A new player in Montlouis

Aynard de Clermont-Tonnerre amongst the vines@Les Boulayes

Aynard de Clermont-Tonnerre: "what a ridiculous angle!"

In January 2012 Aynard and Isabelle Clérmont de Tonnerre concluded a deal with Michel Antier, which gave them access to 22 hectares of Montlouis – some already planted 13.5 ha in two parcels: Les Boulayes and Les Batisses. These parcels used to belong to Olivier Deletang, who for personal and financial reasons, sold up in 2009 to Michel Antier – the largest landowner in Montlouis.  

Aynard de Clermont Tonnerre with Michel Antier 

In turn Antier decided that he now had too much land, so has started to sell off  a few of his parcels. This has allowed Aynard de Clermont-Tonnerre to rent Les Batisses on a long contact and Les Boulayes but with the option to buy the latter in a couple of years. Aynard and Isabelle already have 22 hectares of vines at the Clos du Porteau in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher as Appellation Touraine. Following the Montlouis deal, they have given back some of 12ha of their rented vines in AC Touraine to the their owner, leaving them with 10 hectares mainly planted with Sauvignon Blanc with some Cabernet Franc and Côt in addition. 

 Aynard amongst the old Chenin vines: Les  Boulayes

At Les Batisses, which is just to the north of Jacky Blot's Le Clos Mosny, all 11 hectares are planted, while at Les Boulayes, about a kilometre or so further east, only 2.5 hectares are currently in production with a potential 8.5 hectares to plant. This year the vineyard will be farmed organically and next year will see the start of conversion to biodynamics. 

After the visit we tasted a couple of Olivier Delétang's wines from 2009 – his last vintage. Firstly Les Batisses sec followed by a Moelleux. Although both were perfectly pleasant, well made and would be a good choice for a wine by the glass in a restaurant or wine bar, neither were at the standard I remember Delétang producing in the past. They lack the concentration and character that would lift them to make them memorable. A question of pushing the yields up towards the maximum permitted?  

Some Cabernet Franc vines@Les Boulayes (not part of the deal)

Elderly Chenin vines@Les Boulayes

Vine@Les Boulayes looking south towards the Cher Valley and Saint-Martin-le-Beau (above and below)

Sunlight on the wires and vines@Les Batisses

The chai@Les Boulayes

The parcel at Les Boulayes comes with a winery. Although the functional building will not win any beauty prizes, Aynard is very pleased to have this facility as apparently it is more difficult to find a winery/chai in Montlouis than vines.   

Jacky Blot: visit to Le Clos Mosny + 2010s

Pipette and glass@the cave Domaine de la Taille aux Loups

I spent this afternoon with Jacky Blot (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups) first visiting his new vineyard – Le Clos de Mosny – and then tasting from barrel a number of his 2010 Montlouis and Vouvray.

Jacky looking towards the south western end of the Clos

Jacky and Joëlle Blot took over the historic Clos Mosny from Monmousseau after the 2010 harvest. See the details here. Driving along the D40 from Saint-Martin-Le-Beau to Montlouis you pass the southern end of the Clos, whose walls completely encircle the 12ha vineyard and the Château de Mosny making 1.6 kilometres of wall to look after! Jacky has already hired a stonemason called Antoine to repair and look after the walls. I suspect he will be busy!

Ivy infested gateway

Although I had previously looked through the gate at the Clos I had never been inside, so it was particularly interesting to visit it with Jacky yesterday. It seems very likely that not all of the Clos will produce the same quality of grapes. The soil is a mix of flint and sand. Typically the soil in Montlouis becomes more sandy as you approach the southern part of the AC around Saint-Martin-le-Beau. The Clos slopes gently down from its northern end to the D40 road. It seems likely that the best part of the Clos, which faces south – south-west, will be from the upper and the middle parts. In the lower part the soil may be deeper with more clay. There looks to be a frost prone hollow at the south-western end. Some of the vines are around 50 years old.

The intention is that the best fruit from the Clos will be used for a single vineyard cuvée with the lesser fruit going into either Les Dix Arpents or to the base wine for Triple Zéro.

Pruning in the Clos (above and below)

Vines beyond the wall are part of the Clos Michet

Pruning has already started in the Clos as the cold snap at the end of November has allowed producers to start pruning earlier than normal. It makes particular sense in the clos as all the posts, etc. will be replaced here once pruning has finished. Yields will be drastically reduced – Jacky suggested that yields here in 2010 could have been in the order of 120/130 hl/ha, which was reduced at vintage time around 70hl/ha by discarding rotten bunches.

There is also a winery at the entrance to the Clos with a ground florr and cellar, which has a stock of bottles from the Monmousseau purchase. 

The Blots have a virtual monopoly of the Clos except for a small patch of untended vines (see below) at the northern end which belongs to the Château de Mosny, more an attractive manoir than a true château.

The Château de Mosny

It is a pity that the vineyard and the château have been in separate hands for some years now as there is a potential to make the Clos Mosny a show place for Montlouis.

Barrel tasting of 2010s

After visiting the Clos we headed back to the village of Husseau to taste the 2010s from both Montlouis and Vouvray from barrel – many of them still fermenting. It is always fascinating to taste wine at all of its stages, although it is difficult to fully know how the finished wine will taste, especially if there is still some sugar left to ferment and the blend is yet to be made. However, you can discern the broad outlines. At this early stage in their life they seem reminiscent to the 2007s and 2008s – very precise, clean flavours with quite strong acidity.

Among the many samples we tasted was the Clos Michet. 2009 was the first vintage of this Clos, which is adjacent and just to the west of the Clos Mosny. Michet is also 12 hectares but has a number of owners with Jacky now having some 4 hectares here as the deal with Monmousseau included some parcels in this Clos. My current impression is that Michet has less weight than Rémus, which comes from a number of parcels, but has delicacy, finesse and precision. We also tasted wine from the Château de la Bourdaisière, whose harvest Jacky has been looking after for the past three or four years.

Chassin – Jacky's preferred barrel maker

Jacky Blot (above and below)

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I gather that sometime over the past year Domaine Deletang (20ha) was sold to Michel Antier, a wine producer (Domaine de Cray) and restaurateur (La Cave à Montlouis).