgueil and Vouvray 

(above and below)

 Benoît Landron, Domaine Landron-Chartier, 

Coteaux d'Ancenis

 (above and below)

 !!!

 Marc Pesnot, Domaine de la Sénéchalière, Pays Nantais

Good to taste with Marc Pesnot again. He makes very interesting Vin de France wines from the Pays Nantais using Folle Blanche and Melon de Bourgogne using nuitage a process of long maceration (overnight or more) before pressing the ripe grapes with grande pression to extract more matter from the skins.   

Staying with the Pays Nantais good to see Jo Landron back fully fit after his nasty fall last summer, although he still finds it impossible to fully raise his left (?) arm fully. Fortunately this is not too great a handicap as Jo is able to raise a glass to the required height to drink comfortably. I enjoyed his 2014 Melonix (Vin de France), 2013 Le Fief du Breuil and 2015 La Louvetrie – both Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine.

Alex Thorp, under the bonnet, 161 Kirkdale (@161Kirk)

Staying the Nantais area I met Alex Thorp, who was serving Matthieu l'Hotelier's Les Champs Jumeaux wines. Alex is part of under the bonnet Ltd, who imports these wines, as well as the Sydenham wine bar in London 161 Kirkdale.   

Before setting up Les Champs Jumeaux in 2012 Matthieu, who is an electronic musician,  did a taster course on winemaking while on the dole and then worked with Marc Pesnot. Les Champs Jumeaux (2.5 hectares) is in the commune of Montrelais at the eastern end of the Coteaux d'Ancenis appellation. There used to be 300 hectares of vines in this commune but now only those of Les Champs Jumeaux remain. The whites are made from Chenin Blanc, the red from a blend of Gamay and Grolleau, and the rosé from Gamay and a hybrid.        

Bonhomme and Puzelats: 2014 Portes Ouvertes – 3rd and 4th May

The 2014 edition of the Portes Ouvertes held by Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme, Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat in partnership with Hervé Villemade and their potes ouverts will be on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th May from 11am to 6pm at the Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Les Montils.mj

The Potes Ouverts are Catherine and Pierre Breton (Bourgueil and Chinon), Le Briseau (Côteaux du Loir and Jasnières), Les Capriades (Pétillant Naturel de Touraine), Les Foulards Rouges (Côtes du Roussillon), Agnès and Jean Foillard (Morgon and Fleurie), Jean-Sébastien Gioan (Côtes du Roussillon), La Loirette (Bière artisanale de Touraine), Château Meylet (Saint-Emilion), Agnès and René Mosse (Anjou and Savennières), Eric Piffierling (Tavel and Lirac), Frantz Saumon (Montlouis), Hervé Villemade (Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny) and Domaine Yoyo (Banyuls). 

Hervé Villemade@The Real Wine Fair, London 13th April 2014

 Pierre Breton@The Real Wine Fair, London 13th April 2014

Hervé Villemade: Portes Ouvertes 14th-15th December avec des potes ouverts

Portes Ouvertes chez Hervé Villemade on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th December featuring some 15 producers from all over France. Loire producers are Catherine and Pierre Breton, Pascal Potaire and  Moses Gadouche, Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Agnès and René Mosse, Nathalie Gaubicher and Hervé Villemade himself.

Hervé Villemade  

Thierry Puzelat + Tue-Boeuf: Portes Ouvertes 2nd and 3rd June

With friends: Catherine and Pierre Breton (Bourgueil and Chinon), Natalie and Christian Chaussard (Coteaux du Loir and Jasnières), Bruno Duchêne (Collioure), Agnès and Jean Folliard (Fleurie and Morgon), Jean-Sébastien Gioan (Côtes du Roussillon), Agnès and René Mosse (Anjou and Coteaux du Layon), Jean-François Nicq (Côtes du Roussillon), Pascal Potaire and Moses Gadouche (Pétillant Naturel de Touraine), Nicolas Vauthier (Bourgognes de l'Yonne) and Hervé Villemade (Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny).

As the Puzelats were hit by frost on 17th April he advises: 'En attendant la pénurie de 2012, buvons du 2011 !'

 Thierry Puzelat

Jean-Marie Puzelat

  

Les blagues (jokes) de Jean-Christophe Garnier

20 February 2009

Jean-Christophe Garnier's 'vin mousseux de qualité'
To be fair the wine's colour was darkened by the flash and has been tweaked by Photoshop, although the actual colour was slightly lighter but the wine was just as muddy.

During dinner with the Cabernet Franc Ambassadors we tried a few other wines as O'Bistro has an interesting and eclectic list. The last 'wine' was the most memorable for all the wrong reasons. From Jean-Christophe Garnier, and apparently made from 100% Grolleau, this is a textbook example of the type of wine that gives 'natural wines' a bad name. Described as a vin mousseux de qualité (quality sparkling wine), it was light brown in colour and distinctly cloudy. Indeed far more reminiscent of rough farmyard scrumpy than a sparkling wine.

As it is virtually undrinkable I can only assume that this is a sophisticated joke by Monsieur Garnier of Saint-Lamber-du-Lattay – otherwise how could you put such a faulty and poor wine on the market? Equally I can only assume that this is the reason that it is probably stocked in 'cutting edge' wine bars. The alarming thing is that I'm pretty sure that this is not the worst wine that I have tasted from Jean-Christophe Garnier as he exhibits every year at the Renaissance des Appellations. I'm not against 'pushing the envelope', exploring the limits, but you have to be able to recognise when something is a miserable failure.

Several around the table questioned how this could be possibly described as 'mousseux de qualité', even 'vin' and Jean-Christophe calling himself a 'vigneron' raised eyebrows.

Before we were served the excerable mousseux we were served a couple of reds blind. The first was considerably lighter in colour than the Cabernet Francs we had been enjoying. I thought it was from the Loire and opted for a Pinot Noir from the Central Vineyards as did Gérard Vallée. Perhaps I should have been more courageous and plumped for a Sancerre, which, in fact, it was – 2006 Terre de Maimbray from Pascal and Nicolas Reverdy. The second was similar in colour but a little lighter in body. I surprised myself by guessing that it was a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir. Actually it was 2007 Les Andilles, Cherveny from Hervé Villemade – 80% Pinot Noir 20% Gamay. Pleasant enough but not memorable – still it was 2007. Jérome felt that the finish was bitter.