Noelle and Michel Keating: Bourgueil's newest garagistes

 Michael Keating, with his wife Noelle, the new 

proprietors of 0.123 hectares of Bourgueil

Michael as standing at the northern end of the parcel. 

In October 2017 CRM and I visited with Michael Keating their prospective vineyard purchase.  So we are very pleased that the deal has gone through today.

Their new vineyard is in the commune of Restingé just to the west of the small road that leads northwards from the main D35, that runs east west through the appellation. The land is just up from Domaine Catherine and Pierre Breton but before you reach the Caslot family at Domaine de la Chevalerie.  

The vines are just at the top end of the gravel soils and the base of the limestone coteaux. These vines used to belong to Pierre-Jacques Druet, who sadly went bust in March 2016. A great shame as Pierre-Jacques was a very good producer but not a good financial manager and he became an unreliable supplier.  

After a life spent mainly abroad in the financial world, Michael and Noelle have retired to the town of Bourgueil turning their holiday home into a permanent one. They have become very involved in the vinous life of Bourgueil

Noelle and Michael will be partnered by Aurélien Revillot, an impressive young producer who has just over 2.5 hectares of vines. Aurelien works for the Caslots during the week. 

The plan is to grub up the existing vines and replant. The photos show that the present vines are in a poor state of repair.  

 At the northern end of the parcel

 The 2017 crop wasn't harvested this year

 

 Looking northwards up the plot

Ampelidae – an update

Frédéric Brochet, founder and dynamic, driving force of Ampelidae 

I have covered Ampelidae in Haut-Poitou on several occasions on both Jim's Loire and Les 5 du Vin, so time for an update as the story has now moved on. Sadly it now includes Les 5 du Vin's midwife – Pierre-Jacques Druet.

My initial post was during the harvest of 2013 and focused on the decidedly fraught negociations with the rapidly sinking Cave de Haut-Poitou. At the end of March 2014 Ampelidae took over the bankrupt co-operative. Ampelidae has taken over one of the co-op's old premises in Neuville-de-Poitou (see below) and some equipment from the other facility in Neuville has been moved to Ampelidae's winery facility at Château des Roches.

Late September 2013: The shop + one of the winery facilities for the co-op
in Neuville-de-Poitou

6th October 2016: same premises under the Ampelidae colours 

 
Late September 2013 the closed main winery of the Cave du Haut Poitou
(above and below)

6th October 2016: demolition of winery to make way 
for new Lidl supermarket and other shops

Existing Lidl shop opposite new site 

In addition to absorbing the bankrupt Cave de Haut-Poitou and many of its members, this year Ampelidae has moved into Touraine taking over Pierre-Jacques Druet's bankrupt domaine in Benais (Appellation Bourgueil) as well as also taking over from bankruptcy the Touraine and Montlouis holdings of the Clos du Porteau based in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher (Aynard de Clermont-Tonnerre family). The Ampelidae will be making the 2016s at both of these properties. Ampelidae also makes the wine for Levin, which is owned by UK hotelier and restaurateur David Levin, close to Montrichard (Touraine).

The disappearance of the highly reputed Pierre-Jacques Druet as a vigneron is particularly poignant as it was his singular Bourgueil Rosé that gave the impetus to the creation of Les 5 du Vin in 2010 during a lunch in the press office at the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers – a sad end for a very talented producer but poor businessman.

Some of the stock of Druet's Bourgueil

S

When Ampelidae took over Druet they inherited 80,000 bottles of Bourgueil of various vintages. Last Thursday I tasted several of Pierre-Jacques' Bourgueil and overall I was disappointed as they were not at the level that I have always associated with Pierre-Jacques' wines.

I was not really impressed by the entry level 2007 Cents Boisselées from a difficult vintage and also the 2000 Grand Mont – again not the easiest vintage – unlike Bordeaux – due to rain during the vintage. But most disappointing was the 2010 Vaumoreau, whose initial attractive fruit soon disappeared into a dry finish. The Vaumoreau has only just been bottled, so perhaps it has lost some of its fruit during the long delay before bottling – nearly six years after the vintage. Perhaps Druet just couldn't afford to bottle this wine. I can hope that the 2010 Vaumoreau is suffering from bottle shock following its recent bottling. Here's hoping!

It is Brochet's ambition to at least restore Druet's Bourgueils to their past glories and aim to go beyond this. This is perhaps Frédéric's most high profile challenge to date!

As well as tasting some of the Druet Bourgueils I also tasted a range of other wines in the Brochet stable. There are three main ranges – Marigny-Neuf, Brochet and Ampelidae. Marigny-Neuf is the entry level from 7€ retail from the domaine with the emphasis of varietal fruit. With Brochet the emphasis is on terroir, with prices ranging from 11€ for the Sauvignon Fie Gris to 29€ for the Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru made from fruit bought from Château de Suronde, which has recently changed hands. Ampelidae takes the top rank as 'Grands Vins' with prices ranging from 18€ for Le S (Sauvignon) and Le K (Cabernet up to 75€ for the the 2009 PN 1328 (Pinot Noir from a single plot) and 2005 Le K. 

The following wines stood out: the 2015 Marigny-Neuf made from a blend of Gamay, Cabernet and Pinot Noir – 50% direct press and 50% Saignée, 2014 Ampelidae Le S, 2014 Pinot Noir Marigny-Neuf, 2014 Ampelidae PN 1328 – although it needs more time in bottle. Over lunch we drank the 2012 Ampelidae PN 1328, which was impressive, as well as the aromatic and precise 2015 Lavauguyot, one of the 11 Crus of the Vienne – all Sauvignon. These are sold at auction – the 2016 version was held on 30th April. 

 Part of the winery at Château des Roches 

 Frédéric is keen to keep his finger on 

how the vintage is progressing.....

 Frédéric with three fermentation options: oak, 

a cement egg, small stainless steel vat 

– he prefers the stainless steel

Château des Roches, Marigny-Brizay

home of Kate and Benjamin Meuli

partners in and backers of Ampelidae 

Frédéric Brochet and Ampelidae expands into Touraine

Already easily the largest player in Haut-Poitou, the dynamic Frédéric Brochet and Ampelidae have now expanded into Touraine taking over the management of the Bourgueil and Chinon vineyards that belonged to Pierre-Jacques Druet. Ampelidae have also taken over the running of the Touraine AC and Montlouis vines of Clos du Porteau based in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher. All the wines will be organic.

Aynard de Clermont Tonnerre from the Clos du Porteau has now been appointed to look after the commercial side of Ampelidae. Clermont Tonnerre used to be a banker with Commerzbank.

With 230 hectares now under their control Ampelidae are becoming an increasingly important player in the Loire. 

    

Loire – more bad financial news: Pierre-Jacques Druet (Bourgueil) in liquidation

 Pierre-Jacques Druet and Marc Vanhellemont 

@Salon des Vins de Loire 2011

with a bottle of his Bourgueil Rosé that launched Les 5 du Vin 

 

No recent accounts filed

 Dates of administration and liquidation

Sadly Pierre-Jacques Druet, one of the finest winemakers in Bourgueil, has gone into liquidation. Initially the domaine went into administration (redressement judiciaire) on 11th January 2009. Then on 17th March 2016 the business unfortunately went into liquidation. Sadly I suspect that Pierre-Jacques was a way better wine producer than businessman. I know that Majestic, who sold his wine in the UK, found him increasingly unreliable with regard to fulfilling their orders. 

I understand that Druet's vineyards remain unpruned this year. A worldwide check using wine-searcher shows very few retailers carrying his wines with 2011 the most recent vintage available and most listings for vintages in the first decade of the 21st century. 

All in all this is a great shame as Pierre-Jacques made some lovely wines.   

 Druet was not easy to find!

Pierre-Jacques Druet: Majestic 2003 Cents Boisselles, Bourgueil

2003 Les Cents Boisselles, Bourgueil, Pierre-Jacques Druet

Scottish branches of Majestic Wine have Pierre-Jacques Druet's nicely maturing 2003 Cents Boisselles, Bourgueil for £9.99 a bottle or £10.99 a bottle (£9.99 for two bottles) south of the Border. The 2003 has all the ripe fruit you would expect from this very hot vintage but no sign of excessive alcohol just a very enjoyable and well balanced wine. Although the 2003 is drinking well now, this will certainly last a good number of years yet. So much for those who thought the 2003s would not last!

Pierre-Jacques Druet

 

Les 5 du Vin celebrate their 2nd anniversary

Les 5 du Vin marked their 2nd anniversary today@the Salon des Vin de Loire at a birthday celebration kindly organised by Claire de Lune.

 

  

80% of Les 5 – Michel Smith was sadly unable to be with us:

Marc Vanhellemont, Hervé Lalau, David Cobbold and Jim Budd 

 

Pierre-Jacques Druet whose Bourgueil Rosé acted as midwife at the creation of Les 5 du Vin

Les 5 du Vin: a year on from its conception

 

Pierre-Jacques Druet and Marc Vanhellemont celebrate the first anniversary of the conception

Our cooperative blog Les 5 du Vin was conceived during lunch in the press room over a bottle of Pierre-Jacques Druet's rosé (2008 vintage) at last year's Salon on Tuesday 2nd February 2010. Les 5 du Vin's gestation was short with the first post on the 6th. For comments on the 2009 rosé see here.

Restaurant Agnès Sorel@Genillé

2005 Les Cent Boisselées, Pierre-Jacques Druet

It is probably a good five or six years since I have eaten at the Agnès Sorel in Genillé. Long established it has changed hands a number of times. The most recent change was about a year ago when Nicolas and Estelle Petit, who had worked for the Hotel du Vin chain in the UK, took over. Having heard good reports CRM and I decided that we should go and try it last night and were very favourably impressed.

We started with a refreshing glass of delicately red fruited Pétillant Rosé from Rémi Cosson (4.50€ a glass), while considering the menu. CRM went for the 36€ menu with a choice from the carte of entrée, fish or meat and dessert. I chose the 22€ menu attracted by the oeufs pochés sauce vin rouge. 

Our mise en bouche was a delicious crème de celeri with a smoked scallop and a crispy stick of bacon. Then, while I enjoyed my oeufs pochés, CRM had the duo of home cured smoked salmon and smoked eel with the salmon being particularly flavoursome.

 2005 Les Cent Boisselées from Pierre Jacques Druet

The wine list has a good selection of Loire featuring producers like François Chidaine, Château de Coulaine, Frédéric Mabileau, Yannick Amirault and Olga Raffault. We chose the 2005 Les Cent Boisseles (28€) from Pierre Jacques Druet, which is drinking well now with its soft black fruits with hints of smokiness with good freshness in the finish. This 2005 is not at all cloying a few rather overblown 2005s can be. The label is memorable as the vintage has just been roughly stamped onto it as though Pierre Jacques had bought a large batch of labels and date stamps them as required!

Main course for CRM was a generous portion of very good guinea fowl, while I had parmentier de canard (shepherds pie of duck). Again a generous portion with plenty of soft, rich duck meat.

For dessert CRM chose the clementine soufflé, which looked spectacular and all puffed up when it arrived. It tasted as good as it looked, while my tarte tatin was OK but was the least impressive of my three dishes.

   
Some very good coffee and it was time for the bill – almost exactly 100€.   

This was easily the best and most enjoyable meal we have had at the Agnès Sorel, which also has three rooms at 50€, 59€ and 62€ a night. I'm sure we will go back fairly soon.

Agnès Sorel
6 Place Agnès Sorel
37460 Genillé
Tel: 02.47.59.17
Email: agnessorel@wanadoo.fr
Site: www.agnessorel.com  

Looking for Pierre-Jacques Druet

PJ's discreet sign

(14 August 2008)
Although I have visited Pierre-Jacques on several occasions over the past 20 years or so, I have never had to find my own way there. Finding the street (Rue de la Croix Rouge) in Benais is not difficult but finding No 7 is quite another matter. Initially we were encouraged by the official sign at the beginning of the road indicating that P J Druet was ahead of us. Despite driving slowly down the road there appeared to be no sign either for PJ or No 7. Furthermore the street numbers appeared to be haphazardly scattered – certainly not in numerical order. Some two kilometres down the road we turned round and asked directions. Driving slowly back we still missed PJs chai and it wasn’t until our second slow sweep along la Croix Rouge that Sarah (not called The Wine Detective for nothing) spotted PJ’s tatty, modest and discreet sign (see above) wired to a railing.

By the time Sarah and I found the Druet chai and located PJ it was 10am. We had hoped to start the visit at 9.30. Thanks to the now completed A85 motorway it had taken us just under an hour to get across from Epeigné-les-Bois in the Cher Valley. The final stretch of the A85, from near Tours to Saint-Aignan, opened in December 2007. With the opening of the A11 by-pass of Angers in the summer of 2008, the Loire’s motorway system is now complete, at least until a second autoroute is built round Tours. The A85 has made a huge difference to travelling up and down the Loire and the Cher Valleys. Previously the journey was very slow and on a very dangerous road – the N76.

Unlike many Loire producers PJ had no family vineyards to inherit and provide a launching pad. Pierre-Jacques comes from Chissay in the Cher Valley, four kilometres east of Montrichard. He started his wine career as an oenologist before deciding to establish his own domaine in Bourgueil in 1980. Although curiously François Chidaine, a leading producer in Montlouis, believes that there is a big untapped potential in that part of the Cher – Chissay, Montrichard and Bourrée, trying to establish a serious estate in Chissay then would not have been an option – it is still not easy.

PJ makes his Bourgueil rosé using a method called guillage that dates from the middle ages. He learned this technique many years ago from an old vigneron called Jean Bertrand in Rochecorbon, who used the system for making his Vouvray. With guillage the must goes directly into a barrel without settling (débourbage). The barrel is filled to the brim, so that once fermentation begins it overflows and with it the solids that would normally be settled out. “It’s like skimming a sauce or a boiling liquid when cooking,” explains PJ. “You lose about 10% of the juice,” he adds. The advantage is the gain of additional flavours from the solids. PJ’s rosé is made from vines between 45-50 years old using the saignée method. The juice ferments very slowly taking some four to five months. The 2007 rosé was soft with delicate red fruits, a touch of residual sugar and freshness in the finish. PJ uses 25 mm corks against the more standard 24 mm as the tighter seal helps to maintain a higher level of carbon dioxide in the wine.

“2008 has been a difficult year so far,” said PJ. “Some frost damage in early April, attacks of mildew and oidium and a difficult flowering in June. But September makes the wine here.” PJ pointed out his special conical vats, which he designed many years ago. “They are the same shape and size as the best oak fermenting vats,” he explained. There is a pigeage system on the top of the vat – pigeage replicates pushing down the cap of skins and pips into the wine – something traditionally done by human feet.

Conical vats with pigeage system


PJ outside his cellar in the hillside at the top of the Coteaux

To be continued....