I dropped in yesterday to Vinopolis for this annual event featuring some 75 independent wine producers from around France. Although the event was advertised to finish at 5.30 even at 4.30 when I arrived a number of the producers had already left. I was later arriving than I had intended, so it was a bit of a rush and naturally concentrated on Loire producers. Although I did manage to taste wines from a good number of them I didn’t manage to get to all of them.

Sadly there was little here to get excited about – certainly nothing sensational.

Probably the best wine was a 2007 Coteaux du Giennois (Sauvignon Blanc) from Domaine Langlois Père et Fils, run since 1996 by Catherine and Michel Langlois, which had attractive grapefruit character, some weight and good length. Their 2008 version – gooseberry and grapefruit – looks promising and will be bottled in February. The Langlois white’s showed better than their reds, which helps to confirm the disappointment I felt at the poor showing of Coteaux du Giennois reds at the tasting of Central Vineyard reds I did in Sancerre on 19th December 2008. Putting the light bodied 2007 Le Champ Galant (90% PN, 10% Gamay) in barrique for a year doesn’t strike me as a good idea and has imparted some harsh wood flavours to the finish. However, their 2005 was certainly the best of the Giennois I tasted in Sancerre.

A couple of other wines to mention – a 2008 Touraine Sauvignon and a 2007 Pinot Gris from Reuilly.

The 2008 Touraine Sauvignon from Domaine Le Haut Chesneau of Thesée in the Cher Valley is from old vines and a yield of 45 hl/ha per hectare looks promising with good concentration. Currently on its lees it will be bottled in May. Owners Jean-Marc and Béatrice Villemaine have 23 ha of vines with 10 planted with Sauvignon Blanc. Jean-Marc told me that they had been lucky in 2008 harvesting with their normal yields of around 60 hl/ha. Apparently the frost that hit Muscadet on 7th April also affected parts of the Cher Valley even though the young buds were still in their cotton bud stage then. Initially it had been assumed that they had escaped with damage only becoming apparent later.

Unfortunately the Villemaines’ other wines are less impressive, especially the reds. The difference being, I suspect a question of higher yields. Take the 2007 Gamay, which is dilute. This is hardly surprising given yields of 60-62 hl/ha. This Gamay’s limitations were all too clearly revealed by the 2006 Gamay from the Clos Roche Blanche, just across the Cher Valley from Thesée, that we drank over dinner last night. Admittedly 2006 is a different vintage but this has fruit, texture and concentration. Why? Because of significantly lower yields.

2006 Gamay Clos Roche Blanche: Touraine Gamay
doesn't have to be dilute

This is a pity as these wines are well made and a reduction in yields, would soon reap rewards qualitatively. I suspect that bringing the Gamay down to around 50 hl/ha would make a significant difference. However unfortunately the increase in quality might well not allow the Villemaine’s to charge a little more for their wines. This is one of the problems of the Cher Valley and, indeed, many other parts of the Loire – it is often possible to make a better living from making dilute wines from high yields than making high quality wines from low yields. Although in Sancerre and Pouilly people are prepared to pay a decent premium for high quality, the same is not true in a number of other Loire appellations, so quality is not rewarded and the quest for quality brings the penalty of a lower income. Of course, there may come a time when the market no longer wants dilute wines. Indeed it is difficult to see that dilute Touraine Gamays can have much appeal in the UK

The 2007 Reuilly Rosé, made from Pinot Gris, came from Domaine Jacques Vincent. Of their nine hectares, 4.5 are planted with Reuilly’s traditional variety – Pinot Gris. The naturally pale coloured 2007 is lightly spicy with good mouth filling ripe fruit and good length – a delicious and charming rosé. Unfortunately Pinot Gris here is in decline in favour of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir – just 34 hectares now in Reuilly out of a total of 192 ha in production. The Pinot Gris rosé is Reully’s most individual wine – I hope it continues to be made.

There were a few 2008s on show and these confirmed that high levels of acidity could well be a problem for those who picked too early. A few shares in Rennies might be a wise investment.

Pinot Noir@Verdigny, Sancerre 2008

Yields should not exceed 45 hl/ha and you need to pick by hand if you want to make good Pinot Noir in the Central Vineyards.

Looking at the results of the big tasting I did of Central Vineyard reds on 19th December with the details supplied by the producers, there is a marked correlation between the wines I picked out and the level of yield and hand-picking. Although there are one or two exceptions, this tasting shows that it is very difficult to make anything other than dilute, uninteresting wines from Pinot Noir once you go above 50 hl/ha.

I was certainly encouraged to see how many wines I picked out and that the overall standard of the reds has clearly much improved over the past five or six years. However there are still too many poor wines being made; it was also clear that in some instances good fruit was 'stuffed up' in the winery.

The one really disappointing appellation was the Coteaux du Giennois where only one wine out of the twelve excited me: the 2005 Michel Langlois. I’m sure it doesn’t help that the appellation rules for the Coteaux du Giennois insist on a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, even though when this was a VDQS producers could make reds from 100% Pinot Noir. Quite why it was felt necessary to tie one hand of the Giennois producers behind their back is certainly beyond my understanding.

(19th December 2008)

Just a few of the samples

Friday morning was taken up with an extensive tasting of reds from the Central Vineyards with wines from Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, the Coteaux de Giennois, Reuilly and Châteaumeillant. All were pure Pinot Noir, except for those from the Coteaux de Giennois and Châteaumeillant, which were either pure Gamay or with a varying proportion of Pinot Noir. Under the bizarre appellation rules the producers of the Coteaux du Giennois are not allowed to make 100% Pinot Noir. Instead it has to be a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir. Prior to becoming an AC in 1998 100% Pinot Noir was allowed and these were among the most interesting reds from the Giennois vineyards. The ways of the INAO remain shrouded in mystery!

Benoît Roumet and his team at the Bureau du Centre had assembled a record-breaking number of reds and the tasting was brilliantly organised with a full file of all the wines tasted to take away with me. My grateful thanks to Benoît and his equipe and also, of course, to all the producers who kindly submitted samples.

I tasted the wines blind, although I knew the appellation and the vintage. The overall impression is of encouraging progress being made, although there are big differences in both style and quality both within the five appellations and between them. I wasn’t surprised to find that most of the top wines came from Sancerre and I’m encouraged that many of my top picks came from well producers like Lucien Crochet, Alphonse Mellot, the Vacherons, Vincent Pinard, Dominique Roger and Jean-Max Roger. I was also pleased that my top picks were not confined to the ‘usual suspects’ but included Serge Laloue, Domaine de la Rossignole and Domaine Claude Riffault – their 2006 Antique was perhaps my top wine of the tasting.

(more to follow)