CRM and Jim were really delighted to learn early this evening that Jim's Loire has been shortlisted for the 3rd edition of the Concours Wine Blog Trophy, which is run by the Salon des Vins de Loire (the 23rd edition runs from 2nd-4th February). The winner will be announced on Monday 2nd February at the Salon at 4.30pm.

It was a big surprise as Jim's Loire was only launched on 28th August 2008, so has been going for less than five months.

Time to enjoy a glass of Triple Zero while getting ready to post the full shortlist and the panel of judges.



Shortlisted journalist blogs:

Wine Atlas: Atlas du Vin (www.wineatlas.net/fr)
Guillaume Lapaque: Vins de Loire (vinsdeloire.info)
Egmont Labadie: Le blog des zinzins du zinc (zinzinsduzinc.over-blog.com)
Mathieu Turbide: Méchant Raisin (http://mechantraisin.canoe.com/)
Sylvie Augereau: Glouguele (http://www.glougueule.fr/)
Laurent Bazin: Le Vin des Mes Amis (levindemesamis.blogspot.com)
Jim Budd: Jim's Loire (http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/)
Véronique Raisin: Le Blog by Picrocol (http://www.picrocol.com/)
Hervé Lalau: Chroniques Vineuses (http://hlalau.skynetblogs.be/)
Jacqueline Friedrich: Jacqueline Friedrich: The Wine Humanist (http://www.jacquelinefriedrich.com/)

The competition covers three categories of blog:

Best journalist’s blog
Best wine professional blog
Best blog by a Loire producer

(Le concours visera à récompenser les blogs dédiés à l’univers du vin dans 3 catégories :

- Prix du meilleur blog journaliste
- Prix du meilleur blog professionnel vin
- Prix du meilleur blog vigneron du Val de Loire)

Dates for the 2009 concours
Shortlist drawn up: 19th-24th January
Judges vote: 27th-29th January
Judges send in their votes: 29th January

(Phase de présélection : du 19 janvier 2009 au 24 janvier 2009
Phase de vote du jury : du 27 janvier 2009 au 29 janvier 2009
Remise du classement par le jury : le 29 janvier 2009
Remise des récompenses : le 2 février 2009)

Clair de Lune, the PR company that looks after the Salon des Vins de Loire, is responsible fort putting the shortlist together. Any blog without a post since November 2008 was excluded.

(Clair de Lune établit une présélection de textes portant sur l’univers du vins et notamment les Vins de Loire et/ou Vignoble du Val de Loire publiés sur des blogs dédiés au vin.

Ne figureront dans cette présélection que les textes des blogs de passionnés du vin traitant de :

- Dégustation
- Contexte / marché du vin
- Expériences œnologiques

En seront exclus les blogs :
- N’ayant pas édité un billet depuis Novembre 2008)

Panel of Judges
Chair: Marc Vanhellemont: In Vino Veritas
Journaliste Belge - Magazine vin "In Vino Veritas"
Philippe Rapiteau: http://pipette.canalblog.com/
Gagnant du prix du jury 2008. Philippe Rapiteau est passionné des vins et les dégustations depuis 20 ans. Il partage son histoire, ses ballades sur les terres des vignerons à travers son blog.
Fabrice Le Glatin: http://vinsurvin.20minutes-blogs.fr/
Fabrice le Glatin, professeur d’anglais à Suresnes, a gagné le prix des Internautes 2008. Son blog a su séduire le jury pour son originalité.
Antoine Gerbelle: La Revue du Vin de France
Journaliste et membre du comité de dégustations pour la Revue du Vin de France, il est l’auteur du guide des meilleurs vins à petits prix.
Jean Christiansen: L’Atelier Berger
D’origine norvégienne, Jean Christiansen est le chef des cuisines et sommelier de l’Atelier Berger à Paris.
49 Rue Berger, 75001 Paris Tel: 0 1.40.28.00.00
Julien Chazot: L’Harmonie des Vins
Sommelier passionné, Julien Chazot est gérant d’un Bar à vin et restaurant située à Lyon.
L'Harmonie des Vins, 9, Rue Neuve, 69001 Lyon Tel : 04.72.98.85.59
Anne-Sophie Lerouge: Interloire
Responsable communication et oenotourisme, Interloire.

Having made fish cakes with what remained with the salmon trout, we had this as a quick brunch before our celebratory meal starting in the late afternoon. Although quite rich – tendre/demi-sec – François Chidaine’s Les Tuffeaux 2004 provided a good match, especially as there was sufficient acidity to carry off the touch of sweetness.

For the aperitif I had intended to have Domaine Huet’s 1999 Pétillant but on discovering that there was only one bottle left, we had Jacky Blot’s Triple Zero instead, which naturally was no hardship.



The salad of foie gras de canard as the first course presented some problems. Initially I considered a sweet wine – something from the Layon or l’Aubance. However, I rejected this option as the foie gras was part of a salad and not being served alone. Chidaine’s Les Tuffeaux would, I suspect been ideal but we’d already opened that, so I selected Mark Angeli’s 1998 Vieilles Vignes des Blanderies. However on opening it, delicious as it was and would prove to be a couple of days later as an aperitif, I wasn’t convinced that its oxidative style would be the best match with the foie gras salad, so instead opted for a bottle of 1998 Les Cormiers Château de Villeneuve that had both the weight and vivacity to be complemented by the salad. 1998 was the least good Loire vintage, especially for reds, of the second half of the 1990s. However, both Mark Angeli's and Jean-Pierre Chevallier's 1998s showed well and both could be kept for a severalo years more.

1998 Les Cormiers Saumur Blanc Château de Villeneuve

Traditional turkey and ham partnered by two red Burgundies – not Loire I know but they do use the same grape variety as Sancerre. First up a 1986 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru from Léonce de Valleroy – some charm but now needing to be drunk. Then a 1996 Nuits St-Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots from Maurice Chevallier, showing more concentration and which could be kept a while longer.



We finished with a 1960 Vintage Port from Croft, which on Christmas Day was quite spirity but when finished off on 27th had mellowed with the spirit properly integrated. Interesting that, despite the diversity of Loire wines, there has never been a tradition of fortifying them. Fortified wines I guess tend to come from hotter climes, producing more potential alcohol and therefore better adapted to stopping the fermentation, as in Port and Vins Doux Naturels.

16th August 2008: Domaine de la Taille aux Loups and Domaine de la Butte

Jacky in the mi-pente section of La Butte with a
glass of the same: early November 2007

It is a short drive from Domaine Les Loges de la Folie to Jacky and Joëlle Blot’s Domaine de la Taille aux Loups also in the hamlet of Husseau. Arriving in 1989 they must be the first, or certainly one of the first, of newcomers to Montlouis. They are certainly the most influential of the incomers and the Taille aux Loups is now firmly established as one of the top two or three domaines in Montlouis with Jacky perhaps as its best-known producer.

When Jacky and Joëlle bought seven hectares of vines in Montlouis in 1989, he was already in the wine business. He had a négociant company in the evocatively named Rue Serpent Volant in old Tours. They now have some 40 ha in both Montlouis and Vouvray and, since 2002, 14 ha at Domaine de la Butte in Bourgueil. Remarkably from having previously being making just white wine plus a little rosé, the Bourgueil reds were very fine, particularly from 2003 as the Blots took over La Butte shortly before the vintage – although in this context the 2002s are remarkably good.

Domaine de la Butte: November 2007

We started in the tasting room at the Taille aux Loups with a look at the 2007 Bourgueils. There are four cuvées and they correspond to their position on the coteaux – a reminder that the esprit of the Loire is closer to that of Burgundy than it is to Bordeaux. In 2007 Jacky held off picking his Cabernet Franc at Bourgueil until most of his fellow vignerons had finished their harvest. A brave decision and the resulting wines are much richer and more concentrated than is the norm in this difficult vintage. None of these wines were chaptalised. Le Pied de la Butte from the base of the coteaux is the ‘basic’ cuvée. Bottled in April it has attractive rich fruit with damson, plum and just a hint of green pepper.

Before we move on to the Haut de la Butte Jacky tells us enthusiastically about his purchase of a Mistral grape-sorting machine. “It’s a simple system used by some of the top Bordeaux château. The grapes are destemmed and put on a vibrating sorting table. Then using a stream of air the good grapes are separated out from any rotten or dried out ones as well as any leaves etc. left. It works aerodynamically. We had one on trial in 2006 and 2007 and then bought our own machine at the end of last year."

Le Haut de la Butte comes from the section of the vineyard at the top of the limestone coteaux. It produces better grapes than Pied de la Butte as the sun exposure is better and the soil is shallower but it is not as well protected as Mi-pente the best zone in La Butte’s vineyard – all in all not that dissimilar to the difference between a premier cru and a grand cru in the Côte d’Or. It is matured in a mix of concrete tanks and barrels. The 2007 has dense, sweet concentrated black fruit flavours and good length and was due to be bottled. Not a hint of green pepper here and was due to be bottled in September.

Since buying La Butte in 2002 Jacky has revaluated the potential of Les Perrières. This section is close to Le Pied de la Butte and initially was considered to be of similar quality. However, as its name implies the vineyard is stony (gravel) and it soon became evident that the quality of the fruit was actually closer to Mi-pente. The definitive blend for the 2007 has been made. Silky textured with rich black fruits it has considerable potential, although the tannins were slightly drying but that may well have changed by the time it is bottled.

Mi-pente hasn’t been blended yet. The structured 2007 is impressively bright and very deep coloured for a 2007, silky textured, concentrated black fruits. Jacky: “We do little work in the winery – a cold soak at 10˚ and a little pigeage. No artificial yeasts just the natural ones.”

Jacky sorting Chenin in one of his Montlouis vineyards: 11.10.2008

Before heading down to the cave at the lower end of the village to taste the 2007 Montlouis and Vouvray in barrel, we try the soft and citric 2006 Triple Zero. Along with the Huet pétillant, this is our house sparkler. As a rule I much prefer Vouvray and Montlouis pétillants to fully sparkling wines from these two appellations. If you have never tried a pétillant (2.5 atmospheres compared to around 5 for fully sparkling) they are certainly worth discovering.

Huet Vouvray Pétillant 1999

Renaming the pétillant – Triple Zero – has been a great success. Until a few years ago it used to be called Pétillant non dosé, hardly a memorable or evocative name. Triple Zero is both memorable and describes what is special about this pétillant – no chaptalisation of the base wine, no added sugar when bottled and no liqueur d’expédition. This means that the grapes have to be picked around 12% potential and avoids the great fault of over-sweetness of too many of the larger brands of Loire sparkling wines.

Jacky marshaling his picking team – Montlouis 11.10.2008

“Since we called our pétillant Triple Zero sales have risen dramatically – we just can’t keep up with demand. If I were 20 years younger I’d look to create a big Loire sparkling brand. Look at Champagne some of the quality of the grapes is dreadful – because of the demand companies cannot refuse them.”

Down in the cave, where there are 400 barriques, we taste the whole range of 2007s . Jacky is very pleased with the quality – “to make a grand blanc you need a year without a lot of heat”, he says. We ask him a about how he sees the difference between the wines of Montlouis and Vouvray. “The difference is complicated but those from Montlouis are more aimable (friendly) and more immediate – Vouvray takes longer to come round.“ All the wines had the typical note of purity and precision that is the hallmark of 2007. I was particularly impressed by the weight and precision of Remus (Montlouis) and the pure racy minerality of the Clos de la Venise.

Jacky: “We use almost no sulphur but try to avoid a malolactic fermentation – obviously the constant cool temperature of the cave helps. Because there aren’t caves like this in Anjou, it is often difficult there to avoid the malo. All wines that have been through a malo are marked by it.”

Barrel tasting finished we took Jacky back to his tasting room and then headed off at the end of a successful week’s tasting and visits. Time to reflect that my favourite wines from the Taille aux Loups/La Butte are Cuvée Rémus, Triple Zero and the Bourgueils, especially Perrières and Mi-pente.

Domaine de la Taille aux Loups

8 Rue des Altres, Husseau
37270 Montlouis-sur-Loire
Tel: 02.47.45.11.11
Email: la-taille-aux-loups@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.jackyblot.fr