Sign with hill and town of Sancerre in the background8 October 2008
After seeing Alphonse Mellot snr and jnr in their cellars near Porte César, I walked westwards through the streets of old Sancerre until I got to the roundabout at the western end of the town. A couple of hundred metres on from there in the direction of Bourges is the headquarters of the substantial (55 ha) and long-established Domaine Fouassier, which for many years has been run by two brothers – Pierre and Jean-Michel.
Although they were all very busy, Benoît Fouassier, the son of Jean-Michel, had tine for a quick chat.
BF: “I’m happy with the quality. We started the Sauvignon Blanc on 30th September and the Pinot Noir the following day. We were hit by the hail – 15 of our 55 hectares were affected and here the crop has been reduced by 10%-15%. For the Sauvignon the average yields are 45-50 hl/ha with between 12.5˚-13˚ degrees. We pick all our Pinot Noir by hand and is coming in at between 12.5-13.5˚ degrees potential. The yield is 30-35 hl/ha compared to an average year of 45-50 hl/ha. We expect to finish the harvest sometime in the middle of next week – the level of maturity this year has been quite spread out.”
An invitation to taste and buy
I asked Benoît about their plans to go biodynamic. “We will be starting to convert 18 hectares next year and then the rest of the estate will follow soon afterwards.” With 55 ha this is a significant move bearing in mind that the Vacherons, amongst others, are already biodynamic. It looks like the new generation – Benoît and Paul, the son of Pierre
From the Pays Nantais through to the Central Vineyards the Loire is increasingly a centre of biodynamic viticulture. In addition there are also a lot of producers, who are organic and whose practices are close to biodynamics.
While we talked Pierre Fouassier appeared with Michael Ott, their UK agent in tow. Pierre had pressed Michael Ott, their UK agent here on his annual harvest visit, into service – helping out of the lorry. Before they departed for another bout of the lorries, I asked Pierre for a photo of Michael working on a lorry and I look forward to posting one the site soon. Jean-Michel also appeared briefly.
Construction of a tunnel from the tasting room
to a new reception area for groups
The domaine is involved in mesvignes (www.mesvignes.com) – a vine sharing scheme similar to 3d Wines or Andrew Gordon’s WineShare. “Last Saturday,” explained Benoît, “was the day that mesvignes’ customers can to pick their Pinot Noir. Unfortunately the overnight temperature had dropped to only 2˚. It was horrible conditions for picking!”
After seeing Alphonse Mellot snr and jnr in their cellars near Porte César, I walked westwards through the streets of old Sancerre until I got to the roundabout at the western end of the town. A couple of hundred metres on from there in the direction of Bourges is the headquarters of the substantial (55 ha) and long-established Domaine Fouassier, which for many years has been run by two brothers – Pierre and Jean-Michel.
Although they were all very busy, Benoît Fouassier, the son of Jean-Michel, had tine for a quick chat.
BF: “I’m happy with the quality. We started the Sauvignon Blanc on 30th September and the Pinot Noir the following day. We were hit by the hail – 15 of our 55 hectares were affected and here the crop has been reduced by 10%-15%. For the Sauvignon the average yields are 45-50 hl/ha with between 12.5˚-13˚ degrees. We pick all our Pinot Noir by hand and is coming in at between 12.5-13.5˚ degrees potential. The yield is 30-35 hl/ha compared to an average year of 45-50 hl/ha. We expect to finish the harvest sometime in the middle of next week – the level of maturity this year has been quite spread out.”
An invitation to taste and buyI asked Benoît about their plans to go biodynamic. “We will be starting to convert 18 hectares next year and then the rest of the estate will follow soon afterwards.” With 55 ha this is a significant move bearing in mind that the Vacherons, amongst others, are already biodynamic. It looks like the new generation – Benoît and Paul, the son of Pierre
From the Pays Nantais through to the Central Vineyards the Loire is increasingly a centre of biodynamic viticulture. In addition there are also a lot of producers, who are organic and whose practices are close to biodynamics.
While we talked Pierre Fouassier appeared with Michael Ott, their UK agent in tow. Pierre had pressed Michael Ott, their UK agent here on his annual harvest visit, into service – helping out of the lorry. Before they departed for another bout of the lorries, I asked Pierre for a photo of Michael working on a lorry and I look forward to posting one the site soon. Jean-Michel also appeared briefly.
Construction of a tunnel from the tasting room to a new reception area for groups
The domaine is involved in mesvignes (www.mesvignes.com) – a vine sharing scheme similar to 3d Wines or Andrew Gordon’s WineShare. “Last Saturday,” explained Benoît, “was the day that mesvignes’ customers can to pick their Pinot Noir. Unfortunately the overnight temperature had dropped to only 2˚. It was horrible conditions for picking!”
