Off on an adventure – Day 1. Bertrand Minchin

Bertrand Minchin: Menetou-Salon and Valençay

By the time you read this CRM and I will be on our way to Hong Kong. The first stage of a trip that will take us into mainland China after a few days in Hong Kong. After time in China we will catch the train from Beijing to Forest Hill, London SE23 – Trans-Manchurian, Trans-Siberian, Moscow-Paris, Eurostar to Saint Pancras, Metropolitan Line to Whitechapel and Overground to Forest Hill. 

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

Loire frost 17th April: more bad news

AC Chinon: vines in Panzoult and Cravant-les-Coteaux hit hardest

Chinon plus east of Tours

As I feared there is more bad news about the frost of Monday night / Tuesday morning (16th-17th April). In places the temperature in the early morning of Tuesday the temperature dropped to minus 5. Young buds can normally resist if the temperature drops only to minus one but minus 5 is very serious.

Fortunately this frost is nothing like as widespread as that of 1991 but there are sectors that have been seriously hit, although it will take a few days for the extent of the damage to be clear. 

The largest area hit is to the east of Tours. The communes on the north side of the Cher – Chatillon, Noyers, St Romain, Couddes, Oisly, Thésée, Monthou and into the Sologne. There is frost damage throughout Cheverny and also damage in the Vendômois. In AC Valençay frost-prone sectors have also been hit.

There is more limited damage in some of the communes along the south of the Cher – like Mareuil, Pouillé and extending as far west as Saint-Georges-sur-Cher. 

Noble Joué is also reported to have been hit. However, apparently little damage, if any, in Montlouis and Vouvray.

Sancerre, Pouilly-sur-Loire and Menetou-Salon appear to have escaped.    

Chinon

Early estimates are that parts of AC Chinon have lost around 30% of the crop. Christophe Baudry (Baudry-Dutour) told me that the eastern part of AC is most hit – Cravant les Coteaux and Panzoult. Damage is much less in areas to the west of Chinon town like Savigny-en-Véron and Beaumont. However, Cravant-les-Coteaux represents some 40% of the appellation. 

Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil

Little news for the moment although Joël Taluau reports that some vines in the low lying commune of La Taille have been hit. These vines on flat sand and gravel soils close to the Loire are quite frequently hit by frost.

No news further west for the moment but don't think Anjou was hit.    

Grape varieties hit  

Naturally it is the early varieties like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Orbois and Cabernet Franc which have been hardest hit, whereas later-budding Sauvignon Blanc has been less touched. 

Further updates when I have them. Equally please send any news to me at budmac@btinternet.com      

Three more from a Majestic weekend

2004 Les Varennes du Grand Cru, Chinon, Charles Joguet

Three more from the Loire selection from Majestic Wine that we enjoyed over the first weekend of December.. See first post here.   

It is relatively easy to make good wine in favourable vintages much more tricky to make good wine in difficult vintages. For many producers 2004 in the Loire was a vintage of quantity rather than quality, especially in reds, so a success in 2004 is a mark of a good producer. Certainly this 2004 Les Varennes du Grand Clos, Chinon, Charles Joguet (£14.99 but currently unavailable), which comes from a vineyard on the southern side of the Vienne to the east of the Joguet headquarters and winery in Sazilly and just to the east of the better known Clos de la Dioterie, showed impressively well. Still youthful with considerable concentration of red and black fruits, it doesn't have the opulence of 2005 or 2009 but it does have a slightly austere structure and acidity that makes it a good food wine. This bottle is an example of the improvement shown in the Joguet wines following the return of François-Xavier Barc to the domaine in 2003.

   

2010 Coteaux du Giennois, Domaine de Villargeau

This crisp and citric white – 2010 Coteau du Giennois, Domaine de Villargeau (£9.99 or £8.99 per bottle when you buy two)– made an excellent aperitif. White Giennois is always made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc and has the typical freshness of the 2010 vintage. This comes from a family domaine in the commune of Pougny, just over 10 km to the east of Cosne-sur-Loire.  

2009 Clos du Château, Valençay, Claude Lafond 

Claude Lafond is a leading grower in Reuilly but he also looks after vines in Valençay with a three hectare parcel facing the château of Talleyrand. Sauvignon Blanc makes up the majority of the blend of the 2009 Clos du Château (£8.99 or £7.99 when buying two bottles but currently out of stock) with some Chardonnay to round it out. This is quite a bit softer than the Villargeau – partly due to the presence of the Chardonnay but also because the 2009 is a riper more opulent vintage.

Claude Lafond checking fruit in Reuilly during the 2009 vintage 

Claude Lafond's new winery@Reuilly built for the 2011 vintage

    

Mid June 2009: some archive photos from a trip to Bué, Chavignol etc.

A palette of wine from Lucien Crochet being loaded in the centre of Bué

Some empties: Sancerre and a Champagne bottle

Part of the centre of Bué


Eau non potable (not drinking water)

Statue

Jean-Christophe Bourgeois (Henri Bourgeois, Chavignol)

Bertrand Minchin, La Tour Saint Martin – Menetou-Salon and Valençay

Sébastien Vaillant: Valençay 2008

2008 Valençay Sébastien Vaillant (Colchester Wine Company £9.50 mixed case or £10.55 a bottle)

I can find little information about Sébastien Vaillant*. A Google search suggests that he may be Claude Lafond's (Reuilly and Valençay) oenologue but the specified site no longer exists and a new version of Claude's site is now under construction. Any further information about M.Vaillant would be gratefully received.

Sébastien Vaillant (tasting Liberty Wines, London 19.1.2010)

Anyway this 2008 is bottled at Le Cave de Valençay at Fontguenand (http://www.cave-valencay.com/) a few miles north of Valençay. It is a blend of 80% Sauvignon and 20% Chardonnay – the legislation for the Valençay appellation obliges producers to add a percentage of Chardonnay to their Sauvignon as pure Sauvignon is not allowed. Why? you might well ask. I suspect that this has more to do with wine politics than famously hallowed typicité. As you can see the label is modern – also the bottle is closed with a screwcap. The wine is clean and well-made with refreshing lemon and grapefruit characters and the addition of the Chardonnay rounds and fills out the palate. It has a citric and mineral finish. Good as an aperitif with fish, especially shellfish, and probably with a goats' cheese from Valençay, which comes in the form of a truncated pyramid.

* 24th January 2010: I'm told that it is Sébastien's brother who works for Claude Lafond in Reuilly. Sébastien trained with Jean Tatin (Domaine des Ballandors/Domaine de Tremblay) in Quincy before returning to Valançay. I gather that Sébastien, along with a friend called Damien, have resurrected the Valançay cooperative, which used to be a fairly large coop until it fell into disrepair. The coop now has just two members making it a serious candidate to be the smallest coop in France.   

More Loire producers@LIWTF: 12th May 2009

Francis Jourdain – Touraine and Valençay
This is a 20 hectare estate based in Lye, which is a few kilometres east of Saint-Aignan and right at the eastern end of the Touraine appellation. There are eight hectares in AC Touraine and 12 in Valençay. The vineyards are grassed over except for some 15-30cms under the vines. They use native yeasts.

Of the three whites I tried I preferred the 2007 Les Terrajots Valençay – 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Chardonnay and 5% Sauvignon Rose. The vines are planted on soil called cherts, which is limestone and flint. The wine spends 6-8 months on its lees and has some attractive grapefruit weight and length with the Chardonnay giving some additional roundness. Their 2008 Touraine Sauvignon lacked a bit of zip and punch in the finish.

I liked the spicy and peppery 2008 Valençay Rosé with its crisp finish. It’s a blend of Cabernet Franc, Côt Gamay, Pinot Noir and Pineau d’Aunis. 50% is from pressurage direct (immediately pressed) and 50% saignée (juice run off from red wine vats).

The Jourdain reds tend to be rather rustic. I suspect that the fruit is good and that a little fine-tuning in the winery would make of them better. For me the spicy and weighty 2006 Touraine Côt was the best.

Domaine Jacky Preys, Touraine and Valençay

1 March 2009

This evening I opened a bottle of Jacky Preys et Fils Touraine Côt 2005 Cuvée Princière. Quite rustic and dusty but does have some Loire Côt (Malbec) character, a thread of acidity running through it and is quite attractive. However, it does not have the same concentration as the Côts from, for example, the Clos Roche Blanche, Domaine Sauvete or Jean-François Merieau (Bois Vaudons). I suspect that the yields are higher. The rather old fashioned label tells its own story.

Jacky Preys and his son Pascal are based in Meusnes to the east of Saint-Aignan at the eastern limit of the Touraine appellation. Over the past 40 years, Jacky Preys has built up the domaine, which now has 75 hectares – mostly in Touraine but some in AC Valençay. Over the years I have tasted Jacky’s wines and found them well made with his Sauvignon Gris (Cuvée de Fie Gris) often being the most interesting. Sauvignon Gris or Sauvignon Rosé is now a rare variety of Sauvignon. There are a few parcels of it in Sancerre, although it is not officially entitled to the appellation.

Right at the end on the Tuesday of the Salon des Vins de Loire I quickly tasted some of the domaine’s wines. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Les Pillotières (not bottled) was aromatic, quite rich with a hint of residual sugar remaining. The 2008 Cuvée de Fié Gris (not in bottle) had attractive gooseberry and grassy notes. Then I tried two reds: the easy drinking, juicy 2006 Pinot Noir Cuvée Royale AC and the spicy Valençay 2007, which is a blend of 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Gamay and 20% Côt.

I need to find time this year to go and visit the domaine.

Domaine Jacky Preys, 536 Rue Debussy, 41130 Meusnes
Tel: 02.54.71.00.34
Email: domainepreys@wanadoo,fr
Site: www.domainepreys.com