2006 Saumur Champigny, Château de Villeneuve

2006 Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve

If you listened to some received ideas you would imagine that this 2006 straight Saumur-Champigny from Château de Villeveuve would be well past its best. Not at all! In glass it still looks youthful – no sign of brickiness. Similarly on the palate it has the roundness, soft texture and structure that is associated with the 2006 vintage. Tasted blind I am sure it would be difficult to say that this wine is nearly 12 years ago.

Impressive as this is Jean-Pierre Chevallier's straight Saumur-Champigny and not either the Vieilles Vignes or Grand Clos. 

Château de Villeneuve, Saumur – the new cellar and winery

 Front of the new Château de Villeneuve winery 

Last Thursday we dropped in on Florence and Jean-Pierre Chevallier at Château de Villeneuve in Souzay-Champigny. Jean-Pierre had time to show us quickly round their new winery, which uses the amazing cellars/caves that run under the château. The caves are extensive and remarkably dry. 

In 1969 they were sold to the Pays Nantais négociant Santejeau, which is now part of Castel Frères. This was the same year that the Chevallier family bought the estate. Later they were used by the Saumur sparkling wine house, Veuve Amiot. Then 20 years ago Jean-Pierre bought them back and has now renovated them. Previously his wine-making facilities were above Château de Hureau a little under two kilometres further west towards Saumur. 

Jean-Pierre is currently renting his old winemaking facility at Hureau to Patrice Rétif, who used to be one of the partners in Les Champs Fleuris. Patrice with his wife Catherine now has his own domaine – Domaine des Damoiselles.

The entrance to the winery is on the 

main road from Chinon to Saumur.  

Looking down on the winery 

with the caves under the château

Fermentation tanks

(above and below)

 CRM and Jean-Pierre inspect some foudres

 New barrels 

 A couple of eggs

 

The extensive cellars

(above and below)

Root growing down through fissures in the rock

Me and my shadow

Cave privée

Sorting the just picked 2017 Cabernet Franc 

for Saumur-Champigny 

(above and below)

Deux régales – 2005 Côt, Clos Roche Blanche + 2014 Saumur Champigny, Château de Villeneuve

 2005 Côt, AC Touraine, Clos Roche Blanche 

2014 Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve 

2005 Côt, AC Touraine, Clos Roche Blanche 

Last night we opened a bottle 2005 Côt, also sometimes called Malbec outside the Loire, from the Clos Roche Blanche in Mareuil (Cher Valley), Catherine and Didier have now retired but this 2005 is a great testament to them. Over time the tannins of the Côt have softened, the 2005 has richness, floral notes – violets and in the finish a freshness – the hallmark of the Loire. 

It matched perfectly the wonderfully good calves liver from the Criée de la Boucherie in Bléré. 

Too presumptuous to hail this 2005 as a Grand Vin de Loire?  

2014 Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve 
Very different in approach to the 2005 Côt, this domaine Saumur-Champigny from the always impressive Jean-Pierre Chevallier is definitely ready to drink now. Unlike the Côt it doesn't need time in bottle to show its best. The 2014 has  softly textured black fruits, very soft tannins and a lovely balance. The level in the bottle or decanter falls so quickly that you fear that the container is cracked and leaking.

Jean-Pierre also makes a Vieilles Vignes and his Grand Clos. Both are more structured and need time to show their best. Equally they are likely to age a long time. I suspect that the straight Saumur-Champigny will age well but why not enoy its delicious fruit now?       

off on an adventure: Day 17 – Jean-Pierre Chevallier

 Jean-Pierre Chevallier

Château de Villeneuve, Saumur-Champigny and Saumur

 As I suspect there will be limited time to post on Jim's Loire while we are away – there are posts prepared in advance that will feature pics of Loire producers and may be from elsewhere plus some recently enjoyed bottles.   

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.        

2015 Loire – getting ready for the off!

Picking in Sancerre September 2009

Not long before picking gets underway and may already have done so for Chardonnay for sparkling wines in the Saumur area.

 The Luneau family celebrating their 2014 Muscadet harvest 

Pierre-Marie listens to his wines ....

In the Pays Nantais Marie Chartier-Luneau (Domaine Luneau-Papin) says that picking will start in the middle of this coming week. Their close neighbour Fréd Niger Van Herck (Domaine de l'Ecu) will be starting on Wednesday. 

Fréd@MillesiméBio 2013

Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve) August 2005 

Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve) expects to start picking his Chenin around 21st September. As of yesterday the grapes are at 9.8% potential alcohol with 6.8 acidity.  

Jim's Loire welcomes news from Loire producers on the 2015 vintage – whether you have started or when you expect start. Merci beaucoup d'avance. 

   

Two vintages of Jean-Pierre Chevallier's Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve:

2013 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve  

2013 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve  

Vin Biologique 

 

2011 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve  

Jean-Pierre Chevallier of Château de Villeneuve in Souzay-Champigny has long been one of my favourite Loire producers – both for his Saumur Blancs, especially Les Cormiers, and Saumur-Champigny. Le Grand Clos is his top Saumur-Champigny cuvée. It is only released in vintages when it is up to the standard that JP has set for Le Grand Clos.       

I have enjoyed many vintages of Le Grand Clos stretching back to 1995 and 1996.  It was good to taste and drink the two most recent vintages of Le GC – 2011 and 2013. These are wines that deserve to be cellared for five or six years at least to show their best.

2013 Le Grand Clos   

Initially I was a little surprised that Jean-Pierre had decided to release the 2013, which was a far from easy vintage with a very late flowering. On first taste the 2013 was quite lean with less texture and more marked acidity than the 2011, although with some attractive red fruits. 

However, going back to the 2013 a day after it was opened the wine had softened and taken on more weight. It will be interesting to see how it develops over the next two or three years. 

2011 Le Grand Clos

Rich, softly textured black fruits with a touch of toastiness, well rounded tannins and good length but not a big structure. This 2011 is attractive to drink now but is likely to improve with further time in bottle but may not, however, be a vintage for very long aging – more 1997 than 1996 or 1995. It will offer plenty of enjoyment over the next few years.

Between the 2011 and 2013 vintage the estate has completed its conversion to organic viticulture, shown by the vin biologique label on the 2013.     

  

2013 Loire vintage: Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve) attacked by sacked picker

Jean-Pierre Chevallier, Château de Villeneuve 
(photo taken a few years ago)

2013 has been a difficult and complicated vintage for many in the Loire. It has been particularly difficult for Jean-Pierre Chevallier, Château de Villeneuve, as he was physically attacked a couple of weeks ago by a disgruntled 20-year grape picker, who Jean-Pierre had just sacked.

Although he was hit on the forehead and around his left eye, fortunately Jean-Pierre does not appear to have sustained any permanent physical damage from the attack, although the bruising beside his eye is still obvious. However, J-P spoke movingly of the understandable loss of morale following the attack.  

J-P explained that on the first day of the harvest, this picker had not responded to the instructions on what to pick and what should be left aside. Instead he included rotten grapes. J-P said that he was relaxed about this initially as it was the first day and the young man might not have fully understood the instructions. However, this continued on the second day and the picker spent a considerable time standing around and smoking. J-P concluded that he wasn't taking the job seriously, so he told him he wasn't wanted any more. The picker reacted by attacking J-P and trashing the office.

Although the police were called, they are apparently taking no action as J-P wasn't incapacitated for more than three days. Had J-P been incapacitated for eight days or more  then the police would have taken the assault further! So J-P has had to lodge a civil complaint. 

I'm shocked that this has happened to J-P, a very gentle person, and am surprised and appalled that the police are taking no action and that it is down to Jean-Pierre to take civil action.   

News of 2013@Château de Villeneuve
JP: "We finished picking on Friday. The Ban des Vendanges for Saumur-Champigny was given on Thursday 10th October. We had started picking Chenin the week before. The upper limit for chaptalising for Saumur Blanc has been lowered to 12˚. Degrees for our Chenin were between 12.5˚ - 13˚. The acidities are high ranging between 6-7, whereas normally they are between 5-6. Normally my whites don't go through malo but this year I will do a partial malo to reduce the acidity.     

Yield on the Cabernet Franc is 30 hl/ha. I thought it would be higher but the berries were small. They will have a short cuvaison – to keep and emphasise the fruit. 2013 is not a year to push the extraction."

Richard Desouche tasting 2013 juice 

News of 2013@Château de Chaintré
Richard Desouche: "2013 is another difficult and complicated year! Harvesting finished on Friday morning. We have a tiny crop because we were frosted on 29th April, so only 15 hl/ha this year. This follows the short 2012, which was 50% down on a normal crop. The frost hit here, Chacé and Varrains. The vineyards to the north closer to the Loire were not affected."

This is often the case: the vineyards on the south west of the appellation are more prone to frost. We tasted various juices for Crémant, Saumur Blanc and Saumur-Champigny, which were clean and seem promising. 

Richard: I hate cameras face!