One of several completely empty stands well after the Salon opened at 9am – seems bizarre to pay the fees, which I gather are not cheap, to exhibit at the Salon and not to be ready when the fair opens at 9am

Screwcaps are still quite rare@the Salon

Although many Loire whites are delicate and susceptible to cork taint, It is still fairly rare, particularly away from the large négociant companies, to find producers using screwcaps. If the Loire was in New Zealand, all or virtually all Muscadet, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé would be closed with a screwcap. The above picture shows the display in front of stand of the Domaine des Herbauges in Bouaye (Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu). The dynamic and forward thinking Jérome Choblet now puts his entire production in screwcaps.

Elsewhere Jean-Marie Bourgeois (Henri Bourgeois) told me that he had been surprised by how much resistance there still is in France to screwcaps. Not helped by sommeliers who harp on about the magic of drawing a cork from a bottle despite agreeing that the percentage of corked bottles is around 3%. Clearly they are concerned to guard the 'mystique' involved in drawing a cork.

A studious Joël Deniau on the Syndicat de Crémant de Loire stand

Arnaud Bourgeois (above) on the very busy Henri Bourgeois stand. Parts of the fair today were very busy, while others like the Saumur-Champigny section was much quieter. I saw fewer UK buyers than usual and as usual no UK wine writers apart from Loire obsessives like myself and semi-obsessives like Sarah Ahmed (the wine detective), Chris Kissack (the wine doctor,) Neil Fairlamb (Church Times) and teams from Decanter for the Decanter World Wine Awards and William Reed for the International Wine Challenge, there are no other UK-based journalists here.

Over lunch it was good to catach up with John MW and Nelly Salvi, who are based in Bordeaux. "Can you give me a shortish summary of 2008 in the Loire," asked John. "Easy," I replied "better than Bordeaux!" "That wouldn't be difficult," said John. It was also a pleasure to meet Alice Feiring before rushing off back into the fair to try and taste as much as possible and see as many producers as possible. Unfortunately 500/600 exhibitors in two days is not really possible.

Jean-Marie Bourgeois

The retiring chairman!
(11 August 2008: Sancerre trip)

From a rising star to a meeting with one of Sancerre’s and the Loire’s most influential personalities – Jean-Marie Bourgeois. Doubtless Sancerre’s current fame owes something to it being easy to pronounce in English. But it was people like Jean-Marie, Alphonse Mellot and the Vacherons that continued the pioneering work of their parents – Henri Bourgeois, Alphonse Mellot and Jean Vacheron – who established the fame of Sancerre and brought it to the attention of English speakers. Their parents established the name in Paris, while it was Jean-Marie and his generation who took Sancerre around the world. In 50 years the life of this small corner of the Berry in central France – with Bourges 45 kilometres south-west of Sancerre claiming to be the centre of France – has been transformed completely. At the excellent Maisons des Sancerre (www.maison-des-sancerre.com) a number of vignerons reminisce about these early expeditions to sell Sancerre in Paris.

I well remember the time I first met Jean-Marie. It was towards the end of October 1989, that famously wonderful vintage – both summer and autumn. On my way to Chavignol with friends we drove up through Bué – the autumn colours on the steep hillsides were breathtakingly beautiful. The Bourgeois were in the middle of their vendange tardive. Despite this not being the ideal time to receive a newly hatched journalist, we spent a memorable two hours or more with him.

Jean-Marie says he is now in semi-retirement but he is still traveling the world, including New Zealand to check up on Clos Henri, the Bourgeois outpost in Marlborough.

We started with a quick visit to the Bourgeois winery that is steadily making its way up the steep road out of Chavignol. Back in 1989 most of the Bourgeois operation – winery and offices – was crammed into one building. In 2000 work started on the new gravity winery, just above the old one. It is impressively hi-tech and functional – more functional than trying to buy wine bottles these days. "At the moment we have to order 6 to 8 months in advance,” Jean-Marie explained. 40% of the harvest is by hand, 60% by machine with all of the Pinot Noir picked by hand. They are now equipped for screwcap bottles.

For a company that now has 70 ha of vines plus contracts with other growers in various appellations such as Pouilly-Fumé and Quincy covering another 70 ha and a total annual production of around two million bottles I’m always impressed by the consistent quality of the Bourgeois wines throughout the whole range, from Le Petit Bourgeois Sauvignon vin de pays upwards.

Back in 1950 the family had 2.5 ha of vines along with goats, rabbits and vegetables. The area of vines had grown to 3.5-4 ha in 1956 when Jean-Marie (J-M) started working full-time. The previous year (1955) they filled 15,000 bottles. “An enormous quantity for those days,” J-M explained. “In 1957/58 we started making deliveries en vrac (in bulk) in a Peugeot van to Paris. In 1965 my brother built the first cuve (vat).

We asked J-M about the change from Pinot Noir to Sauvignon Blanc at the beginning of the 20th century. “Chavignol always had more white than red. Les Mont Damnés was white. Sauvignon Blanc was planted so that growers had two wines to offer – a red and white.”

Plaque outside the tasting room in Chavignol

We tasted various wines including their Clos Henri from Marlborough, New Zealand, starting with Le Petit Bourgeois – the first of their French wines to go into screwcaps. I picked out the racy, minerally 2007 MD, the rich and weighty Jadis 2006 from a parcel of old Sauvignon Gris vines on the Mont Damnés, which is vinified in barriques of 3 to 5 wines and bottled unfiltered. We also tasted the 2000 MD again – this time a little fatter than the one we had drunk the previous evening in Touraine. However, the powerful and concentrated Sancerre d’Antan 2006 from silex vineyards in Fontenay (just to the west of Saint-Satur) and in Saint-Satur itself from vines planted between 1935 and 1939 was my stand-out white. "The silex of Fontenay is purer and harder than that in Saint-Satur, which has more clay," explained J-M. "My father was born in Fontenay and also had vines in Saint-Satur."

I have never felt that the reds from Bourgeois are at the same level as the whites but I think that recent vintages are showing increasing promise. The rich and spicy 2005 La Bourgeoise (old vines on silex) needs more time but shows considerable potential. I also liked the soft and supple Clos Henri 2006 with attractive black cherry fruit. I wonder if making two vintages of Pinot Noir a year is paying off. It will also be interesting to see what comes from their recent Pinot Noir plantings on the Monts Damnés once they are established.

We finished with the late harvest 1997 Vendange Saint-Charles, which has to be labelled vin de table. Picked on 4 November it has rich, honey and apricot flavours. Saint-Charles has been made in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997 and 2005. Despite the frequent mists around Chavignol these late-harvest wines are from grapes dried by the sun on the vine (passerillage) rather than botrytis. Depending on the vineyard site there are a few botyrtis late-harvest wines made in Sancerre by other producers.

Tasting over, Jean-Marie joined Sarah and I for a glass of Champagne in his son’s new hotel in Chavignol – the subject of the next post.

Domaine Henri Bourgeois, Chavignol, 18300 Sancerre. Tel: 02.48.78.53.20
www.bourgeois-sancerre.com