Frost on the window at sunrise. Outside temperature –3.5 C at 8am, so presumably colder during the night. Fortunately dry, so the roads are not icy.

Typical big skies and wide open spaces on the road across to Manthelan

Contrary to the rather grey weather forecast, today was one of those brilliantly clear, sunny winter days. We headed off to Saumur via Mantelan, Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine and to Nohant-en-Touraine, where we turned off the direct route via Ile Bouchard to Saumur and made our way through Saint-Epain and down the very pretty manse Valley to Crissay-sur-Manse. – one of the 'Plus Beaux Villages de France'. France has 151 villages in this category.

Church@Crissay-sur-Manse. Described as one of the 'Plus Beaux Villages de France'


The château@Crissay-sur-Manse

Then on through Panzoult, Cravant-les-Coteaux to Chinon, where I took some pictures of the old town and the château above along with the reflections in the Vienne. All the photos have almost improbably deep blue sky.

Chinon's old town and château mirrored in the Vienne

The Vienne and the gatehouse entrance to the château

Work continues on restoring the château – the scaffolding has
now been removed from the central part of the château

Chinon to the west of the château

Then onto Saumur where we arrived at Le Pot de Lapin around 1pm just perfect timing for lunch. (See tomorrow’s posting)

Time for lunch

Vincent Roussely and the 2006 Anthologie du Clos

Although I have drunk some of the wines before, today was the first time I have visited Clos Roussely. There I met Vincent Roussely, who took over the domaine in 2000. Vincent has 22ha of vines. 14 here in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher, which he bought from a couple from Champagne when he set up in 2000. The property was previously called Domaine de la Chauverie. Vincent has another 8ha at the small village of Angé just a few kilometres further east down the Cher Valley. Angé is where the Roussely's have their roots. Mention of the family in the local archives goes back to 1650 and Vincent's grandfather and great-grandfather looked after the family vines here. His great grandfather was the first to train his vines rather than letting them grow as bush vines.

Vincent did his training at Bordeaux and Reims and then spent time working at L’Avenir in South Africa, BRL Hardy in Australia and Moët & Chandon in California. Vincent’s father was a négociant in Angé but he sold his business in 1996. The deal included renting the cellars to the purchaser. This is why Vincent had to find new premises in which to vinify when he returned in 2000. The cellars in Angé has just become free again, so the buildings of the Clos Roussely are now up for sale as Vincent intends in future to vinify at Angé in future. Starting in 2009 if he is able to sell building at Saint-Georges.

Cement vats dating from 1905

The eight hectares at Angé are on the premier côte, which is principally limestone, and are planted with Sauvignon Blanc. The vineyards are in their second year of conversion to organic status and will be receive their certification next year. Vincent’s aim is for the vines at Saint-Georges-sur-Cher to be organic but he explains that this will be more difficult than at Angé because the soils here – argile-silex – are heavier with a higher proportion of clay. However, the vineyard is here is grassed over and weeds under the vines are kept under control by cultivation.

Vincent: “The soils here are well suited to red varieties. We have Côt, Cabernet, Gamay and Pineau d’Aunis. Some of the Pineau d’Aunis is over 100 years old – planted in 1905 the same year as the first concrete vats in the chai were built. The yields from the old Pineau vines are low – between 12/20hl per ha. However, 90% of the original vines still survive.”

We tasted his current range of wines and I was impressed with the attractively citric and gooseberry Le Clos Touraine Sauvignon 2007 (5.20€ retail from the domaine), the delicately floral and peppery 2007 Temps Danse – the rosé made from the old Pineau d’Aunis vines, and the delicate and fine Crémant de Loire – a blend of 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Chardonnay. The base wine is from 2004 and spent nearly four years sur latte, which explains its finesse. Once again I was impressed by the Anthologie du Clos 2006, which I have already drunk on a couple of occasions. A blend of 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Côt, this rich and attractively texture wine should age well over the next four or five years.

The domaine's emblem

Vincent has commissioned an interesting and attractive design, which includes a dragon representing Saint-George, the fleur de lys of France, a broken spear in a V – victory shape and vine leaves. Unfortunately on a number of his labels this is combined with a picture of the vineyard and cellars in Angé (see photo of Anthologie du Clos 2006 below) making the label rather cluttered and not taking full advantage of the quite striking design.

2006 Anthologie du Clos

Vincent is certainly another promising young producer in the Cher Valley and is certainly one to follow.

Vincent Roussely, Domaine du Clos Roussely, La Chauverie, 41400 Saint–Georges-sur-Cher.
Tel: 02.54.32.86.46
Email: clos_roussely@yahoo.fr
Web: www.clos-roussely.fr

(16th December 2008)

Quick early evening visit to see Bruno Curassier at Domaine de la Grange in Bléré to taste his 2008s. Fortunately we managed to squeeze a time between Bruno’s English lesson and him getting ready to drive to Paris very early the next day to deliver wine.

Bruno’s history illustrates the problems now facing some of the local co-operatives. Until 2003 he was a full member of the S.C.A Cellier du Beaujardin in Bléré. That year he started to vinify and to gradually pull out of Beaujardin. In 2003 he made 50 hls. This doubled the following year and in 2006 Bruno made 350 hls and started to equip himself properly. “I said goodbye to the coop in 2006.” He pulled out 8 hectares of vines and kept 14.



The coops are facing losing some of their younger members, who like Bruno want to set up on their own, and their older members, who are ready to retire and accept the subsidy for pulling up their vines.

As yet Bruno doesn’t export, though he is looking to develop markets outside France. Most of Bruno’s sales are to individuals including tourists passing through the Cher Valley during the season. So far sales are going well.

Bruno: “All my 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé are sold out and I just have a little red left. However, I need to spread the risk and develop other markets. It is dangerous to have all your eggs in the same basket.” For the first time he will have a stand at the Salon des Vins de Loire at the beginning of February.

Unlike many Loire vignerons Bruno had his normal yield in 2008 – averaging 55 hl/ha.

Bruno: “Apart from picking some Chardonnay to make sparkling wine, the main harvest really started on 10th October and we finished on 25th. The last grapes to be picked were the Chenin, which came in at 15.5 and is currently slowly fermenting in barrel.

We started with the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Les Buissonets, which was bottled last Friday. This is the only 2008 from Domaine de la Grange that is finished and is just a small bottling, so he has something to sell over Christmas. It was also the first finished 2008 that I have tasted. Initially quite ripe and rich, it is tight in the finished – hardly surprising as it was only bottled three days ago. Les Buissonets has 14˚ of alcohol, 4.5 gms acidity and 5 gms of residual sugar to round it out.

The rest of the wines were ‘brut de cuve’. Naturally they may well change considerably before they are bottled, so my comments should be read in that light. These are wines in progress. Next up a very pretty Touraine Rosé made from 100% Grolleau, which will be bottled in January. It should make a very attractive drink if we have a good spring and summer.

Then a soft and reasonably concentrated Gamay. Followed by a deep coloured Cabernet Franc, which is yet to go through its malolactic. So, too, the Côt (Malbec) that was just starting its malo. Both wines have good structure and are encouraging approachable despite lacking the softening effect of the malo.

Bruno and his 2008 Chenin Blanc

The last red was another Cabernet Franc that was picked on 21st October and spent 45 days on the marc (skins and pips etc.). This is a lot more tannic than the other Cabernet Franc. I fancy it will need a far while to soften. We finished with a taste of the fermenting Chenin – still at the appley Bernache stage.

Bruno Curassier, Domaine de la Grange, Rue de la Grange, 37150 Bléré. Tel: 02.47.57.68.18; (mob) 06.60.04.99.19; curassier@wanadoo.fr

Huts in the fields: a disappearing sight in Touraine. Although this is larger than many of the little cabines are found in the fields and vineyards of Touraine, this along with many others are abandoned and falling its ruin. Originally designed to provide shelter for workers during the day and somewhere to leave their tools, mechanisation has made them redundant.

There is a new book on these les loges des vignes, which was published in October 2008 and is called Loges de vigne, de Michel Sigrist.

Epeigné-les-Bois: looking across the valley of the
Chezelle, a tributary of the Cher

August 2007: dinner at sunset and a bottle of Touraine Sauvignon

Virginia creeper in autumnal blaze

There is a useful list of market days in southern Touraine on the Les Saveurs du Val de Loire site. The area covered runs from Chatillon-sur-Indre to Bléré and across to Mantelan.

Montrichard and its fortress

Worth adding to this list is the small Sunday morning market in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher and the large and very good market in Montrichard on Friday morning.

Loches market and a saucisson stall

Château de Chenonceau

Chenonceaux
Auberge du Bon Laboureur
The Bon Laboureur is both a very comfortable place to stay and one of the best restaurants in Touraine with impeccable service. The wine list, particularly the Loire, is very good and the staff really know both their wines and how to serve them. It is possible to eat outside in the garden during the summer. Founded in 1786 as a Relais de Poste, Antoine Jeudi took it over in 1902 and now his great grandson, also called Antoine, runs it. The American writer Henry James stayed here and he mentioned his visit in A Little Tour in France.

We had one very amusing incident here in the middle of August 2003 – the year of the great heat wave. When we booked we tried to get a table outside but this wasn’t possible so we were promised one by the window, which we were duly given. However, it was so hot (probably around 35˚C) that even without moving we were soon all pouring with sweat. By coincidence we had an electric fan in the car and were given permission to set it up by our table, which made the prospect of having a meal bearable. During the evening it was noticeable that the staff did as much of their preparation as possible close to the fan. At the end of the meal as we disconnected the fan we could see that our fellow diners were aghast and surprised at what we were doing as we had been the first to arrive and the rest of the diners arrived after we had plugged the fan in.

Nowadays this should not be a problem as the restaurant now has an efficient air conditioning system.

Menus: €30 lunch – except Sunday and public holidays. Evening €48 and €85 (€72 with one course less).

Auberge du Bon Laboureur
37150 Chenonceaux
Tel: 02.47.23.90.02
Email: laboureur@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.bonlaboureur.com

Sadly the other restaurants in Chenonceaux are nowhere near this standard. The Relais Chenonceaux, 10 Rue Docteur Bretenneau (02.47.23.98.11) is one to avoid – the food is mediocre and the service is poor.

(16th August 2008: Montlouis and the last day of visits with The Wine Detective)

François Chidaine: 16th August 2008

We met at La Cave Insolite, François’ wine shop in Montlouis in the middle of the Quai Albert Baillet that runs along the south side of the Loire. La Cave Insolite stocks the Chidaine wines as well as other like-minded Loire producers. François’ wine making cellar is in the small hamlet of Husseau along with a number of other Montlouis producers like Jacky Blot and Franz Salmon.

In 1989 François Chidaine started working with his father, Yves, on the family vineyards, which then totalled five hectares. Now he has 14 hectares in Montlouis, 10 ha in Vouvray including the historic Clos Baudoin, which he and his partners acquired from Prince Philippe Poniatowski. A long drawn out process that started in 2002 and was finally completed in 2007 with the Prince moving out of his long-time home in early 2008. François also has six hectares in Touraine including 1.5ha in the village of Chissay in the Cher Valley.

The estate has been biodynamic since 1999 and François is now established as one of Montlouis leading producers. In Vouvray he has a big job re-establish the Clos Baudouin as one of the top vineyards in Vouvray after many years of neglect for unfortunately the vines in the Clos are in a very poor state and it is going to take 15 years to put them right. “The Prince was badly advised,” says François. “The wrong clones were planted and the vineyard was not properly looked after. It takes years to rescue a vineyard and put things right. We are not working for us but for the generation to come.” says François.


I remember a visit to Poniatowski a little while before François became involved. It was at the time when Nicolas Renard, who had produced amazing wines in Jasnières, was briefly in charge. It was apparent that the two men had very different views on how to look after vineyards and make wine. Nicolas Renard wanting to reduce yields as he had successfully done previously in Jasnières until Nicolas was forced out through a dispute with the owner of the vineyards he was renting that went to court. It was also apparent that the Prince had huge stock of wines from vintages stretching back at least well into the 1980s. I remember a very substantial stack of 1984, one of the worst vintages of the 1980s.

(See an account by David McDuff on a visit in 2004 to the Poniatowski estate:
http://mcduffwine.blogspot.com/2007/11/last-vouvrays-of-philippe-poniatowski.html)

François looks for purity and minerality in his wines and has a preference for those years like 2002, 2004 and 2007 when his Chenin does not become super-ripe. Like Philippe Alliet in Chinon he is not a great fan of the super rich vintage of 2003. Although he does make some good and delicate sweet wines when climatic conditions insist, François' real interest is in the drier styles of Montlouis and Vouvray. “I prefer difficult vintages that show the Loire’s true personality.” Unlike the majority of the producers in both Vouvray and Montlouis François concentrates on still wines. “90% of my wines are still,” he says, “while between 60%-70% of the overall production of the two appellations is sparkling.”

Vouvray: La Vallée Chartier road destroyed by
the storm of 31st May 2008. Taken on 2nd June.

“2008 has been difficult,” François explained. “Like last year we have had problems with mildew. The big storm in Vouvray on 31st May meant that we couldn’t get into the vineyards for three weeks to treat the vines.”

On the afternoon of the 31st May Vouvray was hit by torrential rain that flooded houses and washed away some of the steep roads that lead down the steep coteaux. The storm got marooned over Vouvray – no rain fell in Husseau just to the east of the town of Montlouis and little in Rochecorbon just to the west of Vouvray.

Vouvray: small van crushed by trees brought downby the torrent of
water on 31st May 2008. The van's owner, who was just
about to get in when it was engulfed had a lucky escape.

Before we start tasting the 2007s François explains the overall differences between Montlouis and Vouvray. The soil at Vouvray is predominantly argile-calcaire (clay and limestone) while Montlouis is mainly argile-silex (clay and flint), which gives Vouvray more power and finesse than Montlouis. The wines are aged in demi-muids (600 litre) barrels of which 10% are new as François is not a fan of new oak.

François in his cellar at Husseau: late January 2008

We start with a couple of 2007 Vouvrays – Les Argiles and Le Clos Baudouin. Les Argiles is very clean and straight, quite ripe with a hint of honey – typically 2007. In contrast Le Clos Baudouin was tight, closed and a little rustic, although the nose was richer. It needs three or four years to come round. Then across the Loire to the powerful 2007 Clos du Breuil, Montlouis – grapefruit flavours and a lot of finesse from 35 year-old vines.

Next up Les Bournais that comes from a 2.5 ha parcel on argile-calcaire in Husseau that was cleared of scrub during the 1990s and planted in 1998-1999 using massale selection. The resulting wine is powerful, pure, long and honeyed. “The vineyard is well ventilated. At the beginning I didn’t know the potential of Les Bournais,” François admits. The rich, powerful and honeyed 2007 Choiselles has four grams of residual. All of the 2007s so far have around 13% alcohol.

The Clos Habert with 15 gms of residual is from the argile-silex plateau comes from 25 year old vines and is all understated finesse and purity as is the Clos du Breuil. The quite rich, softly honeyed but also mineral Les Tuffeaux has 17 gms rs and comes from a second passage through the vines picking over-ripe Chenin. “Liquroice and smoky,” comments François.

Le Bouchet (Vouvray) ended the 2007 Montlouis and Vouvrays. “An extraordinary terroir on the premiers côtes,” enthuses François, “classic Vouvrays – minerals and truffles. You really need to be on the premiers côtes as the vines behind the côtes produce more rustic wines with less finesse.” Le Bouchet is rich and honeyed with passion fruit, a touch orange rind and other citrus flavours. This should have a considerable life ahead of it. Similarly the other 2007s should age well.

Then we tasted a couple of sparkling wines – a Montlouis méthode traditionelle 2005 and a Vouvray Pétillant 2004. Both wines have no additional dosage. The Vouvray was honeyed, yeasty and a little rustic, while the Montlouis was ripe, quite delicate and easy to drink. However on the evidence of this small sample, it is clear that François' still wines are the ones that stand out.


Time before we left to have a quick look at François’ Touraine wines. At Chissay he has Sauvignon Blanc, Côt and Pineau d’Aunis – with Eric Nicolas of Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir as the ‘reference’. First the crisp, grassy and nettley 2007 Sauvignon picked between the 13th and 17th September. “This year we may be picking a week later – around 20th-25th September. The 2007 Rosé de Touraine is two-thirds Grolleau and one-third Pinot Noir has attractive freshness and length. We ended with the rich, spicy and powerful 2006 Pineau d’Aunis (17%)/Côt (83%), which is aged a year in barrel. "Fabulous variety," said François. Obviously too young it will be interesting to taste this gain in a couple of years – unfortunately only 4000 bottles are produced so this may well not happen.

La Cave Insolite – Chidaine, 30 Quai Albert Baillet - 37270 Montlouis-sur-Loire.

Tel: 02 47 45 19 14
Email: francois.chidaine@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.cave-insolite-chidaine.com

Tried without success to get Catherine Roussel (Clos Roche Blanche, AC Touraine) on the phone yesterday to get a progess report. Their US importer Louis Dressner (http://louisdressner.com) has the details on their site of the end of their harvest – they finished on Monday 13th October. Apparently Didier had insisted that they wait until the Cabernet was fully ripe – sound man!

Catherine studying grapes

I'm off to Chianti on a press trip for a few days and will catch up on the news of the harvest when I get back late Thursday. Plan to post of few pics while I'm away.

Still to come reports on the final day of Loire visits with Sarah Ahmed, the wine detective, which we spent in Montlouis. Hope to get these finished soon.

(23 October 2008)

Non greffées = ungrafted

Off to the Barbican Centre (London) last night for the amazine Africa Now concert that featured Baaba Maal, Amadou & Mariam, Bassekou Kouyate, Oumou Sangare, Muntu Valdo, Toumani Diabate, Amy Sacko, Souad Massi, Rachid Taha, Sola Akingbola, Daara J Family and others. After an OK first half, the second set that featured a constantly changing group of musicians chiefly around Toumani Diabate was absolutely stunning – amazing haunting sounds. The concert was supposed to have been sold out but there were a number of empty seats near us.

So where does Henry Marionnet’s Ungrafted Gamay 2007 AC Touraine fit in? Well we grabbed a takeaway doner kebab on the way home and drank Henry Marionnet’s attractively black fruited 2007 Vinifera Gamay, which has considerable depth of flavour and is a real success for 2007, which was not an easy year for Loire reds. It certainly matched the doner kebab.


The ungrafted vines were planted in 1992 and, as far, as I know have not yet been attacked by phylloxera. He has around five hectares of ungrafted vines. As well as the Gamay, there is also Côt, Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin. It is fascinating to taste grafted versions of the same grape against the ungrafted ones. I was able to do this in early February 2007 and invariably the Vinifera wines had greater depth of flavour and more character.

Report on Henry Marionnet's 2008 vintage now in Sancerre, Menetou-Salon and Touraine (8 October 2008)

Sancerre, Menetou-Salon and Touraine (8th October 2008)

Report on Roger Champault added to this post.

More to follow soon .....

Henry Natter's vines on the coteaux overlooking Montigny

Our last day in Sancerre and the Central Vineyards. Quite heavy rain overnight starting around midnight and continuing for several hours. Rather cloudy this morning. Activity around Sancerre started today from around 6am and now just before 8am there is a continuous drone of machines and the lights of vans and tractors moving around on the still dark hillsides.

Hand picking near Bué: 8.10.2008

Today’s visits: Sancerre: Vincent Grall, Alphonse Mellot, Domaine Fouassier, Roger Champault, Henry Natter; Menetou-Salon: Henry Pellé; Touraine: Henry Marionnet.

L'equipe Henry Natter – Henry Natter family and team

Once again there is surprise and satisfaction from the vignerons that 2008 is turning out remarkably well after the very indifferent summer.

First stop was a quick chat with Vincent Grall (see posting: Vincent Grall: vintage in Sancerre’s streets). Leaving Vincent we headed out to the vineyards just to the south of Sancerre to take pictures of Pinot Noir in the rather damp vineyards. Looking down across at La Moussière we could see a picking team busy in the vines. As I suspected this was an Alphonse Mellot team and, having established that Les Deux Mellots – snr et jnr – were both the winery at Sancerre we headed off to Porte César.

Alphonse Mellot

Alphonse snr – Salon des Vins de Loire 2006

As we left the vineyard it was good to see that the old cabane des vignes (stone vineyard cabin) in the vines at La Moussière is being restored. Sadly these stone cabins that were once a regular feature of many of the Loire vineyards are disappearing – abandoned and falling into disrepair. They belong to a time when people walked out to their vines – before the days of tractors and small vans.

La Moussière: Cabane des Vignes near Sancerre

Alphonse Jnr: “We are finishing La Moussière this morning and that will complete Sancerre. This afternoon we start on the Coteaux Charitois (Les Penitents). Because of the hail it’s a tiny harvest – only 12 hl/ha for the classic La Moussière Rouge. Two hectares of La Moussière were completely wiped out by hail. It is better for Generation XIX, Grands Champs and Les Les Demoiselles – 27 hl/ha, which is our normal yield for these wines. But we are happy with the quality.”

Tasting the juice, the colour is already dark. Everything here is picked by hand.

“For the white the average yield is 40 hl/ha.”

Alphonse, junior

Alphonse introduced me to Antoine Michon, the son of Thierry (Domaine Saint-Nicolas) – the star of Les Fiefs Vendéens. Antoine is doing a stage with the Mellots, so I get him to tell me about the harvest in the Vendée.

Antoine Michon: “We were hit by the frost of 7th April, so it’s a tiny production this year – only 12 hl/ha. We started on 13th September and will finish this week. However, the quality is very good with the Chenin up to 14% potential.”

Next we visited Domaine Fouassier (see post: Domaine Fouassier (Sancerre) to go biodynamic 15th October 2008) and then headed to Champtin:

Roger Champault et fils
(8th October 2008)
Late morning we dropped in on the Champaults in the hamlet of Champtin, which is just a couple of kilometres west of Bué. We saw Claude Champault and his father, Roger. Laurent, the other brother, was out in the vineyards.

A delivery of grapes – note conveyor

“We started last Thursday,” said Roger, “and there are about three days harvesting left.” While we talked Claude and a couple of workers were trying to fix the belt of the conveyor that takes the grapes into the press. Machines breaking down at vintage time are always a problem. So much of the equipment, like presses and conveyors, needed during the vintage is only used for a maximum of two or three weeks in the year. Only after their long lay-off to be used almost continuously, so breakdowns are inevitable.

Using conveyors means that the fruit is treated much more gently than pumping it in through a pipe. It is very noticeable how much more care now take over the handling of grapes.

Claude had time to let me taste some of the 2008 juice, which was very clean – just as it has been with all the producers visited in Sancerre and Pouilly. “We picked the Pinot Noir in Menetou-Salon yesterday,” said Claude. “We harvest about two hectares a day and I expect that we will finish on Friday. Yields are averaging 60 hl/ha.”

As we left Claude pointed out their shiny new Italian Defranceschi pneumatic press. Just a few more days work before it gets a long rest before the 2009 vintage!

View from south-west towards Champtin and its vineyards

Henry Pellé, Menetou-Salon
Following a memorable few hours spent with the Natter family, we headed off to Morogues to drop in on Anne Pellé and her son, Pierre-Henry, of Henry Pellé. They were in the middle of their harvest.

Pierre-Henry: “We started picking in Menetou on 30th September. We are taking our time waiting for fully ripeness. Our Sauvignon Blanc from Morogues is coming in at 13-13.5% potential. Our yields this year are 40 hl/ha for the Pinot Noir and 45-50 hl/ha for the Sauvignon.“

Anne and Pierre-Henry Pellé

From Morogues we cut across country avoiding the speedier route via Bourges and on to the autoroute. It was well worth the extra time – driving mainly through forests with sensational autumn colours. Cutting across country always emphasises the sheer size of France in comparison to the UK. We reached Soings-en-Sologne around 5.30 pm.

Henry Marionnet, Touraine
Henry and his son, Jean-Sébastien, were decidedly relaxed as they had finished their harvest.

Jean-Sébastien

The office at Domaine de Charmoise

Henry: “We started on Wednesday 17th September, finished on Saturday 4th October and harvested quicker than usual. The harvest is small – we were hit by hail on 30th May and the flowering was difficult – the Côt suffered from coulure. Yields for the Sauvignon are between 20-35 hl/ha with the Sauvignon Vinifera at 20 hl/ha. However, the Gamay is at 50-55 hl/ha.

“Although there was a little rot, the quality is very good. After the poor summer, the weather in September 2008 is proof that God exists!”

Henry recalled vintages when nature had destroyed the harvest. “In 1988 we were hit by hail in August, then in 1991 there was the April frost and we only made 2-3 hl/ha.”

Together Henry and I tasted various 2008 juices. The depth of the Gamay’s colour stood out – “similar to 2005 with a pronounced black cherry flavour,” said Henry. The Vinifera Côt was even darker – almost black, while the ungrafted Romorantin planted in 1850 was a floral and peachy. Only 10 hl/ha from 36 ares, the final wine will be fascinating to taste.

Romorantin: pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1850

Romorantin: pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1850

I asked Henry about the Place Alexander Marionnet in the centre of Soings-en-Sologne that showed up on the GPS. Apparently Alexander was a nurseryman. Henry explained that his paternal ancestor was a master carpenter from the Vendée, who arrived in the area 150 years ago and found work here. Curiously this would have been around the time that the famous parcel of Romorantin was planted. Despite being left-wing and his boss right-wing, he married his boss’ daughter. At that time and until the 1960s the Domaine de la Charmoise practised polyculture – the pattern of cultivation found throughout the Loire with very few people concentrating solely on growing vines. Today the Marionnets have 60 hectares of vines.

That evening we opened a bottle of the straight Henry Marionnet’s Touraine Gamay 2007 – deliciously easy drinking with bright red fruits and considerable concentration.

Caught up with Sam late morning when he was visiting and tasting at Domaine Joël Delaunay in Pouillé (Cher Valley). Sam, who is the external wine consultant to Interloire for their varietal projects, was over here on a two-day flying visit, accompanied by Elodie Besseas, InterLoire's technical expert both to check up on progress on the initial Cabernet Franc project and to advise on picking times for the 2008 vintage. Sam is excited by the potential of the 2008 Cabernet Franc fruit but stresses it has to be picked at the right time.

“I think growers should be waiting until the week beginning 13 October as the tannins are strong this year and the acidity levels are still high. The potential is there but they should wait.” However, the tendency in Bourgueil and Chinon looks to be to start picking around 6 October.

Sam was also over here for the newer projects on Sauvignon Blanc and Côt. Sam’s initial advice on the Côt is for producers to cut down on maceration times because the tannins are rougher and more rustic than Cabernet Franc. He was also thinking that quite often Côt is picked before it is properly ripe giving the wines green notes that they would not have if growers waited until the fruit was ripe.

During the tasting with Joël and Thierry Delaunay, Sam was particularly impressed with their fragrant and minerally 2007 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc. He had also been very impressed with the dynamism of Florence Veilex at La Chapinière de Châteauvieux, whom he had visited early that morning.

La Chapinière de Châteauvieux, 4 Chemin de la Chapinère
41110 Châteauvieux
Tel: 02.54.75.43.00
Email: contact@lachapiniere.com
Web: www.lachapiniere.com

Domaine Joël Delaunay, 48 Rue de la Tesnière, 41110 Pouillé
Tel: 02.54.71.45.69
Email: contact@joeldelaunay.com
Web: www.joeldelaunay.com

(29 September 2008)

@Clos Roche Blanche

Côt@Clos Roche Blanche

Côt@Joël Delaunay
A clone that produces large bunches

Côt has a magnificent autumn colour@Joël Delaunay

Gamay@Domaine des Maisons Brulée

Barriques ready and waiting@Clos Roche Blanche

Cher@Thesée