2011 Cabernet Franc@Château du Petit Thouars

Sébastien du Petit Thouars

A brief visit to Château du Petit Thouars on Wednesday to see the Cabernet Franc just before it was harvested yesterday. The grapes, which will be machine harvested, looked in good condition. Any rotten or poor grapes have been removed by the picking machine passes. Their vineyard at Saint Germain sur Vienne has a cooler climate than the nearby Chinon appellation, so the grapes ripen a little later. 

As well as looking forward to a good harvest in 2011, Sébastien is hopeful that the Chinonais will accept their request to be included in the Chinon appellation. The Chinonais are due to vote on the request next year but at the dinner during La Verticale du Chinon (15th September 2011) Jean-Max Manceaux, president if the syndicat, seemed to be positive about their application, which concerns only some 50 hectares with the same clay limestone soil as found in the appellation vineyards on the south bank of the Vienne.

This small area of AC Touraine vineyard is being orphaned by the jihadists of AC Touraine in the Cher Valley, who intend to outlaw 100% Cabernet Franc and 100% Chenin from the Touraine appellation.      

More 2011 Cabernet Franc

View towards Sancerre from above Les Loges 

Further additions to vintage impressions from Pouilly-Fumé here.

Sébastien Redde (Michel Redde et Fils) and the nascent 2011 Pouilly-Fumé

Apologies for a rather belated report on our visit to some producers in Pouilly-Fumé on afternoon of Friday 23rd September.

Although we didn't have time to visit very many, and a couple of people we wanted to see weren't around, our impression was that a number of producers here have been very pleasantly surprised at how 2011 has turned out and that their fears at the beginning of the harvest have not been realised. Certainly the nascent wines that I tried were all clean and precise with no off flavours.

Valérie Dagueneau (Serge Dagueneau et Filles): "I was afraid before the harvest that the grapes would not have enough potential alcohol, that many would be rotten and that the acidity would be low. Certainly we needed to be very selective – we now pick a third of our vines by hand. We started on Monday 5th September and finished on Friday 16th. The Sauvignon came in at around 12% potential and had kept a good level of acidity. Our Chasselas is at 10.5%, which is a good level for this grape, which is very rot resistant."

Jean-Michel Masson and Melanie

Pierre Masson

In the centre of Pouilly-sur-Loire I dropped in and tasted at Masson-Blondlet, who were also happy with the outcome, despite the threat of rot in early September. They harvested between Thursday 8th September and Monday 19th.

Alain and Loïc Cailbourdin

Picked between 6th and 16th September.

Cailbourdin winery extension

Sébastien Redde

Sébastien Redde: 'The Ban des Vendanges was on the 5th September but we had a special derogation to start on Friday 2nd because of the threat of rot in some of our parcels. We finished on Friday 16th. Everything is picked by hand – this year we had a team of 60 pickers and a sorting table in the cellar." Sébastien and his father, Thierry, think that 2011 may be better than 2010.

After tasting with Sébastien we went to see a new Redde vineyard – see a separate post shortly.

L'Equipe and the 2011 Cabernet Franc recolte

Shortly before 10am this morning an elite band of pickers started harvesting the 2011 Cabernet Franc at Clos Chossay, Epeigné's only individual producer. Fruit from all the other vines in Epeigné goes to the cave cooperative at Francueil.

Removing the nets 

The last to harvest in the neighbour the precious harvest had to be netted to protect the grapes against the birds:

 Suzie removing netting 

 Mark disentangling grapes from netting

Getting ready to start

The picking

Small well aerated bunches 

Annick 

Dominique

Fabrice (above and below)

Another precious bunch harvested

Turning leaf

Picking lasted about an hour: 

2011 Cabernet Franc harvest  

 Group photo@end of picking

Mark models new earings..

Sorting and destemming

The team@work

The tradition at Clos Chossay is to destem by hand – fortunately the harvest is not huge: Clos Chossay remains a 'bijou-garage' estate. 2011 was rot free but with some variable ripening, so unripe grapes had to be separated while destemming. The three bins of Cabernet Franc took about two hours 45 minutes to separate the fruit from the stalks. 

A job for skilled hands and fingers...

Job done - the stems

2011 Cabernet Franc destemmed

Foulage (foot treading)

Preparing two bins for treading

Treading underway: women working – men watch

A growing group of watchers 

2011 Cabernet to the chai – ready to begin fermenting

Crushed grapes

On the way to the chai

Filling the vat (above and below)

La cuverie

Vertical press and drum kit

In all we picked enough Cabernet Franc to give around 70 litres of juice before pressing, which Mark expects to produce about 50 litres of wine with a potential alcohol of 12.8% potential alcohol. This will be blended with the estate's 35 litres of 2011 Côt, which was picked on Tuesday. The 2011 'grand vin' will be bottled in 2011 after a two year élèvage. Over lunch we tried the 2010, which looks promising with attractive red fruits. This is due to be bottled in 2012.     

Winding down

Time to relax after a long day and lunch