Three wines from Domaine Haute Clémencerie (Touraine)

Méthode Traditionelle, AC Touraine

I'd met Patrick Mahoudeau and his wife on two occasions – at the London International Wine Trade fair in May 2008 and May 2009 – before I dropped in on them quickly at the domaine on the western edge of the commune of Faverolles in the Cher Valley at the end of September. I was very sorry to learn that Patrick had been involved in a very serious accident on the D176 – the main road between Tours and Vierzon. I understand Patrick was on a tractor and an overtaking lorry forced him off the road into the ditch. He is still recovering and has spent much of the time following the accident in hospital and a nursing home. It was good to see him and I trust he goes on to make a full recovery.

The domaine was established in 1932 by Vincent, Patrick's grandfather. In Loire terms this is comparatively recent as a number of producers can trace their history back two, three and nore centuries. They now have 28ha of vines – 70% planted with white varieties principally Sauvignon Blanc and 30% red including Côt and Cabernet Franc. Patrick kindly gave me four samples to take away to try at my leisure.

The Méthode Traditionelle is very commercial is well made with a soft, creamy texture. I don't have the blend but from its softness my guess is that there is a proportion of Chardonnay used here. The process of secondary fermentation and aging is done at Bourré, a small village just to the east of Montrichard on the north side of the Cher. Bourré is also famous for its mushroom caves. After a few sips I find the MT a little cloying but that is probably because I enjoy lemony, tonic style whites but I can see many enjoying this sparkling wine.

2008 Touraine Sauvignon

Pale coloured with vibrant green tones with a pungent citric and passion fruit aromas with some sweetness and weight on the palate giving away to precise, crisp acidity. In the tasting in Tours in February 2009 to select the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Ambassadors, this was probably the most controversial wine. The one we retasted most frequently and spent more time agonising over whether it should or should not be an ambassador. It remains quite individual and I think we were right to have made it an Ambassador wine in the inaugural year of the Sauvignon Blanc Project.

2005 Cabernet

The 2005 Cabernet is very deep coloured and full of rich, sweet black fruit with blackberry and prune well to the fore. It is very soft and enjoyable with a little acidity in the finish. It remains very youthful. It will be interesting to see how this evolves, although I assume that most of the production will be drunk young. A little more extraction would have given this Cabernet a little more structure and perhaps more complexity. It is, however, another example of good Loire Cabernet Franc that contradicts the views of the columnist in the Toronto paper.

A glass of the deep coloured 2005 Cabernet